Community Forums

RV Wizard · 11-08-2005, 11:56 PM

A while back the discussion came up here on the forum of the problem some were having of the A&E Automatic awnings NOT dumping the rain water off the extended awning. Remembering this discussion yesterday when I had a customer come into the dealership with this same problem to be corrected; I revisited the forum to refresh my memory. Then I called Dometic and found that due to the way the awning was installed by the mfg of the coach, the wrong model awning was used. The model in question was an 815xxxxxx and should have been a model 845xxxxx.xxx. My point is to reiterate that if your awning arms do not go out to where they are straight with each other the fabric is not wide enough and needs to be corrected so the awning can "dump" the water as designed. We are going to add a slat to the guard and change the fabric to the right width to correct this problem. The width must be more than 91" from the side of the coach or the arms will have the bend in the connection point, this puts the assembly in a bind and it will not dump. If when fully extended and the arms are straight with each half the awning should dump as designed.

edited; Corrected spelling and punctuation.

RV Wizard · 11-08-2005, 11:56 PM

A while back the discussion came up here on the forum of the problem some were having of the A&E Automatic awnings NOT dumping the rain water off the extended awning. Remembering this discussion yesterday when I had a customer come into the dealership with this same problem to be corrected; I revisited the forum to refresh my memory. Then I called Dometic and found that due to the way the awning was installed by the mfg of the coach, the wrong model awning was used. The model in question was an 815xxxxxx and should have been a model 845xxxxx.xxx. My point is to reiterate that if your awning arms do not go out to where they are straight with each other the fabric is not wide enough and needs to be corrected so the awning can "dump" the water as designed. We are going to add a slat to the guard and change the fabric to the right width to correct this problem. The width must be more than 91" from the side of the coach or the arms will have the bend in the connection point, this puts the assembly in a bind and it will not dump. If when fully extended and the arms are straight with each half the awning should dump as designed.

edited; Corrected spelling and punctuation.

Edmund A Skibinski · 11-09-2005, 01:12 AM

Mike, Thanks for the follow-up on the A&E Automatic awning, will keep this information in our personal RV file. Ed.S

RV Wizard · 11-09-2005, 01:43 AM

Ed, you are welcome. I am always willing to help, just don't have as much time as I once had and miss that part of my life!

Bob RV · 11-09-2005, 12:44 PM

Mike--it might have been my post. My awning dumps-but only after it collects alot of water-and then all the water does not dump. What you described is just how our awning looks when it is in the out position. After taking my mh to the dealer to look at the awning and a few other items the dealer said we have the wrong cloth on our mh and need a longer cloth (from mh to end of awing)so our arms will be straight. They just callled today to say that the awning is in and we will be bringing it to them soon. Thakns for your explination!

Tom N · 11-09-2005, 05:08 PM

My buddy had short awning material on his '05 Horizon 40AD thus his arms were not completely extended but his awning dumped water correctly.

If the awning dump mechcanism is operating correctly the only cause of not dumping would be water not pooling near the awning roller. If the pool of water is in the middle or close to the coach the awning will not dump because the dump mechcanism is triggered by the weight of the water. Awning arms being straight or slightly bent will no interfer with dumping.

Also, if water is not pooling along the awning roller your coach may not be level.

Bob RV · 11-10-2005, 02:24 AM

TomN--I remember all the very useful info from my original post that you offered, but for our awning this is not the case. Our awning has a 'sag' in the middle-causing the water to pool in the middle of it near the roller (the coach was level). Our roller bar has even bent due to too much water poolling. Once the longer cloth is put on it will allow the cloth to be tight and therefore the water will not pool in such a large quantity and it will dump. I guess this will have to be a wait and see if it works situation.

Bob RV · 11-30-2005, 03:54 PM

Just to bring everyone up to date our dealership replaced the awning cloth and now our arms extend al the way out like they are supposed to do, In turn it changes the angle of the awning towards the tube so the water pools towards the outside edge and it dump with out a problem. Thank for everyones input!