Shower Door

[igotjam]

Renturned after a day out to find glass in the kitchen, on the bed and all over the bedroom and bathroom floor. The shower door had disintegrated into a zillion pieces. No one has access to our trailer, the door was locked and nothing has touched the outside. Last shower taken was last night.
DT will send me a door next week. Not sure how I fix the holes in the lino but a door would be good.
Anyone ever heard of this???
The reason I ask is that Tom Peck at DT said he has never heard of such a thing. He didn't call us liars but I know he did not believe us. Not sure I would either. Has this happened before?

[KSRVER]

Yes, I do remember maybe a year or so ago the same thing happened to another Mobile Suite owner but I don't remember who it was. Seems to me they were in the 5th wheel when it happened, I could be wrong on that.

[layne]

My parents have a Teton Homes with a shower like the one in our ES. The same thing happened to theirs right after they got their trailer. It wasn't in any kind of jam or unlevel situation, just shattered in a zillion tiny pieces while they were gone for a little while.

[Gunship Guy]

I believe Hobo may have had this happen to him.

[Hobo]

Yes ours blew as we sat watching TV. Sounded like a M 80 going off.
DT has heard about it as they sent out a replacement to Fun & Sun in MI to replace it.

[Diesel-Gypsy]

:shock: ...sounds like a job for Fox Mulder & Dana Scully.....

Seriously, it is pretty hard to imagine this happening with-out an ''Obvious'' cause...

I mean there is / was some sort of stress on the glass, but from where?

Rick

[igotjam]

Diesel-Gypsy
I agree with you, it doesn't ring true, but I was there. I think Mulder is busy...perhaps the Myth Busters?

[Diesel-Gypsy]

I'm just curious as to the outcome of the exploding shower-door.
Did DT buck-up and ship you a replacement gratis?

Rick

[igotjam]

UPDATE:
DT shipped replacement door. It was similar but different. (original door was frosted glass.. the one they sent was clear glass) Doesn't look right but I installed it. I couldn't get the door to close so called a service guy after trying to get adjustment directions from DT and Indiana Performance. The service guys gave up saying magnets might help.
A week later I got an appointment with a DT dealer (Camping World New Braunfels, TX) and figured the pros could do it. They spent 3.5 hours and ended up cutting all the plastic wiper stuff off the door and shower enclosure. It now closes but won't stay closed. There is also a .25 inch gap around the door for water to escape the enclosure. They suggested magnets to keep it closed.
DT finally sent me new magnetic strips. I installed them but there is no magetic pull so the door sits about an inch open all the time.
Not sure what my next move is. At this point total frustration has set in.

[Haggis]

The cause of the shower door shattering is all in the manufacturing of the door at the glass works.

If the glass in the door has not been heated and cooled (Annealed) properly while being made, the correct tension and compression is not in the glass, therefore it will shatter under the right conditions.

When the glass is put under a polariscope you can see the forces of the tension and compression in blue and red. Glass will only break under too much tension.

An example of tension and compression;

The rim of a bicyle is in compression, the spokes are in tension. The rim of a wagon wheel (held together with a metal band) is in tension the wooden spokes would be in compression.

I worked with glass for 17 years at Canadian General Electric.

Hope I have not made the waters too muddy. :?

Geoff :wink:

[bstark]

Geoff: Neat stuff! I've often wondered if the fact that the stalls are installed so as to cause the doors not to close evenly and then the magnet strip does the rest is keeping the door torqued and subject to stress. On mine the bottom touches first leaving a gap of an inch at the top of the door before it closes with a push that the magnet will then hold.