Space Ship Earth leaking in the rain

A

Admiral01

Premium Member
Original Poster
I was at EPCOT for the heavy rain yesterday. While riding SSE, water was dripping on me. First it happened in the Earth scene at the very top of the ride, and then again when we were nearing the bottom of the descent. It was so bad at the bottom of the descent that you could hear water dripping on the back of the triangle panels like drops on a tin roof.

Is that normal for SSE!?!
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
I'm here @Buried20KLeague !

Bottom of the descent would be outside the geosphere. The final 20-30 ft of backwards is within the North East leg and the spin around to forward is in the Project Tomorrow building.

The Earth Scene - 180top- sounds more serious. The geospheres gutter is around the midway section so it sounds very much like a leak either in the inner membrane (serious) or the AC system (not as bad)
 
PhilharMagician

PhilharMagician

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
I'm here @Buried20KLeague !

Bottom of the descent would be outside the geosphere. The final 20-30 ft of backwards is within the North East leg and the spin around to forward is in the Project Tomorrow building.

The Earth Scene - 180top- sounds more serious. The geospheres gutter is around the midway section so it sounds very much like a leak either in the inner membrane (serious) or the AC system (not as bad)
Click to expand...

Access hatch possibly?

Aren't the individual panels gasketed and manually fastened to the frame structure?

Sound like some of the gasket material used to seal each panel may be starting to fail. I would assume those panels go through quite the expansion and contraction in the Florida sun.

Spaceship-Earth-construction-4.preview.jpg
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
PhilharMagician said:
Access hatch possibly?

Aren't the individual panels gasketed and manually fastened to the frame structure?

Sound like some of the gasket material used to seal each panel may be starting to fail. I would assume those panels go through quite the expansion and contraction in the Florida sun.
Click to expand...
I thought not. The access hatch IIRC is not above the ride path.

The individual panels are fastened to the structure, but when all were in place were covered with a waterproof membrane. It was in theory laid to keep any water out. If this is failing it could be a major problem.

Membrane:

image.jpg
 
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Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
I though not. The access hatch IIRC is not above the ride path.

The individual panels are fastened to the structure, but when all were in place were covered with a waterproof membrane. If this is failing it could be a major problem.
Click to expand...
It could be something serious or it could be nothing more then condensation inside the building. Either one needs to be addressed, I would think. Whether it be a leak, an AC problem or condensation (which might come under the heading of AC problem) hopefully they will address it sooner then later.

With a structure like that one with all the cris-cross skeletal design it could be a leak from any number of spots that follows down the ridges until it decides to drop. Hopefully, it is an AC problem.
 
PhilharMagician

PhilharMagician

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
I though not. The access hatch IIRC is not above the ride path.

The individual panels are fastened to the structure, but when all were in place were covered with a waterproof membrane. If this is failing it could be a major problem.
Click to expand...

Yeah, wasn't thinking. The hatch is pretty much dead center.

Roof membranes used on exterior applications are good typically for about 25 years and some can get a little more out of it. Inside I would thing life would be extended with the abuse from UV rays. Still it only last so long and will need to be replaced and it does not look like an easy job.

Shocked that this has gone on for a while with a live power bus bar running the entire track. Water dripping would not be thing to be happening.
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
I'd hope it is AC related too. There's a ring of vents around the topmost section of the roof. They're designed to only allow anything to enter by moving upwards, not down (rain) but I guess given the right conditions rain could be blown upwards.

Worst case scenario with the membrane could be a crane and removal of an alucobond panel. Great photo op but disruptive and expensive.
 
Tom

Tom

Beta Return
marni1971 said:
I'd hope it is AC related too. There's a ring of vents around the topmost section of the roof. They're designed to only allow anything to enter by moving upwards, not down (rain) but I guess given the right conditions rain could be blown upwards.

Worst case scenario with the membrane could be a crane and removal of an alucobond panel. Great photo op but disruptive and expensive.
Click to expand...

Very good chance that a driving rain could cause the water to get into a vent or louver. Or for a gutter to overflow or back up. If it were A/C condensate, this would happen more often, unless they have a clogged condensate drain somewhere up on the top floor.

Could be getting around the access hatch and running along a structural member or across the underside of the roof system using surface tension, then dripping at a point where it loses the bond. I've seen that happen a lot when trying to track down a roof leak in a commercial building.

But with it dripping on the decent tunnel AND top floor, during a rain storm, it sounds obvious that it's rain.....but how it's getting in.....
 
raven

raven

Well-Known Member
PhilharMagician said:
Yeah, wasn't thinking. The hatch is pretty much dead center.
Click to expand...

The outer hatch is center on top. The inner hatch is about 30' down to one side, over the elevator area but still not on the ride path. The old version of the ride used a mist screen at the very start of the decent but i think that whole system was removed completely so it wouldn't be that. AC units are not that high in the dome either.

Could always be what happened to me on HM a few years ago. Kids next to be had a squirt gun and decided it would be fun to spray everyone. :cautious:
 
A

Admiral01

Premium Member
Original Poster
It is possible the leak I felt in the Earth scene could have been condensation from an AC, like what happens on aircraft during descent sometimes.

The bottom of the descent was definitely rain. I could hear it hitting the ceiling like rain, and it was dripping like rain.

We were on SSE during some of the heaviest rain. It came down hard, but not hurricane hard...

Either way, thanks for the responses, and I hope SSE gets looked at soon for leaks.
 
raven

raven

Well-Known Member
The bathroom pluming on the 4th floor of SSE busted a couple of years ago and the building was evacuated. Nothing that couldn't be fixed but it was a bit funny at the time.

At least it isn't water dripping in The Seas with Nemo and Friends again! For a long time there was a tarp on the ceiling in the EAC scene which is actually an underwater tunnel. The tarp collected the water and cascaded down to a drain.
 

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