Whist we were in Belgium this year, there was one day when it rained cats and dogs. The next morning, Kari retrieved some clothes from the wadrobe and immediately said, 'these are wet'.. Oh dear.... It was clear that there was a leak round the Truma vent. As the weather was set to improve, I decided to wair until we were home to have a better look..

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The vent is sealed to the roof with a gaskect and some goo. There is a shaped external collar above the gasket that allows for the curve in the roof. It was clear that the seal between the gasket and the roof had failed. Inside the wardrobe, the flue from the Truma is a push fit onto the underside of the vent with a screw to secure it passing through the flue material and into the 'tail' of the vent. The vent is secured to the roof by a screwed collar that as is done up, pulls the vent downwards. What appeared to have happened is that the small locking screw that tightens up the collar to stop it turning had loosened, the collar had turned allowing the vent to move upwards, breaking the seal to the roof and therefore leaking. It was quite a straightforward job to strip everything out - remove the locking screw from the collar and undo it until it dropped off the threaded portion. Remove the securing screw from the flue and pull it down to release from the tail of the vent. Then pull the vent up from the outside to reveal the gasket and sealing material.

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The whole thing was cleaned up by peeling the excess seal material from the gasket and giving a clean with white spirit. The same for the roof. I had in stock a roofing material called Butyrub that seemed ideal for the task, so applied that to the gasket, reassembled the vent through the roof, attached the collar and tightened it. At this point some external pressure on the top of the vent is adviseable to ensure a good seal of the gasket and goo to the roof. Do up the locking screw on the collar as tightly as you can and re-affix the flue. Finally do up the locking screw to prevent the collar from turning.

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I've just checked it by liberally playing a hose against it and all seems well. The Butyrub, although ideal, could as well be silicone or equvalent, I would have thought.

I guess that it has taken 20 years for the locking screw to come loose but it is something easily checked in future..