Frameless Window Failure

[suncoastdancers]

I had one of my frameless window seals fail. It was less than a year old. The seal completely separated on the side and bottom. Has anyone else had a similar window failure.

[cpaharley2008]

So the interior pane is still shut and the exterior pane is loose?

[wetzk]

Yes, I had to replace two windows. Is this one of the small windows used in the wet bath or kitchen? Those are what I had fail and others I noticed had similar failures involving those two windows. So I'm hoping this is not another size window.

[Dettling]

We also had to have our bath window and both front dinette windows replaced in our 2017 17B. (so yes, all the "small" windows, not the larger windows at the back or sides). They were flapping but not yet completely separated. A bit of duct tape held them together until we got to Chiliwack.

We noticed the problem the day before we left for our roadtrip to the Yukon this July. Since we live only an hour from the factory, after a quick phone call, we dropped it off and the windows were replaced within a few hours. Outstanding service that allowed us to be on the road the next day as planned. Escape was so accommodating!

The new windows come with a little sticker not to over-tighten...a good reminder.

[suncoastdancers]

Thanks for everyone's feedback. Unfortunately, I have four of these small windows on the unit. Clearly they seat too far into the frame when closed.

[wetzk]

Originally Posted by suncoastdancers

Thanks for everyone's feedback. Unfortunately, I have four of these small windows on the unit. Clearly they seat too far into the frame when closed.

I saved one of the windows that failed in case I ever needed a part from it. The outer pane has completely separated from the inner while laying on a shelf. When compared to the replacement they are identical looking. You could tighten them to much but that should cause the crank part to detach from the inner pane. On ours what happened to the two that failed was the foam tapes adhesive turned into a soft sticky mess.

Neither of the replacements has had any problem so far other than the kitchen window opening a bit while on the road. Taping the knob to the frame with a piece of no residue duct tape seems to keep it closed.
All the other windows are doing fine so it seems whatever they used to glue the panes together on the small ones was not up to the task.

[suncoastdancers]

Thanks again for your input. On my unit, the adhesive strip failed to stick on the outer pane. It still adheres to the inner pane. I checked to confirm that the outer window was not tight to the exterior wall under the assumption that it may have been pried apart when closing. So it appears to be an adhesive issue on the small windows.

In the interim, while I wait for a replacement, I will apply some household 'Goop' to the seal and clamp together the panes until it sets. Hopefully, that works.

[cpaharley2008]

I may want to add some gorilla glue to my tool kit, just in case and duct tape also.....just thinking out loud!

[wetzk]

Originally Posted by suncoastdancers

Thanks again for your input. On my unit, the adhesive strip failed to stick on the outer pane. It still adheres to the inner pane. I checked to confirm that the outer window was not tight to the exterior wall under the assumption that it may have been pried apart when closing. So it appears to be an adhesive issue on the small windows.

In the interim, while I wait for a replacement, I will apply some household 'Goop' to the seal and clamp together the panes until it sets. Hopefully, that works.

If it doesn't I just ran 3 wraps of electrical tape around the bottom and closed the window on it. I did not stretch the tape so it had enough give to conform to the window shape and kept the 2 panes tight against each other. At the top I used a piece of 1 inch wide tape over the two outer glass panes to make sure the lower held in place. The kitchen window was like that for just a few weeks and the bathroom was for a few months. It traveled back from Scamp camp with both taped and went over to Green Eggs and Ham with the bathroom window taped and I had no problems at all. If you use black tape for both it does not stand out. The residue was not to bad to remove, a little charcoal lighter fluid and a bit of rubbing and it was off.

[parfsten]

Originally Posted by suncoastdancers

I had one of my frameless window seals fail. It was less than a year old. The seal completely separated on the side and bottom. Has anyone else had a similar window failure.

Yes. The original window (picked up 17B Sept 2017) inner pane disconnected from the closing bar mechanism. ETI replaced the window last May. The new window - outer tinted pane has just disconnected from the inner pane. I have emailed ETI and await their reply.

[suncoastdancers]

I have been checking a number of online forums and pane separation is a "big" problem with Hehr frameless windows, and not just on Escape trailers. Almost all report adhesive failure. No one has found a quick fix to this problem. I paid a premium for these windows and I am not happy about the possibility of replacing them over time as they randomly fail. I think that Hehr should be providing an extended warranty to cover what is clearly a design or manufacturing fault.

[Fox hunt]

i had ETI replace my bathroom window after it separated so far so good....

[cpaharley2008]

I wonder what the failure rate % is and what % of owners would not get the same windows if reordering a new Escape?

[outwiththedogs]

We are working on our build for a 17B and were waffling between frameless and framed. I asked our 'minder' at ETI what the failure rate is for frameless and she said about 20% is what they are finding. Bad news as we wanted the opening back window and kitchen window, which are NOT available on framed thermal windows. They won't do a mix-n-match of window types. However, a 20% failure rate is a lot higher than I want to risk. This information might vary for non-thermal or a different size.

Catherine

[Jim Bennett]

After 2 years, both my brother's and our trailer can report a 0% fail rate. I am very surprised at the 20% as I have only heard of a few from all the windows on all the trailers of folks that frequent the forum and Facebook.

[outwiththedogs]

I was surprised as well, and disappointed. 20% just seems really excessive. I hope that this changes before we have to lock in our build.

[Losangeles]

When Reace came to fix our plumbing issue... he saw our frameless windows, and said "oh they were built at X (I forget the location of the original factory) and you'll be totally fine"

we have had zero issues with them.

He told me the problems came from the smaller 2nd factory that wasn't making them correctly... and he knew how to tell them apart visually, somehow

FWIIW

[suncoastdancers]

I wonder if the 20% failure rate is what ETI is finding during the warranty period or does this also included the failures out-of-warranty? A 20% rate would lead you to expect a design or quality control issue. I would hope that Hehr would extend the warranty period under these unusual failure rates.

ETI is not offering the frameless option in 2019 however this might be due to the fact that the Carefree awning posts would interfere with the window operation.

If I had known about this failure history, I would have insisted on the framed window package.

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has had to replace their frameless windows past the 12 month warranty period. Were they provided any coverage?

[Fox hunt]

i really love the windows but my bathroom window failed. they inspected my other windows all seem fine- hopeful that was it. Escape was very responsive about the issue and offered to repair or send a window and pay for the fix. I decided to go to Escape to have it done I brought a friend who is very interested in a 19. We spent a lot of time planning her new trailer...

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by suncoastdancers

If I had known about this failure history, I would have insisted on the framed window package.

Was there a history when you ordered your 2017 trailer?