Burst air awning pole
I have just read that someone's Kampa awning pole burst whilst they were at Sandringham in July. We stayed at the Sandringham site this last weekend and returned to the site on Sunday to find the central pole in our Starcamp air awning collapsed. On investigation we found that the inner tube had completely burst, making the awning useless, so we had to take it down. It is less than two years old, but as we haven't yet contacted Dorema, not sure what the outcome will be.
Sunday was quite hot and sunny and I can only think that the air inside the tube expanded, so much so that the pressure made the tube burst. Surely the manufacturers would have thought this could happen and build something into it so that some of the air could pass out, without bursting the tube.
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It doesn't help that the air poles material are black on some (while the rest of the is sliver) so will absorb more heat in sunlight? I agree that the manufactures would give advice on the pressure to use on hotter days?
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We had an air pole burst on our Westfield Carina back in June. Ripped the stitching and made the Awning useless. Tried to contact Westfield with an email but up to now we have never had a reply. Had a problem with our small Kampa awning and to be fair Kampa were all over it, couldn't do enough to help.
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Makes me wonder if people are over inflating them ? I use the electric pump that came with my Bradcot Aspire which you pre set to the pressure specified in the awnings instructions, once reached it cuts out.
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But then again it will depend on the ambient when you use the pump.
If you do that in the cool then in the heat of the day plus the radiant heating of the tube the pressure will inevitably be above what the pump control had set it too.
With these things is it practical to ease off a bit of the pressure and re-pump back so it can be set right in the hotter conditions?
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I take your point and agree but I'm sure there is a large margin of safety taken into account as well as the factors you mention when the inflation pressure is set buy the designer/manufacturer ?
My own awning is only inflated to just over 4 psi, 0.3 bar. if you use a manual pump without a gauge how do you know what the pressure is?
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Surely the manufacturers would have thought this could happen and build something into it so that some of the air could pass out, without bursting the tube.
It would appear Outdoor Revolution did........
http://www.outdoor-revolution.com/oxygen-air-frame-system
Sadly, the others,according to Google, including my Vango Kela, haven't bothered......
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My experience as well - excellent support from Kampa when we have needed it.
I always inflate our awning to 3 or 4 psi under the recommended maximum and it's always been fine. In very hot weather, I nevertheless, keep an eye on it.
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When down in France, we had an extremely hot day, and not only did the inner tube blow but so did the outer pole. We also had excellent support from Kampa. We now do not inflate as much, as the awning is still perfectly stable at lower pressure. I now count the number of pump depressions each time to ensure consistency.
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I use an electric pump on our Kampa, and initially inflated to anywhere within the range of pressures specified by Kampa. However, the more I used it, I realised that the lower end of those ranges was quite sufficient. From memory, I think that was probably no more than 9psi, measurable by the gauge on the pump.
Perhaps it is tempting to inflate too hard, especially in hot weather when expansion may occur.
Like Mr H, we are firm fans of air awnings.
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We have a Vango Somerby 360 used 4 times. I inflated it up to the green area on the guage. We went away at 9 am returned to the awning at 8 pm only to find it had deflated / bust. When we removed the bladder there was a huge hole 1.5 mtr down from where the main beam sits at the top of the caravan side. We were surprised just how thin the translucent bladder was, with made in China stamped all over it. We can only assume that being a very sunny day that the pressure had increased significantly which caused it to explode. This is the first air awning we have owned so not sure if they are all they are cracked up to be. Sourcing a replacement bladder was not so difficult although the prices we were quoted ranged from £40 to £52 which is a significant variation on price. Eventually purchased a replacement and a spare bladder from Dyce caravans Aberdeen, they were extremely helpful being the main dealer for them in this area, and we were charged just £40 for each replacement bladder which was not so bad. The advice they gave us was dont exceed 5 psi and ignore the pressure dial green zone, to allow for expansion. I would have thought that the air bladder would have been made from a more robust material than it actually is. The verdict is out on air awnings, will see how it goes. Will be checking the other bladders before we go on our next trip though. We recon periodic strip downs for inspection of the bladders and zips would be prudent .
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