Formaldehyde Outgassing

efelker

efelker

Newbie
Have a question about a new Camp-Inn's resistance to formaldehyde. My wife is asthmatic and formaldehyde outgassing causes her extreme respiratory distress. We have gone in campers at RV shows and in some she can only toerate staying inside for seconds.

I'm assuming with no pressboard or carpeting and the absence of a plethora of "glued thing," a new Camp-Inn would be virtually formaldehyde-free. With all the real wood and plywood am I correct in that assumption?
 
Craig or Cary could answer this better. There is certainly some offgassing that happens with a new Camp-Inn - I think mainly from the sealant or clearcoat used on the wood interior. I have no idea if this formaldehyde or not. After a few months it is gone though.
 
Thanks Evan.

Several years ago we had decided to buy a Sunline Travel Trailer. Our research said it was a well-made camper. When we went to see a new one on the dealer's lot, in July, with ouside temps about 90 dgrees -- Bev had to leave after about 10 seconds and had to use her enhaler. SHe could barely breathe at all -- probably the worse asthma attack she had ever suffered. Consequently, we abandoned our travel trailer search then.

A awful lot of the spray-on glues, fabric dyes, carpeting binders, pressboard and flakeboard have huge amounts of formaldehyde in their resin bases. The cheaper and lower the quality of the material, the higher the formadehyde (or so it seems). The higher the temperature the more that the formadehyde outgasses from the resin. Mobile homes and travel trailers have been particulary susceptible because of the materials they use -- and there is a direct correlation between the quality of materials/low price to the tendency for formaldehyde outgassing (remember FEMA trailers after Katrina).

Good quality plywood and petroleum-based sealers and finishes are lower in formaldehyde out-gassing & hoefully, those are the types of material used by Campinn. We have finished furniture and Bev is a folk artist who used sealers and varnishes in her crafts. She never had a problem with these fumes as oppossed to what she experiences in some travel trailers. Albeit, I guess heavy concentrations of those fumes in a congested place might aggravate her asthma too.

In your response stating that the fume concentration mitigates within a few months sounds like it is low in formadehyde outgassing.

I'll wait for Cary or Craig's response.
 
Ed and Bev,
this was one of my concerns too. We looked at some other trailers and could not tolerate the off gassing. With our Camp-Inn it was not bad at all and we just let it air a few hours when we first got it and have not had a problem with it.
I was wondering how it would be when we opened it after being closed up all winter so I opened it yesterday and it was just fine I could have slept in it right away with no problem.
 
Ed,

That has been one of our big points we beat into our suppliers all the time. Our trailers are completely formaldehyde free. Takes some work in making sure of it. For example, even wood finishes can have it. It won't be listed but with research we found that the finish can convert itself into a formaldehyde in the catalysing process. That narrows down the types of urethane finishes greatly. We made improvements to our wood finishes some time back and kept running into that in the evaluation process. Ended up getting a Italian import product to finally meet our requirements and be formaldehyde free.

Cary
 
This is another reason why we chose Camp Inn. Quality product without a ton of chemicals to make you sick as a dog.

We're sick of being sick from man-made pollution.

Sue and Jim
 
All: Thanks for the info.

Cary: Just based on my impressions of the quality and pride you put into your product, and the comments from all the happy owners who respond here in this forum -- I knew that was exactly what your response would be. It's easier to find cheaper finishes and sealers and even plywood that would lower cost of manufacturing and raise profits -- but I see you going the extra mile to meet customers requests , and more importantly, your own demands. It's easy to crank product for people to buy; it's something else to stand next to an object and say, "I made that." I spent a long career in the military and I always talked to me people about pride and quality is shaped more by what you do when no one is looking than when they are.

You've given me more selling points I'll have to use on my wife to convince her she absolutely needs a new Camp-Inn to make her life so much more fulfilling.
 
Cary said:
Ed,

That has been one of our big points we beat into our suppliers all the time. Our trailers are completely formaldehyde free. Takes some work in making sure of it. For example, even wood finishes can have it. It won't be listed but with research we found that the finish can convert itself into a formaldehyde in the catalysing process. That narrows down the types of urethane finishes greatly. We made improvements to our wood finishes some time back and kept running into that in the evaluation process. Ended up getting a Italian import product to finally meet our requirements and be formaldehyde free.

Cary
Click to expand...

Cary: I wanted to thank you and your company for choosing to go formaldehyde-free. It is much appreciated.

-Al
 
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