Leaking light

[rls106]

I was woken this morning by water dripping through a ceiling light in my Compass Drifter 1995. We had heavy storm during night but leak only occurred a few hours later. I have attached a picture of the light fitting which I unscrewed to access and dry out. Only about 30ml - 50ml of water came through but really annoying and worrying because of electrical connections. After about an hour dripping water stopped.
Has anybody else experienced similar and have any tips for fixing? I am away for another two weeks or so and forecast suggests that I might have a repeat issue. I can’t access the roof myself so not sure whether any seal damage. The light fitting seems to be the weak link but doesn’t appear to have any opening on the roof.
I would appreciate any help members can offer.

 

[Lenny HB]

Probably one of the joints on the roof leaking. The leak is probably no where near the light, water can capillarie a long way.
You may need to remove the ceiling wall board to find the leak, could have been leaking a long time and you may have rotten timbers up there as well.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Hi, its not the light fitting that's the issue ,its just where the water has found a way out.
You really need to access or get someone else to access the roof and check your seals particularly as said above any cross joints.
It will be difficult to remove any ceiling boards and this will not solve your problem.
If there is no direct indication that sealant has come away or deteriorated then best to remove old sealant and run a fresh bead of sealant around the joints. This last bout of hot weather may have dried out and cracked the existing sealant, and as your van is some 26+ years old it may need resealing anyway.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Ps if you can't go on the roof ,poke your head out of the skylight or at least shove your phone camera out on video to have a look .

 

[rls106]

Thank you Jimbohorlicks. When this weather stops I will do the camera through skylight thing. I put the light fitting back in and dripping started again. Can you recommend a sealant. Online I can only find American products which will cost more to get delivered than the product itself.

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[Jimbohorlicks]

Toolstation and Screwfix do a sealant which is reasonably priced as well.

Puraflex 40 PU Sealant & Adhesive 300ml White | Toolstation

• High modulus • Chemical resistant • Over paintable • For use on high traffic floor joints • Application temperature range +5 to +40°C • Interior and exterior use Premium quality one-part high modulus polyurethane sealant and adhesive that provides exceptional resistance to...

www.toolstation.com

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Best to take the light fitting out and let it dry out in the cavity, Its just the holes in the fitting that the water is coming through.the water could be coming from anywhere on the roof ,depending on the angle your parked up on, around the skylight or other roof vents for example but you do need to check the roof seals..

 

[autorouter]

If it's a fluorescent tube fitting, the voltage inside it can be quite high. There is a mini-inverter to take the voltage from battery 12V to well over a hundred volts, as required by the tube. Best not let water get near that.

For sealing joints, I like Hodgsons Seam Seal CV, which is flexible and non-hardening, and can be cleaned off easily with white spirit. Some of the other stuff, like Sikaflex, is polyurethane that seals very well, is a good adhesive too, but is a real pain to remove and redo.

 

[TerryL]

Prime candidate is around the adjacent-ish skylight, as said above water finds it's way around. Should be easy enough to drop the surround and check for leaks, usually in the corners.
A good damp meter may help in locating the source.
I've been chasing a leak about for ages, think I've finally spotted it - well it stopped leaking when I applied goodly amounts of sealant. And on that point get the proper stuff, don't use ordinary silicon sealant.

 

[rls106]

Update : - I managed to get up to roof. There was a significant piece of sealant from side of van missing. I scraped remaining sealant from area and replaced. Luckily I had four days warm weather afterwards and then a couple of days torrential intermittent rainfall. I checked today and no water has got through. There was a large puddle collected on the roof close to the repair. I will be doing remainder of the seals when weather permits.
Incidentally I asked a number of places for quotes to investigate and resolve. Whilst nobody could give definite price (understandably) the lowest quote to investigate only was £300 and the highest £2000+

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[Dave Scadding]

 

[L' Hobo]

What you can do and sometimes helps temporarily, is put your ramps under the front wheels to lift the front and stop water from 'pooling' on your roof.

 

[TerryL]

Mine is parked slightly nose down when in storage, never leaked whilst there!

 

[L' Hobo]

Mine is parked slightly nose down when in storage, never leaked whilst there!

That should, perhaps, give you a clue to where you should start looking?

 

[TerryL]

I DID find it actually.

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[L' Hobo]

I DID find it actually.

Thats good but I was trying to, initially, trying to help the OP with a temporary fix to stop water 'pooling' on his roof!