Window and door dust sealing

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Window and door dust sealing

Postby lrrowe » Wed Jun 25, 2014 7:40 pm

I have a question for both TD and CT owners. When you drive down dusty roads, how is the dust situation inside your trailer? I guess I am asking if you get a lot of dust sneaking inside the trailer thru any closed door or window? I know when I drive on forest roads, with my truck and tonneau cover, I get dust all over everything in the back. I know that to fix this issue with the tonneau covered area, it only makes sense to use more gasket materials and make more precise adjustments to the cover's fit.

But what might I expect with a trailer? In my case, a CT?

Bob
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Re: Window and door dust sealing

Postby hoytedow » Fri Jun 27, 2014 7:17 pm

You don't really want it sealed too tight. Better to be dusty than to smother. Just blow the dust out when you get to the campsite with an inflator pump.
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Re: Window and door dust sealing

Postby hoytedow » Fri Jun 27, 2014 7:19 pm

We never accumulated much dust last year on our trip to Colorado and Arizona.
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Re: Window and door dust sealing

Postby lrrowe » Fri Jun 27, 2014 7:59 pm

So you are saying "some", but not much.
This is good.
Bob
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Re: Window and door dust sealing

Postby hoytedow » Fri Jun 27, 2014 8:02 pm

Whatever dust entered the camper was mostly on our shoes. 8)
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Re: Window and door dust sealing

Postby Rainier70 » Fri Jun 27, 2014 8:51 pm

I travel hundreds of miles a year on gravel/flourdust roads. At first I had some trouble with it, but as I have chased down the problem areas, I have very little now.

First problem area was the weather stripping on the doors. The corners where the sealant strips met were not always together. A little flexible sealant to "glue" the ends together took care of most of that. I still have a small amount by my side door. I will eventually find where it is coming in.

Next were the floor seams. I ended up sealing these both under the trailer and on the upper part of the seams themselves.

The back doors seal pretty good, but dust settles in a pile on the top of the seals, and if you aren't careful it will come in when you open the back doors. I have a very thin nylon curtain that goes over the back door area that catches that junk and keeps it out. It is attached on the sides and top with velco tabs, and acts as a dirt catcher and a very fine bug screen. It isn't always on there, but I try to have it up before I travel.

Next was around the base of all the walls. Cargo trailers with overlapping alum siding on the outside allow a lot of fine dust through and into the wall area. I had to put a line of caulk both on the bottom and the top of the molding there. I still have a couple of vertical seams on it that I didn't do and need to.

Last was doing the back corners by the barn doors. This area is where you can access the rear lights so it needs to be accessible for repairs. Since that is also where part of my bed frame attaches and folds up against I hadn't fully sealed it off. All the dust that I thought was coming in the back doors was actually from these two vertical seams. I opened both of them up, carefully taped the vapor barrier in there and then lightly sealed the corner with metal "drip edging". No more dust in that area! viewtopic.php?f=42&t=55219&start=120

I'm not worried about ventilation. When I am in the trailer and the cargo door bars are off the doors, they don't fit very tight. I can see light and feel the draft on the side door alone. Plus I always have the top vent open and usually a window or two.

Dust from the roads can be really nasty and gives my hubby some bad allergy attacks so I try to keep it out as much as possible. We have a canopy on the truck that I gave up camping in because there is no way to keep that fine flour road dust out.
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Re: Window and door dust sealing

Postby Corwin C » Sat Aug 02, 2014 11:42 am

I am very sensitive to dust and allergens, and unfortunately virtually all of the camping areas that I frequent require at least some travel on dirt roads. Here's my proactive plan ...

Install a fan/blower of sufficient size to ever so slightly pressurize the cabin (the tighter I build, the smaller the fan can be.) The fan will draw air through a filter of some sort (currently thinking vacuum filter as there are many HEPA rated options.) If the air is trying to get out of the cabin, then any leaks that may be present will be letting filtered air out instead of dust in. When occupied, the same fan will provide filtered (or unfiltered should I choose to remove it) airflow into the cabin and out through close able vents and/or windows for sleeping comfort.

The biggest challenges with this plan is where to draw air from to maximize the lifespan of the filter and having a sufficient fan/blower for the task.
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Re: Window and door dust sealing

Postby lrrowe » Sat Aug 02, 2014 1:35 pm

Corwin, I had the same notion that if the pressure inside was greater then outside, then no dust could get in. My first somewhat unscientific thought was to add the air vents on the top front side of the trailer with no exit vent so the air coming in had no place to go and thus create a positive pressure. But then I thought about the dust that the TV puts up and how that would rise to the vents and then my result would be worse.

So I will watch your progress on your idea very closely.
Bob

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Re: Window and door dust sealing

Postby wagondude » Mon Aug 04, 2014 8:37 pm

I drive a cargo version of the Sprinter for work. In the cargo area there is a fan in the center of the roof. The fan is reversible. When traveling down gravel roads, I set the fan to blow in and that keeps the dust down to almost nothing. There is no filter at all, but one wouldn't hurt at all. A fantastic fan with an all weather dome should work just as well.
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Re: Window and door dust sealing

Postby lrrowe » Tue Aug 05, 2014 8:00 pm

Thanks, that is something I can test without doing anything after the fan is installed in the vent and wired to be reversible. This method also assumes there is no road dust at ceiling height. But I wonder what happens when you follow someone who is putting up a lot of dust. I guess that means you slow down and let the dust pass. In this case the filter might also be a good idea.
Bob

First Post on Purchase of Trailer: http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=60722
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