Upgrading Fan-tastic Vents

[Mike1997]

Just installed two upgrade kits for my 1996 era Fan-tastic roof fans and thrilled with the increased ventilation and ease of doing the job.

My Landyacht had the original Series 6000 fan in the kitchen area and Series 2000 in the bedroom. The upgrade kit converts it to a Series R7350 with wireless remote.

Bought the kits for $129 each on Amazon. Everything installs from the interior except the rain sensor. It comes with a new interior shroud, wireless remote, lift motor, and screen. The existing fan motor and roof lid remain in place.

Took about 40 mins on each unit to replace. Old shroud came out in pieces as it was yellowed and brittle. New units are white and match interior ceiling. Highly recommend this for the older units.

[CRH]

My 1995 trailers FF started giving me trouble last year...the lift gear stripped, the rain sensor went out, ect..I started to just put in an upgrade kit, but finally opted to put in a whole new 7350. I am glad I did. I found several cracks in the old fans frame when I got on the trailer and scraped the caulk off the screw heads. The plastic was brittle from age.

[Mike1997]

My fan and motor were in good shape but the plastic housing with controls and wires broke into pieces when it was removed. It had yellowed and become brittle from the sun. The upgrade kit comes with a new gear leaver for the dome cover but mine were in good shape so left them in place. Keeping those as extra parts in case needed down the road.

[gloran]

I did the same upgrade a couple of years ago and I have been very happy with it. The Fantastic Fan company has been excellent to deal with.

[switz]

Switched away from the stock Fantastic fans (even after adding the reversing switches) to the MaxxFan 7000K models on both trailers. I was able to get rid of the huge shroud necessary to keep rain out of the Fantastic fans when open.

[Ruscal]

Our previous trailer had a basic Fantastic fan. It was simple to operate and worked well to exhaust or intake air at 3 speeds. The only drawback was if it was raining we could not use it. I found a shroud made by Maxxair that attached easily to the FF that solved the rain problem. It had a 3 sided louver arrangement that didn't restrict airflow, and was easily cleaned by pulling 2 pins.
Our newer Airstream trailer had 2 more complicated Fantastic fans. They have rain sensors and temp sensors, but only exhaust, no intake. You can not run them when raining unless you attach the shrouds. I missed the intake feature of our older fan also. The operation of the fans was not very intuitive, and took some fiddling to get them to do what I wanted. While researching the rain shrouds I came across a Maxxair deluxe fan that has a built in rain shield that folds to a low profile when the fan is turned off, and rises when powered on. The fans can be run in the rain and are remote controlled. The remote is simple, has a lcd screen that gives you all the dope about fan speed, air out or in, and anything else you would want to know. They have 10 speeds and don't need rain sensors due to the built in shrouds. There is also a temperature control in case you want unattended operation for leaving pets inside or ? The remotes are not individually coded to their fan, so if using 2 fans in a small space the signals can get mixed up. You do have to point the remote at the fan, so you could control both fans with one remote, but some of the readouts on the remote will not report fan speed properly, and things can get confused. I purchased 2 of these fans and have not tested in detail how they will behave together. I think the best scenario will be to have one remote wall holster mounted near the rear bed, and the other mounted near the front dinette. Using 2 remotes will probably allow each remote to properly report the fan speed and modes. You would just have to aim at the fan you want to control. You could run the rear fan as an intake at fan speed 10% and run the front as exhaust at 50% speed if desired. Neat....
Anyway, that is just another option to updating the stock fans.
Russ

[switz]

The Maxxfans use one "frequency" even with two controls. So I stand between the two fans in the 23D and aim at the one that needs adjusting. We often have one "incoming" and one "outgoing" at 10% speed and that creates a gentle and very quiet air movement through the trailer.

[Mike1997]

Both of my new units are reversible with same 2 speeds. Both remotes came with a wall cradle so one stays in bedroom and other mounted next to the rooftop AC/furnace control.

Tried the setup previously recommended of front unit pulling air in and rear unit pushes it out....that's a very quick way to cool down inside. Also, I failed to mention that both run off 12volt too. Makes life in South Florida very pleasant on these winter evenings

[Ruscal]

Originally Posted by switz

The Maxxfans use one "frequency" even with two controls. So I stand between the two fans in the 23D and aim at the one that needs adjusting. We often have one "incoming" and one "outgoing" at 10% speed and that creates a gentle and very quiet air movement through the trailer.

Switz,
I tried the one remote to control 2 fans with our Maxxfans, but am getting unexpected results from the remote. The speed level button may turn the fan off or the fan won't turn off when the power button is selected, so I hit the speed selector and the fan will turn off. Also the speed indicator on the remote only will keep track of one fan's speed.
I then tried using 2 remotes. I only used each fans remote to control each fan. The fans responded to the commands properly, indicated the correct motor speed and shut off and turned on with their power switches. I didn't experience any "crosstalk" from one remote communicating with 2 fans if I just pointed the remote away from one fan while aiming at the other.
I think the 2 remote method will work great for us. I mounted the remote holsters on the wall near their fans.
The push pull effect of the 2 fans working together is great. No messing with the Airstream clunky window mechanisms required.
Russ

[Phoenix]

It appears Dometic has acquired Atwood and Fantastic Vent:

https://www.dometic.com/en/se/rebranded/fantastic-vent

[switz]

Another American made product that will be made in China by the new owner with the still high prices as before. Huge profits for Dometic (as in my personal experience) their quality has declined with off shore manufacturing.

[ShinyPete]

Yup-both the A/c and the fridge in our '14 Flying Cloud failed within 18 months. Poor Dometic quality....

The new ones have been fine, which makes me wonder if they were made somewhere else....


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[Ruscal]

Fantastic was such a customer service oriented company, it is sad to see it sold. Hopefully the new owners will pass over the good vibe and not coast on the laurels of the great rep. People buy the Fantastic named product with high expectations.
Russ.

I have also read of a lot of problems with newer Dometic fridges not being able to get cold, and some AC failures when very new. I decided to take a chance with a new Penguin ll though. We'll see.....

[Mike1997]

Just an update to my original posting from January 2017.

Spending the summer in Michigan and both fans are working great. We never were able to work out the problem with the fan speeds (2 vs 10) but low and high is all I need anyway. As a full timer they are used daily unless its raining but even then, with the very sensitive rain sensor, they both will shut off when necessary.

One thing I noticed is they both have a red light sensor inside the fan that's visible at night. Its not a problem but shows the units are drawing power even when not operating. That's a big issue when boondocking which I will be doing for a week at the Airstream International Rally in Michigan.

[gloran]

Originally Posted by Ruscal

Fantastic was such a customer service oriented company, it is sad to see it sold. Hopefully the new owners will pass over the good vibe and not coast on the laurels of the great rep. People buy the Fantastic named product with high expectations.
Russ.

I have also read of a lot of problems with newer Dometic fridges not being able to get cold, and some AC failures when very new. I decided to take a chance with a new Penguin ll though. We'll see.....

After 25yrs the smoke cover on my LY was looking worn. It wasn't even leaking. I called Fantastic a couple weeks ago to see about purchasing a new one. No charge, not even shipping, they sent me a new one no questions asked. So it looks like they are still customer service oriented.