Dometic E9500 Awning and Rain

[Kountrykamper]

Thanks Reace!!

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Osoyoos is like an oasis in the desert, beautiful but not too hot. So envious of Bruce and anyone else who live there.

This is because you have only been there in the spring. During summer it get hot. I remember booting it from there one summer as we could not take the 42°C (108°F) temps in our tent trailer. At least up at Okanagan Lake PP just before heading to Osoyoos we had a site on the beach and temps were a couple degrees lower. Just heading a bit east past Creston saw temps drop to bearable.

[Artlady]

Well, I haven't had the experience with the old type awning, but have had some trying experiences with the new power awning. We had a very heavy rain one night, and I woke up to see our awning horribly distended, filled with about a foot of water. In reading the manual, I didn't see the section on the automatic dump feature. I did read, however, that one can adjust the angle of the awning from the mechanism attached to the trailer, in order to have the water trickle off.
I also would like a sunscreen attached to it to block some of the strong Florida sunlight, However, given that there are not any side supports for the flimsy awning, along with its retraction feature,, I don't know if such a screen is available or advisable.

[Nrgtic4]

I saw this on Pinterest... Maybe this could work to block the sun from coming in on one side of the awning...?

[Nrgtic4]

Or a homemade version of it...? (I have a children's build a fort toy and some old sunshade fabric laying around in the garage that I thought I might be able to use...) :-)

[Artlady]

Originally Posted by Nrgtic4

I saw this on Pinterest... Maybe this could work to block the sun from coming in on one side of the awning...?

Well, that's very interesting, and a possible solution. Thanx for posting this!

[Beaver]

We had a soaking rain here in Ontario the last few days, so I played with the awning settings. Using Reace's technique of shortening the awning extension, yes, it did shed rain at about 5' extension from the trailer. That setting pulls in the extension rods toward the middle, creating a big enough rise in the middle to shed water. But you have to be sure that you set the extension close enough to the trailer so that the water does not pool in the awning middle, which when it happens, is just ugly. When that happened in my experiment, the water just kept accumulating and there was no shedding at all. The "tipping" feature never activated and the awning looked in danger to be damaged. However, with the shorter extension things were fine. It just means that I will have to be very alert to the chance of rain and set the awning extension accordingly. I will live with this, but I think that the engineering is shoddy for a component on a premium trailer. All things considered, I would rather have a manual awning that allows me to set the awning drainage by lowering one corner. As for wind, with the Carefree we used the Camco awning edge holders and never had a problem, even in the Florida Keys next to the water.

[cpaharley2008]

You do realize that these awnings are designed for shade, not water protection and any damage from use in rainy weather is at you own risk. If leaving and rain is predicted, I retract, if staying I'll extend but not all the way, same rules for both manual and automatic awnings.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

You do realize that these awnings are designed for shade, not water protection and any damage from use in rainy weather is at you own risk. If leaving and rain is predicted, I retract, if staying I'll extend but not all the way, same rules for both manual and automatic awnings.

Not actually Jim . Our manual awnings have support arms and you can use deflapers which you can't on the newest awnings . Have always used awning in rains , tilting down for shedding rain . Pat

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

Not actually Jim . Our manual awnings have support arms and you can use deflapers which you can't on the newest awnings . Have always used awning in rains , tilting down for shedding rain . Pat

In the manual was a disclaimer, if my memory serves me correct, but as I always say, never in doubt, often wrong.

[bsmoke]

After a few heavy rains I've concluded that our auto dump feature isn't working. It is necessary. Now I might not be waiting long enough but any longer and I'll have to much water. Also after reading manual regarding how the awning should not rub on the arms I became a little worried that I might need to reset as per instructions but my wife thinks I'm worrying about it too much. I'm kind of concluding that I should not have awning fully extended during rain. That way the sizzor arms offer more support. During heavy rains I just need to master holding my bourbon in one hand and using my other hand to push water off using my custom water pusheroffer stick.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by bsmoke

After a few heavy rains I've concluded that our auto dump feature isn't working. It is necessary. Now I might not be waiting long enough but any longer and I'll have to much water. Also after reading manual regarding how the awning should not rub on the arms I became a little worried that I might need to reset as per instructions but my wife thinks I'm worrying about it too much. I'm kind of concluding that I should not have awning fully extended during rain. That way the sizzor arms offer more support. During heavy rains I just need to master holding my bourbon in one hand and using my other hand to push water off using my custom water pusheroffer stick.

Hi: bsmoke... Be careful when pushing water off it. It might contaminate your bourbon!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Iowa Dave]

Hey Bartender!
Give me three fingers Cedar Ridge Bourbon in a glass and an awning water chaser.
Dave

[cpaharley2008]

I only extend about 50% when using in the rain, it is very sturdy and the rain rolls off one side.

[nathanj04011]

I just lower one of the awning arms so the awning angles down to that side. Water runs off effortlessly. Wait, what...you can't do that? Oh snap! (Sorry, I couldn't resist. )

[blhvet]

As I posted previously, my self-dump didn't kick in and the awning on my 4 month old trailer is permanently damaged. Escape just referred me to Dometic. We're currently "in discussion" but they've pretty much told me it won't be covered under warranty.
If not, I'll be contacting Escape again. I feel misled by the information o was given.

[Dave Walter]

Seems to me that the older style manually retracted awnings with the side arms were much more reliable than the newer style automatic retracting "armless" awnings. On my older style awning, I can set up the awning so that it is fully or partially extended, with the sides level or with one side of my choosing higher or lower than the other side. This allows me to choose how and where the collected rain water flows off of the awning and to which end of the awning it discharges/dumps to the ground. I can decide based on which way the ground around the trailer slopes, where I want the awning to dump. I don't need to be concerned about whether or not the awning will dump itself or whether when it does dump, it will leave a pool of water on the ground where I do not want it to be. The armless feature is nice in theory, but to me, the newer awnings are kind of a step backwards.

[garysd]

At the end of April this year, when I was working on our trailer, we had a VERY rainy day. The awing was fully extended with the water pooling near the middle. When I came back to the trailer there was no more water pooling so I assumed that the awning's auto dump feature had worked.

This last weekend we were sitting away from the trailer, with the awning extended, and I noticed that the outer rail was slightly lower at the front. When Reace was here to replace the water lines to the bathroom he also did some adjustments to the awning, but I don't recall him saying anything about adjusting the slope.

Gary

[cpaharley2008]

I believe there is manufacturer literature explaining the slope adjustment as well as rain dump.

[freespirit]

Originally Posted by blhvet

As I posted previously, my self-dump didn't kick in and the awning on my 4 month old trailer is permanently damaged. Escape just referred me to Dometic. We're currently "in discussion" but they've pretty much told me it won't be covered under warranty.
If not, I'll be contacting Escape again. I feel misled by the information o was given.

hopefully post updates..if Dometic says take a hike then Escape is the next option as in the 2 year bumper to bumper warranty discussion on the other thread...if ETI has to replace a few it may not be worth the hassle and $$$ , as sometimes "trailer innovation" as some call it may not be worth it even to the mfg....maybe Gen 3 will be manual.
as for the 2 year warranty ...in the other thread a battery ain't worth a lawyer, but a $1k awning might be..if needed..hopefully not.