draught from rooflight when travelling

Has anyone any ideas to stop a cold draught in the cab and travellling seats when on the move. I fasten the rooflight down till the winder stops but when travelling there is a big cold draught coming in. I have tried using the blind but the info says not to use when travelling.
Thanks.

We have always closed the roof blinds on rooflights that have caused problems, mainly the luton one in both the Executive and the Windsor.

It was so bad at one stage some owners cut a piece of ply, covered it in the roof lining material and stuffed the ply between the flyscreen and the window bit - never had to resort to that though.

I know its no consolation but you are not the only ones that suffer

Hi there,

Last week Lidl had a set of five rolls of thin width draft excluder (for doors) on offer.

I don't think a strip of this along the upper edge of the closure would do any harm!

Best regards,

We too, have noticed a cold draught sometimes when on the move, ours however, ARE totally cured by closing the blackout blinds

This thread prompts me to ask about Heki rooflights. On the Clubman (well, on my vintage Clubman) the small roof light at the front of the vehicle is of the pop-up type. No winder, just release the catch and lift it upwards. When driving - especially in windy conditions - it's very noisy. I have for a few years been contemplating swapping it for a Heki - especially as the existing one becomes more brittle with age. I am concerned that one day it might not stay secured if something snaps.

However, I don't know anyone who has a small Heki in a similar position. If any member does, can you please tell me whether it's also noisy when driving, and / or whether it's draughty? Should I swap, or leave well alone?

Thanks.

There is a small (mini?) Heki that will go directly in that space, brother in law did a swop on his Exec to cure the noise, it also stopped the draughts !. Pretty certain its the same size as on the Clubman

roli wrote:There is a small (mini?) Heki that will go directly in that space, brother in law did a swop on his Exec to cure the noise, it also stopped the draughts !. Pretty certain its the same size as on the Clubman

Ah! Thanks! That's what I wanted to know: that the Heki is quieter than the original. Many thanks for that confirmation.

Cymro

Heiki rooflights do not close completely as regulations require convertors to provide a certain amount of ventilation at the top of the van and this would appear to be causing the problem, some vans are fitted with a defelector in front of the Heiki which is supposed to solve this problem,if all else fails how about some small size plumbers pipe lagging fitted round the plastic rim to seal it whilst travelling. This stuff is partly split down its length and you pull it apart and it should then fit round the rim. available from B&Q or similar or a plumbers merchant.

Brian2

We were fed up with the noise from our front roof vent, so now just stuff a small cushion under the fly screen and clip the Luton large door up (in case !!) when travelling …… makes the world of difference

Haven’t noticed a draught though …. perhaps my ‘blubber’ helps

Brian

Cymro
I fitted a Dometic Mini-Heki to my clubman a few yeras ago. There are 2 types, with or without fixed ventilation. To be sure of a quiet trip make sure you get the one without ventillation . There are enough places around the van where ventilation has been designed in by A/S

Another benefit is the extra light that is let through. It really does make a difference.

Regards

John

Excellent - thank you very much, John ["Hoopman"].
Gareth

John makes a valid point there over the extra light. Its surprising how much light the original windows cut out

Barbara K wrote:Has anyone any ideas to stop a cold draught in the cab and travellling seats when on the move. I fasten the rooflight down till the winder stops but when travelling there is a big cold draught coming in. I have tried using the blind but the info says not to use when travelling.
Thanks.

I found the problem on my Northants was due to the fact that the rubber seal as factory fitted is only fitted to half of the rooflight rim. My dealer offered to obtain a new lenght of rubber sealer, which is avaiable from the rooflight manufactures to encompass the whole of the rim. However, they then advised that they would fail the van when carrying out the habitation check as it is they say mandatory to have the extra ventilation provided by only sealing half the rooflight area.
Being fed up with the draught during the winter months when gale force winds were causing the underblind to be blown out of its guide I contacted the rooflight manufacturers who provided the correct length to seal the light properly so that we no longer have a gale blowing through the rooflight when travelling or at night.
With regard to ventilation, you can always open the rooflight a fraction to keep the van ventilated at night if you are using the gas heater, which we do not.
It seems necessary to re-fit the short lenth of rubber for the purpose of passing the habitation check.
George G

Not noticed a draught on mine , but a couple of times I have left the paper blind shut by accident and found it being sucked up when I stopped. Managed to get it back on it`s runner but a bit crumpled now,

Our Cotswold was the same with the big opening roof window which allowed a lot of wind threw the camper whilst driving and caused a pain in the back of our necks at times. If the blind was closed it started to flap about and was obvious continued use during driving was going to damage it.
On inspection it was indeed the rubber seal had been left out for over half the diameter of the window as a ventallation requirement by law, Anyways we were able to obtain a meter length of the manufacturer rubber seal and installed that ourselves, very easy job. This still left a smallish gap to either side but we have no wind issues now when travelling.
What I personally do not understand is why this is required as there are already vents for fridges, microwaves, bathroom roof windows etc

If you ask your motorhome dealer very very nicely they may get you the rubber seal but wont install it as they are not allowed to, I dont think they are even supposed to supply it now either There are actually quite a few different seals so be sure to get the right one.

Just checked mine and I have rubber all the way round , with just a one inch gap at front and back in it.
What I have found is when you wind it shut as far as it will wind and put the handle in the sunk part, the roof window still has a bit of upward movement .
So I wound it a half turn and left the handle on outside of roof window frame and it does not move now.

Gary

Please take care, the rooflights let air circulate so that when you burn gas you have the right amount of ventilation. Believe it or not the converters have to do a lot of calculations on the air circulation so you must not block ventilators up - its can be very dangerous.