Heki Roof light on Elddis Caravan
I thought I should share this story with the forum.
Elddis Affinity 482, but badged by our local dealer. First time out this year.
Discovered the underside of the bench seat was very mouldy but we had no idea why as there was no damp anywhere. To seal the spores at short notice we put cling film all over it and went to bed.
Woken at 4am by wet feet. Water dripping from the plastic trim on the roof light. So that explained the probable source of the mould, and there had been no rain for months. We have a cover over the caravan during the winter.
Inspection showed a ~1mm wide crack in the plastic roof light trim that bonds to the roof. Due to leveling the caravan too well, there was a puddle on this part of the roof, and the crack was just under water.
Dried it off and put masking tape on it to stop any more water. All good fun at 4am with one’s head out of the roof.
Investigation at home showed three cracks and lots of forum traffic on Elddis and Heki roof lights.
Just back from the dealers we bought it from two years ago. It was One year old when we bought it.
They won’t do the repair free of charge because Elddis won’t pay them unless we had it serviced each year, and apparently the warranty needs to be transferred from the previous owner. We were never informed about either of these at time of purchase, but how do you prove that.
As an engineer it is obvious to me that the aluminium roof sheets are expanding in the hot weather, but the Silicone sealant transfers the expansion to the plastic casing, and it breaks under tension.
We have agreed a price to replace it (cost price for parts and labour) of £360 because it does need replacing, but the component is obviously not fit for purpose.
In the mean time I need to silicone over the three cracks, work out how to clear the mould.
The caravan cannot go back onto the warranty scheme as we have missed two services. An email each year about service from the dealer would have encouraged us.
The Elddis 10 year warranty is not really worth the tag line on the side of the van. Sturdy Light Dry.
Comments
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A transferred warranty is only up to six years. It's only 10 for the first purchaser. The SOLID acronym is "Soggy or lets in Damp"
I've not yet had to make a claim under warranty on my MH but I doubt that I should find it an uplifting experience. 0 -
The warranty arrangement is the same with Swift. You get 10 years if you’re the first owner, and up to 6 years if you buy used. They are very specific about having the van serviced annually, within a certain time frame, to maintain the warranty. This was explained by our dealer when we bought both of our caravans from them, and have never had a problem getting work done under said warranty- damp issue with our first van, and problems with fitted equipment in our current one. Having said that, the problem that the OP is having is not good.
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I have read that several manufacturers only allow the first owners to have 10 years warranty
makes no sense to me as you stop encouraging people to buy them second hand.
What a great selling point to be able to have the piece of mind.
on another point why would the becoming the second owner make more likely for the van to leak ?????
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Perhaps a ten year warranty is offered on the basis that they anticipate few will keep the van that long.
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We had exactly the same fault develop on our Affinity 550.
We had a damp test after noticing water dripping in at the back of the Heki roof light. It was a reading of 69% around the ceiling panel.
The dealer (not the one from whom we purchased it as new), did a temp fix and Elddis asked for another reading at the next service (in July) The reading was 'normal' and sp no further action from Elddis.
However when away at Easter (2018) it was a really bad spell of rain and then we noticed the rain running in again. Using the step I looked at the frame on the roof and saw several cracks as per the OP. A few lengths of duck tape and lowering the back of the van slightly let the rain run away.
Emailed the pics to Elddis who did finally agree to honour their warrenty.
The frame was replaced last July after waiting for a new frame and ceiling panel.
Thankfully since then no impromptu showers.
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