Kampa Awning Problem

[Thingy]

Well well, used our new Kampa Air 390 pro Plus for the first time and probaly the last time.

Having been up for just a few days, the rear air pole exploded with one hell of a bang. It hadnt been over inflated, Kampa say 9 to 11 psi, ours was on 9psi. Yes, it was very hot, but Kampa claim to have tested these in Australia for 20 months, a wee bit hotter than Cornwall one would expect. Spare poles dont appear to be stocked by dealers and have to come direct from Kampa, which is fine whilst th awning is under warranty. I am concerned about how we would go on if out of warranty or abroad. It went on a Saturday, which meant it was late Tuesday before the replacement arrived. I cant fault kampa for that.

In their own words
"this clearly shouldnt happen", however reports of just this event are legion on the internet.

 

[Craigyoung]

I'd be devastated ! Sorry to hear that happened . Think we will always have poles for awning .

 

[Grey13]

That looks very much like a manufacturing fault. I would send it back for their review and a claim. BTW Kampa aught to be careful what with condensation and other faults their sales my well slump.

 

[Thingy]

I have just put the phone down to Kampa and what a poor attitude. The handbook clearly states that the awning should be inflated to between 9-11 psi. Kampa aftersales have just told me that it is 7-9 psi and when I challenged them they insited it was correct. Having spoken to a manager later in the call, the pressures are indeed 9-11 psi, the girl was totally wrong, and their excuse is that she is new. Not wanting to be hard on her I replied that she should have been trained properly before bcoming customer facing. They now say that they recommend in hot weather an inflation of 7-9 psi, but that information isnt directly available to the public and would only become knowledge following such an issue.

The Kampa roof lining is poor, its a hell of a stretch to make it fit, cable ties had to be used, it pools the condensation which is worse than allowing it to develop evenly inside the roof. And the Kampa limpets become very brittle and flimsy in hot weather.

 

[Kevin2306]

We bought a new Fiesta Air, used it once for a week in June and despite trying all approaches could not get it to look neat and tidy, it always looked like we had made it out of a tent !
Got home, sold it for what we paid (luckily it was brand new, unused but heavily discounted) and we have bought a new Isabella Magnum.
sorry to hear of your troubles.

Kevin

 

[Craigyoung]

But looking at all the accidents that have happened with bouncy castles when the weather has been too hot , they're bursting with the heat to !!

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Well I have just read this thread with particular interest as We bought a Kampa 390 Air when they first came out and it was nothing but trouble from its first outing.Kampa though were very good and replaced tubes after tubes . I now no longer own the thing . Its sad to hear this problem and Kampas attitude .

 

[pensioner]

We have a 260 rally pro and so far no problems, but,,,those limpets are,,they've left marks on the side of the van,,nothing that can be felt but you can see a ring and no amount of polishing gets rid of it.

 

[Buckman]

We had an Air Ace and after using it about 5 times we sold it on as condensation was a big issue even with door left open. It also had pooling on the roof and other issues. Not worth the money we paid for it.

 

[Ty]

Sorry to hear about all the issues just thought id comment we have a Kampa 390 pro plus and to be honest apart from the weight its been great ,we have only used it about 4 or 5 times so far mainly long weekends, we have just used it for 8 days in Cornwall full sunshine no clouds every day around 27 plus degrees and had no issues thanks Ty

 

[Mel]

Not wishing to tempt Fate but we have a Kampa Air 390 (not the Pro, the model before) Had it for c4 years, used it at least 6 times a year and it has been fantastic. Had one experience of condensation last October when we had a relatively warm day but cold night. Survived a very stormy night. Perhaps we have just been lucky.
(Bet it will leak next time now I have said this).
Mel

 

[otherclive]

Sorry to hear about all the issues just thought id comment we have a Kampa 390 pro plus and to be honest apart from the weight its been great ,we have only used it about 4 or 5 times so far mainly long weekends, we have just used it for 8 days in Cornwall full sunshine no clouds every day around 27 plus degrees and had no issues thanks Ty

Not a lot of moisture around at present to condense out :evil:

 

[Dustydog]

Well well, used our new Kampa Air 390 pro Plus for the first time and probaly the last time.

Having been up for just a few days, the rear air pole exploded with one hell of a bang. It hadnt been over inflated, Kampa say 9 to 11 psi, ours was on 9psi. Yes, it was very hot, but Kampa claim to have tested these in Australia for 20 months, a wee bit hotter than Cornwall one would expect. Spare poles dont appear to be stocked by dealers and have to come direct from Kampa, which is fine whilst th awning is under warranty. I am concerned about how we would go on if out of warranty or abroad. It went on a Saturday, which meant it was late Tuesday before the replacement arrived. I cant fault kampa for that.

In their own words
"this clearly shouldnt happen", however reports of just this event are legion on the internet.

HinThingy,
Just picked up your thread.
Surprised? NO!
See my previous posts a few years ago of my Rallye Pro 260 deflated. I am now on my fourth replacement inner leg . Also two outer legs have been replaced.
In fairness to Kampa, one phone call , and new parts delivered foc next day to site. Isn’t this happening now??
In truth my awning was a load of cr@p . I wish I ‘d never bought it. It resides in my loft because I haven’t the heart to dump it on some other poor soul
The idea is good,. The Kampa supplied electric pump automatically cuts out at circa 11 psi.
I had to buy the after market roof liner to allay in part the terrible condensation.
Erecting the thing was hard work. Twice as hard as the Isabella Magnum. You have to drag an entire awning , doors etc through the rail. Heavy. I appreciate we all work to a financial budget and want everything yesterday. My best advice is save up for a year and buy a carbon fibre pole Isabella or Bradcott. You won’t regret it :cheer:
Ducks to avoid the inbound missiles

 

[Thingy]

Its on my list to get shot of it, again. However, saving up to return to Isabella is def required, having just changed the caravan.

 

[Dustydog]

Its on my list to get shot of it, again. However, saving up to return to Isabella is def required, having just changed the caravan.

Bide your time, save , and buy the best :cheer:

 

[otherclive]

Given the problems with Kampa awnings I wonder if other air awnings have similar problems or do they work okay? Might say that I am a pole -man as the advantage is that the poles and awning weight can be loaded separately between caravan and Car.

 

[Beehpee]

I too have a fiesta air awning, couple of years old now, I’ve used it umpteen times in all sort of weather including last 10 days in 30+ temperatures at 9psi, then 2 days ago had terrific thunderstorms from 7pm through the night with winds that literally rocked the caravan around, I have the roof lining in and have experienced no condensation ever since using it and through that storm it never budged an inch, not the fault of the Kampa but the only thing I’ve had to do was rinse the dirt splashes from the bottom 4 feet of the awning that were caused by the bucketing down rain, I’d guess Kampa are probably amongst the biggest seller of awnings of all manufacturers, I’m not saying the biggest or by any means the best as I’ve not tried them all but given the quantity they surely sell I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some faults, trouble is people are far more likely to complain on a forum of failure than to praise good service or products, that’s just human nature, the news on tv is prime example death and destruction is news not the selfless work of volunteers in all walks of life.

BP

 

[takisawa2]

We bought a Rally Air 330 last year. I don’t recall it leaking rain in, but I don’t recall us having much in the way of rain either. I do recall it having what appeared to be bad condensation...
We bought a fan heater whilst away in October, & left that on the 1Kw setting, & it greatly reduced the condensation.
We first used the awning this year in May, & had a fully dry week. We are now away in Scotland & the first time it rained the awning leaked in terribly. I thought it might be the condensation but even with the heater on we still had rain pouring in. You could practically see it coming through the fabric.
So next chance we had I bought some Fabsil Gold. I let the air out so the awning draped down against the van. I then folded under the bottom of the awning & set to work treating the roof panels with a 3” paint brush, keeping a wet edge & rubbing with a dry cloth. I’m pleased (or not...) to say we have had a LOT of rain since, & even with 4” deep pools on the roof**, no leaks. You can see the rain staying in droplets which run off. We have had a greatly reduced level of condensation also, leading me to question wether ours was actually watertight from new...!!!
But being over a year old I had little confidence I’d have any success with pursuing a claim.
Would I buy a Kampa Air again ? Unlikely I think. I’d forego the ease of erection & go for a carbon pole job from Isabella or Bradcot. But we have it now so will be putting up with it.
Don’t get me wrong, the Kampa is a great product but it looks like it has some drawbacks. The aforementioned pooling** for example, I don’t seem to be able to eradicate it.
If you have a Kampa awning I’d definitely recommend the Fabsil treatment. It took a little over an hour & we have a perfectly watertight awning & what appears to be a lot less condensation.

 

[Dustydog]

Welcome to the “ I learnt my lesson Club”
Good prognosis. Go for the brands you mentioned you will never look back B)

 

[Kevin2306]

I’m not sure if I’ve already commented but, I bought a new fiesta air, used it for one week and sold it.
Just bought a new Isabella Minor, lovely quality and looks really sharp.

Kevin

 

[woodsieboy]

Given the problems with Kampa awnings I wonder if other air awnings have similar problems or do they work okay? Might say that I am a pole -man as the advantage is that the poles and awning weight can be loaded separately between caravan and Car.

Hi Clive
We are on our fourth season with our air awning a Gateway 390, relatively cheap to buy, under £400 and has been used in 39 degrees in France and minus 5 at Longleat only issue slight fading,it has removeable end panels to add annexe, and the 3 front panels roll up, can be used with just flyscreens too, don't see many of them about, seems a lot of dealers don't stock them, in favour of the more expensive brands, we also have a Vango Air 150 for weekends , so far so good with that one too,i would not go back to poles as things are at present,each to their own though and we always had good service from our Ventura and Quest poled awnings currently sat in the garage,not been used for 4 years.I like the fact that you only carry 1 package takes up less space in the car.

 

[Thingy]

Quick update, said air awning now history (thanks Ebay), have gone back to poles with the Ambassador Insignia. Bought just in time too as I really dont like next seasons Isabella colours. Dawn apparently.