Romini cupboard doors

[pamsicle]

Have any Romini owners had this problem. I was checking the van the other week and when I went to open a cupboard door, I found the catch was stiff and the door couldn't be opened. I eventually had to take the door off the hinges to get into the cupboard. strange thing was that one the door was open the catch lost it's stiffness. I have left the cupboard doors open, since I noticed on checking the rest of the catches that they too seemed stiff. Is this a winter thing. Has perhaps the wooden door swollen. This problem never occurred during the summer Pam

[jayjay]

Have any Romini owners had this problem. I was checking the van the other week and when I went to open a cupboard door, I found the catch was stiff and the door couldn't be opened. I eventually had to take the door off the hinges to get into the cupboard. strange thing was that one the door was open the catch lost it's stiffness. I have left the cupboard doors open, since I noticed on checking the rest of the catches that they too seemed stiff. Is this a winter thing. Has perhaps the wooden door swollen. This problem never occurred during the summer Pam

Hi Pam, yes it is the cupboard doors swelling in the cold weather. Loads of caravan owners remark on it. Quite a number say leave your cupboard doors shut then they won't swell out of size and never shut again! (doesn't mention if you can never open them again in reverse though!)

A lot of ppl put a bit of WD40 on the catches, and candle wax or similar along the edges of the doors to prevent the problem. And bowls of salt or little dehumidifiers inside the van. Don't know if it works though, just trusting to luck with mine!

I always used to put a bowl of salt inside the Roma and it seemed to work well. You can put the bowl on a radiator to dry and use again if it gets damp.

[pamsicle]

Romini cupboard door

Hi Jayjay. well now I don't know whether or not to leave the cupboard doors closed over the winter and not try to open them or to leave them all open. since this my first winter with the van I'm just finding these things out.

Pam

[jayjay]

I know, Pam!

There is so much conflicting advice out there, so confusing!

The main thing to remember is to drain all the water out of the tap(s) - that does the most damage if there's a frost.

Try the salt bowl and leave it in there for a couple of days, if the cupboard doors get easier, then that's the way forward. It worked with my demountable romahome which was GRP and I never had any problems as long as I remembered the salt!

One other thing I remembered was to make sure your caravan is level as it may have sunk or something whilst left on the drive, as this can be another reason why the cupboard doors won't open and shut properly.

As you can rarely get a caravan perfectly level on a site, I found that various doors (and the pop-top roof) on mine worked perfectly or were hard to open at various times when I went out on my travels last year.

[Twolitre]

That seems strange Pam.
As your doors are surface doors, rather than fitting in to the cabinet, any normal swelling should not jam them and I cannot imagine them swelling enough to jam the catch.
Went out specially to check mine - no problems. Could it be that the catch mechanism does not like low temperatures? Perhaps putting a heater inside for a little while will answer that.
Sorry I have responded so long after your post, but I have had a computer gremlin problem. Just sorted.
Jim.

[pamsicle]

Romini cupboard doors

That seems strange Pam.
As your doors are surface doors, rather than fitting in to the cabinet, any normal swelling should not jam them and I cannot imagine them swelling enough to jam the catch.
Went out specially to check mine - no problems. Could it be that the catch mechanism does not like low temperatures? Perhaps putting a heater inside for a little while will answer that.
Sorry I have responded so long after your post, but I have had a computer gremlin problem. Just sorted.
Jim.

I thought it might be the cold as well. There was no way I could get the door open. The catch was very stiff. However I loosened the hinges which gave enough leeway to open the door. when I tried the catch when the door was open, it moved freely. So i closed the door but once again the catch was stiff and the door wouldn't open. so once again I loosed the hinge to get the door open. Now i have left all the doors ajar. Once we're back into warmer weather, I'll see if the doors work properly. Pam

[Ian.C.S]

I thought it might be the cold as well. There was no way I could get the door open. The catch was very stiff. However I loosened the hinges which gave enough leeway to open the door. when I tried the catch when the door was open, it moved freely. So i closed the door but once again the catch was stiff and the door wouldn't open. so once again I loosed the hinge to get the door open. Now i have left all the doors ajar. Once we're back into warmer weather, I'll see if the doors work properly. Pam

old trick? beer mat spacer between the hinge and the wood.moving the hinge outwards 1 mm may sort it permanentley.