Parkliner fridge side vent leak?

[LaurelMS]

Has anyone had leaking and replaced the side refridge vent? I seems our vent cover has warped and water is getting in, soaking the wood under the fridge and leaking onto the floor. Suggestions?

[George Lauver]

Not sure which vent you mean, top or bottom? Are you sure it's not water coming from the refrigerator when defrosting, ours has no drain wife keeps paper towels on bottom and changes every several days.

[Wayne Collins]

I'll second what George said.
In humid areas, you can get a lot of condensation on the cooling fins inside the fridge, enough to spill out under the door.
The outside vents should not do that.

[neparker]

Originally Posted by George Lauver

Not sure which vent you mean, top or bottom? Are you sure it's not water coming from the refrigerator when defrosting, ours has no drain wife keeps paper towels on bottom and changes every several days.

I have the same problem, and use the same solution.

[LaurelMS]

Sorry I wasn't clear. I was talking about the access vent- its plastic and locks with a key. The one that you open to access turning on the fridge. The part that unlocks- large rectangle- seems to have warped and we get water coming in through the gaps from warping. Then it soaks the wood under the fridge and drips onto the floor.

Thanks.

[Josh and Sonya W]

Originally Posted by LaurelMS

Sorry I wasn't clear. I was talking about the access vent- its plastic and locks with a key. The one that you open to access turning on the fridge. The part that unlocks- large rectangle- seems to have warped and we get water coming in through the gaps from warping. Then it soaks the wood under the fridge and drips onto the floor.

Thanks.

Hi Laurel,

We had an identical issue with our Bigfoot in North Carolina in October of last year; it rained almost every day during a very long visit.

In our case, the outer access panel to the "works" of the fridge is the only vent, it's for allowing cool air to come in. Heat generated by the fridge is exhausted through a roof vent. During one evening of particularly heavy rain, we suddenly saw water coming in to the trailer from under the refrigerator. I tried a bunch of things and eventually decided the problem was water getting in through the space between the removable part of the outer vent and the frame of the vent.

Quick solution for me at the time, after trying duct and Gorilla tape (standing outside in heavy rain), was to cut strips of butyl tape and stick them onto the periphery of the vent, covering the crack where the removable part of the vent and the outer frame (1/4 inch width will do it). You might try covering that crack, just to see if this is your problem, before you take more extreme measures. If everything is dry when you are trying this, tape might work for you.

Obviously, that's not a permanent fix, but it immediately stopped the leak for us, and worked for the next three months of travel. I just recently purchased some 1/8 inch thick insulating tape and stuck that on to the frame behind the vent cover. I had to push pretty hard on the cover to get it to lock in place with the foam in place. Don't know if this will work; if it doesn't, I guess the next step for me is to replace the cover first, and the frame if necessary.

If you can see that your cover is warped, that probably explains the leak. If you can get it locked in place with foam behind to force the cover in place, that may work. Otherwise, you probably should just replace at least the removable cover, if not the complete unit.

Good luck, and please let us know how you resolved the problem.

Josh

[Carl Pa]

One other thing you can do is level the trailer so that it leans ever so slightly that water doesn't weep into the seams. In my case, towards the side door. That worked for me. Carl