Newell Gurus

Full Version: Cleaning the junk out of the top of the slide seal
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I have Valid slides with no slide toppers.

Lately, I keep having issues with water coming in during rain.  Each time, I have gone up and found a tiny stick or a leaf that gets caught across the slide seal, and it acts like a wick and sucks a ton of water inside the coach, atop the slide, where it then proceeds to run everywhere and make a huge mess.

When this first happened in the fall during the hurricane, on my #1 slide, I was able to bring the slide in and climb up inside the coach with my ladder and clean out all manner of small organic debris, dirt, and other crap and get the whole "channel" very clean.

But on some of my slides, the design of the cabinetry, trim, or other interior things makes it hard or impossible to access that channel.  And, in all cases where I can reach anyway, I'm doing it half blind, on a ladder, with my head squished into the ceiling.

This time, I got on the slides outside, deflated the seals, held the rubber wiper up with one hand, and reached in with my other hand and/or a small tool and tried to clean the channels out from the outside (with the slides fully extended).  On two of the slides, this seemed to work pretty well:  I pulled out tons of tiny leaves, some hard seeds or berries, and other junk.  On one slide, the clearance between the coach and the slide roof was too small for my fingers to fit.  And on the #1 slide, well, I already cleaned that one from the interior before.

I'm curious:  does anyone else find that they have to get up there and clean these things out every so often, just to avoid a flood during the next rainstorm?  I can't find much mention of it as a regular thing, and there's certainly no easy way to do it (unless you're pulling the slide out for a major repair, like a new seal or wiper).  It just seems like kind of a design flaw to me.  Or maybe I'm just really unlucky with stuff getting trapped up there.  Or maybe I just camp underneath too many trees!
Never had this problem since I owned my coach, BUT I religiously go up on a ladder to check all my slides before retracting them. One of the worst places was Loveland, CO, when I was under cottonwood trees. What a mess! Fluff, sap, and little pod shells all over the top of my coach and slide tops. I had to get a bucket of hot soapy water and dish sponge to clean it all off before I could put in my slides. We try not to park under trees when possible. My ladder gets quite a work out for we are full timers and travel a lot and I always check before pulling in the slides.
I had the same issue with sap when we were in a park last year. I had to clean out the slide seals carefully with a paper towel/soap/water. I would not recommend adding talcum powder/similar as it will gum up after a while.
I finally starting leaving my slides IN unless we were camping for a week or so.
I always use a plastic 2” scraper to 1) make sure the seal has broken loose (even though I installed the pumps it still sticks from sap) 2) help clean the slide (with a damp blue paper towel wrapped around the ‘stick’). This seems to have solved most water issues. I only have 2 slides, I can just imagine how much fun this is with 4 slides!
If I’ve parked near or under trees, I always get out my extendable ladder and climb onto roof with brush to clean the top of the slides off.  Sometimes it requires a bucket of water or the hose.

This always worries me because of the consequences of falling off but careful preparation and patience have saved me so far.  I adhere to this practice since replacing is very costly and can be prevented.  Slide toppers have been considered, just haven’t made the effort to buy and install.
Beware when you camp for extended period of time with the rooms out tree sap and debris will settle on the room.

You should check the mating surface for sap where the seal inflates and contacts the room when the room is in. The seal could be stuck to the room so when you run it out it could pull the seal out of the retainer.

Preventive maintenance by waxing the contact surfaces will save you time, money, and especially frustration.
Thanks, all. It sounds like many of you are quite diligent about spending time on this important task.

I’m surprised about two things:

1. Newell folks have never mentioned this to me, nor is it documented on any of their (fairly weak, admittedly) maintenance guideline docs.

2. You guys make it sound like it’s easy to get to your slide seal channels to wax and clean them. Some of mine are basically inaccessible. There is no way I would be able to get in there and do something exotic like applying wax. I can barely wedge a screwdriver up in there and try to pull gunk out! I guess maybe the design has just changed (worsened) over time.
There is another hazzard.
[attachment=6259]

He'll climb the ladder and then doesn't want to go down even if carried.