Kampa air exploded
My Kampa classic air 380 main tube burst today 19 days out of warranty IE 2 years and 19 days Kampa unsympathetic I have to pay for new tube.
Moderator Comment - Tony not quite sure why you have posted this in the Story Section as it really belongs in the discussion area to where I have moved it.
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Tony. Your consumer rights are much stronger than those offered by any warranty. Things are expected to last 'for a reasonable time'. As it was only just out of warranty I would have expected that the reasonable time period had not been exceeded. A few years ago I had a problem with a washing machine that was just out of warranty. The shop said out of warranty sorry. I quoted the reasonable time argument and just gat a blank stare from the shop so I asked them to call head office and although I did not get 100% satisfaction I got quite a lot off the repair.
If you have not yet paid get back to the supplier, not Kampa as your contract is with the supplier, and put the reasonable time argument to them and push for a discount.
I have replied to your post really to help all who may come across similar situations. Remember your rights in law are MUCH stronger than any guarantee.
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My daughter had a similar situation with a laptop bought from her local Argos. I told her to print a short note composed by me outlining her rights and the relevant regs. and to return to Argos who had denied her originally and demand to be dealt with correctly. The store manager reluctantly took her laptop and gave her a replacement to same spec.
Some of the stores train their staff to be obstructive I suspect.
It is usually far easier to deal with obstruction face to face.
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I have always experienced excellent back-up from Kampa if there has ever been a problem with any of their kit I have owned. However, without wading through instruction booklets, I have a feeling that punctures etc are specifically excluded from their warranty and given the hot weather we have been experiencing over the last few days, they are probably within their rights to argue that the tube has exploded due to too high a pressure. It would certainly be very difficult to prove otherwise. I wouldn't have thought that a new bladder was very expensive as compared to the cost of a new air awning.
Based on my experience of their rubbish toilet in our new Knaus - which I have now had changed to a Thetford - I wonder if this excellent service will continue now that Kampa are owned by Dometic!
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I have a feeling that punctures etc are specifically excluded from their warranty and given the hot weather we have been experiencing over the last few days, they are probably within their rights to argue that the tube has exploded due to too high a pressure.
Not quite sure what one should do in a hot summer's day when going out. Half the pressure when going out and reinflate at dusk? Never owned an air awning but don't they have a pressure relief valve?
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Bother were two exploded in the hot weather last year when we were at Morn Hill,
There was a couple at Seacroft last week who had just bouget a new Kampa air, when it spoke to them they "advised"that the pump they had was equipped with a pressure valve that would only pump to pressure specified by Kampa?
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There was a couple at Seacroft last week who had just bouget a new Kampa air, when it spoke to them they "advised"that the pump they had was equipped with a pressure valve that would only pump to pressure specified by Kampa?
You would have thought that a pressure relief valve would be built into the actual tubes.
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I believe there are one or two on the market that do have a pressure relief valve - but not the Kampa. I use an electric pump on ours and always set it to a couple of psi lower than the recommended level. If it is really hot, I have let a bit of air out if I think there is a danger of it bursting - no big deal.
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Our daughter had an air which not only burst but split the containing sleeve beyond repair. After being sent replacemants for the wrong awning we have had great difficulty finding the correct ones. It's out of warranty and we are told that newer models mean replacement parts for previous models are drying up. She is awaiting the latest delivery hoping this is correct as fabricating your own is neigh on impossible as folk can do with metal or fibreglass poles.
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According to Kampa at how temparture affects the air presure in the air poles,and increasing the temperature doesn’t has a great effect on the pressure as you would think.
At 20C the pressure should be 9 psi, but increasing the temperature to 30C only raises the pressure to 9.7 psi, even 40C will only get it to 10.5 psi.
They say that their air poles have been tested to 22 psi. This might help the OP when claiming?
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Anyone heard of a Bradcot air awning going pop? IIRC the maximum inflation pressure is 35 kpi, just over 5psi and I think I'm right in saying they made using marine grade valves and materials?
I always use the electric pump with mine which can be pre set to cut out at the required pressure.
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Our Outdoor Revolution has air pressure release valves if the beams go over pressure , which may, or may not , help ?
Ref the increase in temp relative to pressure, I assume that would be air temperature. My thoughts work along the line that any black object will heat up in the sun to a temperature that almost melt the rubber tube causing failure, rather than over inflating the tube.
Rgds
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could be just a theory though?
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Amazing, after all those years to be able to narrow it down to the hour
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well know fact that it all started on a club site.
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And he said let there be light, and there was and it was good
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Posted on 25/05/2019 08:43 by mickysf
Our daughter had an air which not only burst but split the containing sleeve beyond repair.
I can fully understand the above, but I have difficulty in understanding how the pressure tube can burst without the outer layers bursting too.
To help people’s understanding, there are normally three components to air beams.
The innermost one is airtight, not rubber as suggested on this thread, but a plastic, which in itself is far too weak to survive without containment. Our Kampa tubes are, I’m told, made of the same plastic which the Millenium dome is made of. This is used because of its long life expectancy. Kampa sell, very cheaply, puncture repair kits similar to bicycle ones, but with much bigger patches/tape. We’ve never had cause to use ours.
Surrounding and containing the inner tubes is a zipped on cover. This stops the inner tube from expanding beyond it. It’s strong and should be able to withstand the expansion of the inner tube, up to its design limit.
Forming a loser fit around the pressure cover, is a heavy duty protective sleeve, to resist abrasion etc.
Contrary to some views above, we’ve always found Kampa’s after sales support to be exemplary. The advice, on this thread, that they’ve been taken over, may well have reduced standards. I don’t know.
I think that there may be two lessons in this thread;
Watch out for overpressure.
Buy a cheap puncture repair kit.
And if Darren is still working for Kampa. Then try to talk to him, via Customer Services. He is/was in their technical Dept.
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I thought the Millennium Dome (O2 Arena as now known) roof was a PTFE coated glass fibre fabric.
Our Bradcot awning inflatable tubes are made of TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) with the sleeves made of Ten Cate fabric as is the 'outer' fabric, Understand that to be a 35/65 blend of Polyester and Polyester PVA.
Less easy to establish details on the Kampa product.
This is the information age, easily accessible information assists in making purchasing decisions.
Other materials used in inflatable tube applications for leisure products over decades that I know of are Mylar (Polyethylene Terephthalate [PET]) a DuPont discovery, Hypalon (chlorosulfonated polyethylene [CSPE] synthetic rubber [CSM]) another DuPont discovery and Vamac (ethylene acrylic elastomer) again from DuPont. As patents have expired other named materials will be available
Recall the original Igloo inflatable tent in the late 1970s made from Hypalon in the 1980s.
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If repair patches work on car and bicycle tubes. And Kampa sell them. Why don’t you think that they will work, when their use is widespread?
Would a patch repair an exploded air beam Jenny?
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Is that the Sunncamp Swift Air?
Mine went in the bin, fabric perished.
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With my daughter's it wasn't the fabric which failed, it was the stitching. This meant the tube 'escaped', blebbed and ruptured. All down to either expansion due to the unusual heat and/or inferior fabrication.
After six months of searching she has finally found replacement parts. No way of a repair or home made solution so this was a costly business. Not sure I'd recommend air awnings as the supplier said failures were not uncommon. May be a cost effective technology isn't quite there yet.
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Looks like a lot of replacement Kampa bladders are being sold given the out of stock notices
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Of course not Easy. The containment tube has very clearly suffered a catastrophic failure. Which is why I posted;
Our daughter had an air which not only burst but split the containing sleeve beyond repair.
I can fully understand the above, but I have difficulty in understanding how the pressure tube can burst without the outer layers bursting too.
An extensive split, as described, in a car or bicycle tyre, will similarly make a ‘burst’ inner tube impossible to repair. I think that I’ve reasonably described airbeams multi layer construction and some options for repairing inner tube punctures. I’ve made no attempt to describe repairs to ‘burst’ containment layers. That’s not really a DIY job is it? Any more than a significant rip in the main body fabric of the awning would be. Punctures in the inner tube are mostly repairable, bursts are a more complex problem. Kampa don’t sell ‘burst’ repair kits, just puncture kits and tape. Their tape can also be used to patch minor fabric damage where it lies flat.
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Source, Homestead Caravans;
The AirFrame is incredibly durable and under normal conditions will not fail. Each AirPole is made of a strong TPU inflation tube that is zipped into a tough reinforced PE cover. This is then zipped into a heavy duty polyester sleeve in the awning. The inflation tubes are well protected and need no maintenance. Kampa also use a larger diameter AirPole on most of their Kampa AIR Awnings offering even greater stability and rigidity.0
