Air Awnings - Warranty

[Paul_5041263]

Just debating whether to invest £600 in a new Air Awning.....
Principally driven by ease of erection and less anxiety when it gets a bit windy.
Main concerns that I have is in respect of only 1 years warranty.
Can anyone give advice as to the credibility or otherwise of the air bags. In my experience of blow up dingies even car tyres there comes a point when they all start to leak air. If the manufacturers are satisfied their product is going to last why are they not confident enough to offer a longer warranty?
Does anyone know of a manufacturer of air awnings who gives a longer warranty?
PS I am currently looking at the Kampa 260 Rally Air Pro series 2 2015. with only one year warranty

 

[Thingy]

There arent many items in this life that come with a longer warranty than 12 months. however, as I understand it, the air bags are both easy to replace/repair. I have enough faith in them to have put my Isabella up for sale and invested in a Kampa version.

 

[Sproket]

Paul

Read this about the great service from Kampa

 

[Paul_5041263]

Sproket
So, correct me if I am wrong, this gent seems to be saying that (for Kampa at least) the air bags are serviceable, is this correct?

 

[Sproket]

Hi Paul

Yes Sir Roger will be along with more details soon about how easy it was to change them as his was one of the first ones to be manufactured. Mine is the Pro Air 330 last years model with the heavier material, i use an electric pump to inflate it to 11psi it's solid as a rock that alone helps it to be free standing some of the other makes only go up to 5psi so they might look a bit limp :silly: when set up

 

[Paul_5041263]

Sproket
OK many thanks you've convinced me....

 

[Thingy]

For those in the know, do the kampa models come with a repair kit. Mine came with neither instructions nor kit.

 

[Sproket]

I seem to remember that mine came with a spare isolation valve for the top tubes....i seem to remember putting it somewhere safe so i don't loose it don't remember seeing a repair kit

But i uses two cheap rubber car mats from Asda one cut into half for under the end legs and the full one under the middle one ( only wanted three half's ) :lol: its just to help protect the bottom of the legs when on hard standings ...

 

[Thingy]

Good idea about the mats, I was wondering about some sort of protection. For the legs that is :woohoo:

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Hi Paul 5041263 Sorry I have taken a while to come in here and reply.As you have already read I had one of the first Awnings when Kampa came on the market and yes I did have problems with leaks.The leaks came from the tubes that link one tube to another.Thankfully mine came with a repair kit but was only for the fabric in the awning
along with a tube of glue .My awning leaked so badly I resorted to using the glue to try and stop the leaks as we were 150 miles from home when all this happened .Now as you can imagine I had just spent £600 pound on this awning out of my pension.Im not one to blow my top so I approached Kampa and explained what had happened its first year and the Gentleman I spoke to said If I send you a full set of tubes so that you get them next day will that be OK.Of course it was ok.They arrived next day as promised . Now dont fall asleep more to come .The next time we were away I changed tubes that were leaking and I have to say its so easy to do as well.all was well until two more started leaking Next time out I changed those two and the awning stood for three weeks without topping it up with air.Kampa do not want you to be unhappy with their awnings and will help in anyway they can. The later models dont seem to be a problem so Im sure that problem has now been overcome.Just to finish off here I now very happy with the awning so easy to erect .I hope this helps you in some way to make your mind up.I didnt change them all in one go as I believe if it aint broke dont fix it.
Sir Roger

 

[Surfer]

For those in the know, do the kampa models come with a repair kit. Mine came with neither instructions nor kit.

Nope our 2015 Kampa Air Ace never had a repair kit or instructions. We had a few quality issues with it and eventually decided to sell it on after about 5 uses. It was snapped up within days. If we ever had to buy another Air awning we woudl wait until the likes of Isabella, Ventura and other quality brands manufactured them. The way I see it is that there must be a good reason why they do not wnat to go down this route. Will an air awning last as long as a tradional quality awning? Somehow I think not even though the air awning is priced at the same level as a decent quality awning!

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Hi Surfer.As you have probably already read I had issues with My Kampa 390 Air it was one of the first ones.When I had problems with mine it was out of warranty but Kampa bent over backwards to resolve my issue.Yes it came with booklet and repair Kit and other drawing of how it was assembled on request I know they should have been with the awning but as I said I had all the help I needed from Kampa and I am now very pleased with mine .
Sir Roger

 

[Surfer]

Hi Surfer.As you have probably already read I had issues with My Kampa 390 Air it was one of the first ones.When I had problems with mine it was out of warranty but Kampa bent over backwards to resolve my issue.Yes it came with booklet and repair Kit and other drawing of how it was assembled on request I know they should have been with the awning but as I said I had all the help I needed from Kampa and I am now very pleased with mine .
Sir Roger

We were given the option of a replacement, but would have had to wait for 5 months or longer. We could have got a refund, but still woudl have been out of pocket as the accessories like the awning mat and electric pump had no issues which is why we thought the better option was to sell. We lost about £200 on the whole deal after only 5 uses. We ordered in November 2014 and awning arrived within 2 weeks, however it was not until March this year that the order was completed.

 

[Paul_5041263]

Hi, thanks for this, have now gone ahead and my Kampa Air 260 arrived today. We decided against the "pro" version although tempted by the thicker material. My wife got a bee in her bonnet about the quality and use ability of the curtains. Although you could buy and fit exterior blinds it's another expense and more items to keep track of. It did arrive with a repair kit but no instructions, however there seem to be many videos available and I think that unlike a frame to assemble there is not much to go wrong. Now looking forward to giving it a first airing later this month. Thanks again

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Hi Paul I hope you will be happy with your Kampa Awning.As you rightly say there are plenty of videos about but here is a tip for you. Feed the awning through the awning rail and inflate it , peg your four corners first.I assume you have got the two storm poles?????pegging the four corners allows you to bring the awning right close to the caravan. Now you can go round and peg out .I ask about the storm poles as they help to make the awning a snug fit to the side of your van and keep the rain and draught out. Good Luck
Sir Roger

 

[Thingy]

Although you could buy and fit exterior blinds it's another expense and more items to keep track of.

Really, where are you seeing this? I have just bought one and can find neither fixing points externally or any for sale. I def would buy them.

 

[brian_c]

Hello Paul. I know I am a little late in replying to your post. However I will tell you my experience so far regarding the Kampa Awning.
I bought one of the first issues awnings 260 model and had a slight problem in that one of the door fly screens was damaged. Both the dealer and Kampa were excellent in replacing the awning with no quibble however I had to wait due to no availability Meanwhile Kampa told me to carry on using the awning as normal. I was then given what the guy at the dealers said was the first one off the boat when new stock arrived. I don't think Kampa could have treat me better given the situation at the time.
We are now approaching a couple of years on and I still have nothing but praise for the awning. It has been used at least on twenty occasions by us and since my brother inlaw discovered that we had it I would say at least six times by him.

The issues reported in my original posts are still there regarding being slightly heavy to thread and the need to be on a level pitch but I am still more than happy with it. I don't know if we have been lucky having read reports where people have had issues regarding air leaks but our one has been fine.

In one of my previous posts I think I mentioned that having arrived home from our first trip with this awning our previous full traditional awning and our traditional porch along with a lightweight porch awning were straight on Gumtree free adds. Having vowed never to frustrate myself with aluminium poles again. A decision I have never regretted.
I hope you get as much pleasure and dare I say reliability from yours.
Best regards Brian

 

[Paul_5041263]

Hello Thingy,
Do you know have looked at so many different air awnings lately I felt sure that I had seen such a thing somewhere. However if you have an Air Pro and cant find an external zip round the windows then it looks like I must have had a senior moment. Sorry about that.
Regards

 

[Paul_5041263]

Sir Roger.
Yes, I do have the upright poles and storm tie down kit bought for my existing Kampa 260. I wasn't sure if I would need them or not with the air version so thanks for this tip. We also invested in the Kampa carpet to just finish things off. Looking forward to giving then an airing shortly.
Regards

 

[Paul_5041263]

Thanks for this Brian

 

[Thingy]

No worries Paul, I thought I may have missed something. Im not really impressed with any of the curtains in any of the awnings we have had, and blinds would have been preferable for us. Ah well.

 

[ThePlotter]

Hi I have recently bought a Vango Varkela which comes with a two year warranty but if you register it on their website you get another so three in total

 

[Paul_5041263]

In the interest of finalising my original thread, As I pointed out earlier we went ahead with the purchase of a Kampa Air 260. We have now been away for a 4 night sojourn in Lincolnshire and these comments apply to our experience. Firstly the awning was not too heavy for us to lift onto the awning rail although as we are both in our late seventies this was an expected concern. Our awning did go up very well although I did find it needed a bit more pumping than I anticipated. After we had it up we were puzzled to find two webbing straps sewn into both sides of the bottom of the awning, these had holes which suggested that they may have been intended to be pegged down. We never solved this at all and in the total absence of any instructions (thanks Kampa) maybe other readers of this could enlighten us???
Rain during our first night left a pool of water on one of the roof panels (just like our old Kampa 260) so I am wondering if we need to purchase the optional roof bar kit?
We did use our pair of side poles which we had bought for use with our old Kampa 260.
One other thing we noticed was that both outer doors did not have a lower mud wall so that each night if we wanted to seal the awning we had to deploy the inner insect screen door as well to keep out the draught. Thought this was a bad feature and gave us un-necessary work each night and morning to roll both away.
We also did not like the end curtains which could not be rolled back fully and thus maximise daylight at these two points.
Does anyone know what the black plastic plug on the centre beam is for?
We found that getting all the air out before re-packing did not go very well and I would welcome any advice as to how this can be improved, . I used the pump to expel the air but this was not a success due I think to air being trapped in certain air beams. I noticed in one of the Utube videos a certain amount of kneeling on the rolled awning to expel air. We finished with a larger package than we started with!
Generally, with some exceptions, we were quite pleased with it although an instruction book would have been nice for an item costing this amount and I think this is a very black mark for Kampa.

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Hi Paul.Send an email to kevin@kampa.co.uk explain where you are at with your awning and I am sure you will get all the help you need .As regards deflating your awning open any isolation valves you can see or find and you should have no problems deflating your awning. Inflation well I bought the electric pump as I have back problems but you shouldnt have that much of a problem with the pump.The webbing straps I peg those .Puddling in the roof well there should be two tubes somewhere in the roof section I believe .Best check on any pictures of the awning as mine is a 390 and when ours is fully inflated the roof is tight . Oh dear the black plastic plug is this just about a foot above ground level?Not wishing to be offensive but if this plug has a screw top this is where you should inflate and deflate from as well as the connectors with the taps on .If you wish you can contact Parksy he will give you my email address and we can go off forum.( Where are you in this wonderful country )
Sir Roger

 

[Sproket]

Paul
I peg the webbing straps down and for the black cap that is were i blow mine up and to deflate mine there is a twist valve on each leg. I use a 12v pump to blow it up & it can be used to suck the air out if needed. .... but this has to be done through the black cap / valve .......