Awning is so high and no feature to auto-dump

[Skuchiegirl]

Sorry if I am posting in the wrong place. I am a new owner of a 2013 Country Ridge with an electric awning. We had our awning out this weekend and were struck by how "straight out" (read 90° angle) the awning is. It is also so high up that we can't hang our patio lights on it without a ladder. This isn't necessarily a problem, just an irritation. My question arrives from the fact that it started to rain while we were camping. The rain continues, the awning started to "sag" appreciably in the middle, so I grabbed a broom and pushed up on it from underneath to dump off the water. I did this every 10 minutes just in case. I didn't want to pull the awning in because we had so much stuff on the deck that we didn't want wet.

Was all this necessary? Is there a way to lower one corner, even by a couple of inches, so the rain gently rolls off one corner, where we want it to? Thanks!

P.s. does anyone know what brand of power awning this might be? I can't find it in any of the literature.

 

[danemayer]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Hi Skuchiegirl,

I don't know about the Country Ridge, but many of the awnings used by Heartland are made by Dometic. There is usually an awning document in the pouch full of manuals that came with your trailer. We have softcopy of a few of the awning manuals at this link.

Many of the awnings have knobs on the folding arms. If you have them, you can pull down on one side of the awning and tighten the knob to hold the arm in that position. That tilts the awning to let it shed rainwater.

 

[Skuchiegirl]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Hi Dan, thank you for the fast reply. Sadly, ours does not have that knob. Here is a picture of the awning. Does that help? I really want to drop one corner so the rain runs off. I don't want to rely on the "dump" feature, if in fact, we have that. I wasnt going to take that chance!//heartlandowners.org/webkit-fake-url://AC8CCF72-EAF5-461E-867B-08DBD248F942/imagejpeg

 

[danemayer]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Try posting the picture again. It may have been blocked by the forum software because you're new to posting.

 

[Skuchiegirl]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

That is probably right. Here is a link to the photo: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Tp1PM7dq6NAgO_QpjBHLmDp5_G0cXkleSi1FOkqDLuk?feat=directlink

 

[Skuchiegirl]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Does it look like it can be adjusted at all? Does the dump feature actually work? The sagging in the middle was awful to look at. It made me wonder what would happen if it started to rain in the middle of the night? What determines when the water will be "dumped"?

 

[danemayer]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Hopefully someone else has the same awning and can tell you how to get it to shed water. If you don't get any answers in a day or two, call Heartland Customer Service at 877-262-8032 / 574-262-8030. Have your VIN # ready. They should be able to tell you.

 

[JohnDar]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Hi Dan, thank you for the fast reply. Sadly, ours does not have that knob. Here is a picture of the awning. Does that help? I really want to drop one corner so the rain runs off. I don't want to rely on the "dump" feature, if in fact, we have that. I wasnt going to take that chance!//heartlandowners.org/webkit-fake-url://AC8CCF72-EAF5-461E-867B-08DBD248F942/imagejpeg

If your awning should fill with water and bulge, be VERY careful how you lift it up to help it drain. Made that mistake on our previous TT. Fortunately, I had a $100 deductible on replacing the entire (manual) awning, roller and arms.

 

[Silverado23]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Does it look like it can be adjusted at all? Does the dump feature actually work? The sagging in the middle was awful to look at. It made me wonder what would happen if it started to rain in the middle of the night? What determines when the water will be "dumped"?

Your awning looks like the Carefree of Colorado Travel'r awning that I have on my North Trail. If it is, It should have an auto dump feature that works pretty well. As water gathers a bit of sag will develop and one end of the awning will pull in a little and water will run off the end of the awning. You can test this feature by pulling down on end of the bracket where the gas spring attaches in the middle of the awning arm.

Page 5 of the owners manual describes the rain dump feature.
http://www.carefreeofcolorado.com/docs/tech/052540-221r4 Travel'R, Owners Manual.pdf

 

[Skuchiegirl]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Your awning looks like the Carefree of Colorado Travel'r awning that I have on my North Trail. If it is, It should have an auto dump feature that works pretty well. As water gathers a bit of sag will develop and one end of the awning will pull in a little and water will run off the end of the awning. You can test this feature by pulling down on end of the bracket where the gas spring attaches in the middle of the awning arm.

Page 5 of the owners manual describes the rain dump feature.
http://www.carefreeofcolorado.com/docs/tech/052540-221r4 Travel'R, Owners Manual.pdf

Thank you! Yes, that does look exactly like our awning. When it rained, the awning began to collect water in the centre creating a bulge that worried us. We weren't brave enough to let it fill enough to test the "dump" feature so we used a broom to lift the centre and drain it ourselves. This seems like a strange feature to me. Why would I want a sudden gush of water that happens without warning and such volume? I was planning a small garden on one end of our deck but that's out now. Also, we have our kids bikes leaning against the other end of the deck. I guess we have to move those now too. I wish we had the adjustable pitch awning. I saw some other threads where people drilled their own holes and made their own adjustable pitch arms. Might have to look into that! The set up I have makes me nervous. LOL

 

[danemayer]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Your awning looks like the Carefree of Colorado Travel'r awning that I have on my North Trail. If it is, It should have an auto dump feature that works pretty well. As water gathers a bit of sag will develop and one end of the awning will pull in a little and water will run off the end of the awning. You can test this feature by pulling down on end of the bracket where the gas spring attaches in the middle of the awning arm.

Page 5 of the owners manual describes the rain dump feature.
http://www.carefreeofcolorado.com/docs/tech/052540-221r4 Travel'R, Owners Manual.pdf

Silverado23,

Thanks for posting the link. I've added the manual to the manuals section of the forum.

 

[pegmikef]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Auto Dump Feature . . . I found out the hard way that this does not work if you have your awning tied down to keep it from lifting on windy days . . . I brought it home and tested it using a garden hose and it really didn't take much water for it to dump when it wasn't tied down.

 

[Silverado23]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Auto Dump Feature . . . I found out the hard way that this does not work if you have your awning tied down to keep it from lifting on windy days . . . I brought it home and tested it using a garden hose and it really didn't take much water for it to dump when it wasn't tied down.

I figured out that if you tied your awning down on one end with the anchor directly below the end of the awning the auto dump feature still works for that end and will still help keep your awning down in a breeze.

 

[Silverado23]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Thank you! Yes, that does look exactly like our awning. When it rained, the awning began to collect water in the centre creating a bulge that worried us. We weren't brave enough to let it fill enough to test the "dump" feature so we used a broom to lift the centre and drain it ourselves. This seems like a strange feature to me. Why would I want a sudden gush of water that happens without warning and such volume? I was planning a small garden on one end of our deck but that's out now. Also, we have our kids bikes leaning against the other end of the deck. I guess we have to move those now too. I wish we had the adjustable pitch awning. I saw some other threads where people drilled their own holes and made their own adjustable pitch arms. Might have to look into that! The set up I have makes me nervous. LOL

Rather than pushing up on the bulge. I just pull down on the preferred awning bracket once the bulge starts to help encourage the water to dump off the preferred end. Once the dump feature starts dumping water it does seem to dump more frequently and usually less volume than the first gush.

The biggest problem to having adjustable arms on those that have fixed awnings is usually the awning will not have enough clearance for the door to open without hitting the awning.

 

[JohnDar]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Warning #2: if you have a manual awning and it bulges with water, never, ever go and try to drop the arm on one side. Releasing the pin will put more weight on the little handle, forcing it from your hand and putting a shock load into the system. Result is likely a broken roller, torn awning, bent arms, damage to the arm mounts, and the ridicule of the entire campground. Along with an unplanned bath for you.

Were I faced with that situation again, I'd use a piece of hose and siphon it out of the bulge.

DAMHIKT.

 

[Silverado23]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

Warning #2: if you have a manual awning and it bulges with water, never, ever go and try to drop the arm on one side. Releasing the pin will put more weight on the little handle, forcing it from your hand and putting a shock load into the system. Result is likely a broken roller, torn awning, bent arms, damage to the arm mounts, and the ridicule of the entire campground. Along with an unplanned bath for you.

DAMHIKT.

You know people pay to take their kids to a water park so that the kids can stand and wait for the giant water bucket to spill down on them in one giant gush. Maybe you can start charging to stand under your awning until the water spills?

 

[ParkIt]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

We had an unexpected hail/slush dump and the awning was out, rushed to get it rolled in. The 'auto dump' didn't work but one of the tension arms literally collapsed on one side once we got it half rolled up brushing off the weight as we rolled it in...I'm wondering if that's the "dump" feature.
If it is, it isn't working right!

 

[JohnDar]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

You know people pay to take their kids to a water park so that the kids can stand and wait for the giant water bucket to spill down on them in one giant gush. Maybe you can start charging to stand under your awning until the water spills?
View attachment 24459

Sorry, the park is closed . With the BH, the awning is tight and seems to naturally drain to the front of the rig, even with the rig level. With the former TT, I screwed up and didn't set it up properly. A cloud burst while I was napping did the rest.

 

[ParkIt]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

When water runs over the gimp molding to the gutter, ours also drains to the front flat level. Its the sudden downpours with sloppy hail that seem to have done ours in even though we were keeping it off the awning, few can hold up to those.
What gets me is why they put a down spout between the entry door and slide out...the steps and entry don't stay dry. I'm still trying to figure if we should get a larger awning and remove the spout or angle it so it runs off the back.

 

[Skuchiegirl]

Re: Awning problem... where to ask?

The dump feature does work. Makes an awful lot of noise and mess though. I'm not a fan and will consider trading this one in for a manual. It has peeled all the stain off the part of our deck where it "dumps" and has created a deep hole in the grass where the deck meets the lawn. Boo....