plastics, as in the future is in...

[vickiervsd]

so my outdoor plastic pieces and parts of the 2014 escape are crumbling, stored outdoors under cover, but still...is this normal I suppose? Should I replace with some other kind of vent cover, door holder, etc...?
What do youse guys recommend?

[John in Santa Cruz]

those covers and vents are all generic rv parts, made by the likes of Camco, and yes, they are cheap and yellow and crumble.

take the new ones, before installing, wipe them down with rubbing alchol, then spray with a couple coats of a white UV resistant plastic self priming paint, and they should last a good bit longer..

[gbaglo]

Everything is "biodegradable" in the end.
Krylon Fusion Dover White does a good job of prolonging plastics life.
Cable guy apologized for using black clips on my white house, but explained that the white clips deteriorate much faster when exposed to UV.

[Iowa Dave]

If I want zip ties to last I use black ones. For temporary use, white ties. For small jobs I have a bag of very small grey ties that I got at a sale that were from a telephone company( remember those)? They last a long time too.
Iowa Dave

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

If I want zip ties to last I use black ones. For temporary use, white ties. For small jobs I have a bag of very small grey ties that I got at a sale that were from a telephone company( remember those)? They last a long time too.
Iowa Dave

Hi: Iowa Dave... Some "Red ties" only last one term. "ET phone home"!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by vickiervsd

so my outdoor plastic pieces and parts of the 2014 escape are crumbling, stored outdoors under cover, but still...is this normal I suppose? Should I replace with some other kind of vent cover, door holder, etc...?
What do youse guys recommend?

Hi: vickiersd... Metal pieces get to hot, but some plastic parts aren't UV protected. Sunburn isn't only a human condition. I changed out my stove vent due to it yellowing but painted it Dover white B/4 installing. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by escape artist

Hi: Iowa Dave... Some "Red ties" only last one term. "ET phone home"!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

Hi Alf
I tied Jake to my camper step with some red licorice.
Came back and he was gone and so was the licorice.
Couldn’t figure it out for the longest time.
Have a great day
Iowa Dave

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by vickiervsd

so my outdoor plastic pieces and parts of the 2014 escape are crumbling, stored outdoors under cover, but still...is this normal I suppose? Should I replace with some other kind of vent cover, door holder, etc...?
What do youse guys recommend?

If you have a typical vent lid, yeah, they get brittle after 3-5 years. I recommend adding one of these Maxxair covers over the vent besides changing the lid itself. The cover is easy to change out later if needed but it will last longer than those chintzy lids. And you can leave the vent open 24/7 if you wish.

[RangerMan]

Off thread a bit but please remember to recycle your plastics if at all possible. When we started doing this some years back, I was amazed at all the plastic stuff we used.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by vickiervsd

so my outdoor plastic pieces and parts of the 2014 escape are crumbling, stored outdoors under cover, but still...is this normal I suppose? Should I replace with some other kind of vent cover, door holder, etc...?
What do youse guys recommend?

Wow, you got that many years use before it fell apart.

See my post from a couple of weeks ago. "Roof Vent Removal" for other folks experience. I only got a couple of years.

Ron

[John in Santa Cruz]

the smoke colored hood for the maxfan deluxe seems to last a lot longer than flap hoods on fantastic fans, and such.

[HABBERDABBER]

Carbon black, aka soot, is added to plastics and rubber for UV durability. The carbon absorbs the UV and isn't degraded significantly and adds a measure of plastic polymer molecular protection, so I'm told.
That old sun, wandering about the sky, is as others have noted, a "partially" shielded, but none the less, a fusion reactor up there in the sky. Tough on everything, but I thank the Great Spirit it's up there and wandering.

[Shiny]

Thanks for the warning! Will inspect.

When I was paid to think about stuff... we had UV test chambers and statistical exposure models to assess materials. Accelerated UV testing was a standard part of product assurance testing.

It's too bad the RV industry doesn't want to pay for UV-resistance but is what it is and I'll watch for this.

[MyronL]

The unfortunate thing about things made with plastic and kept outdoors in sub-zero temperatures is they get to be as brittle as egg shells. Then, to paraphrase Ralph Kramden, its boom-crash!

[California Dreaming]

Hi Vickie,
Small world, I also have a 2014 15' trailer and just a couple weeks ago my freshwater valve crumbled when I went to enter tank. Of course, I popped in and searched for advice. Replaced valve with Camco part. I haven't noticed any other plastic crumbling but will get took inspecting since trailer sits covered (most of the time) outside. I live in a very hot part of Cali so I imagine the fan cover is dust. Thanks for posting!