Fishing cable through frig vent???

[Wesair]

I recently purchased the WeBoost 4G-X RV cell phone booster and want to fish the antenna cable through the refrigerator vent on my 2015 25FB. I’ve seen some posts but I have a couple of questions.
My first choice would be to drill a hole through the side of vent stack (see picture) but I don’t know if that will work. Is it a double wall stack? Is there direct access to the space behind the frig so that I can get the wire into the space behind the frig? Does anyone see problems with this solution?
My second choice would be to drill a hole through the top of the cover and through the screen to get access to dropping the cable down the vent. I would then put a patch on the cover and run the cable out the side by the stack.
My third and least desirable option is to drill out the rivets on the cover and access it in that way. I haven’t worked with rivets before and I’m hesitant to take the cover off even though that would probably give the best access.
There is a cabinet just above the frig and the unit would be installed in the cabinet or on the wall by the TV.
Finally, I would appreciate any solutions to attaching the antenna. I don’t currently have a crank up antenna to attach it to. I need some type of bracket to attach to the top of the AS. Will Dicor alone bond well enough to hold a bracket or do I need to screw it into the roof.
Thanks for the help.

[HiJoeSilver]

Your first choice is good. It's a thin single wall so once through you'll be able to drop a wire down fairly easily. Try to keep it away.from the hot fins on the fridge and flue too. The spot you picked is good. Be sure to put a grommet on the hole the wire passes through.
You can also try to fish it up and over that lip and down through the vent.
Either way make sure to protect the wire from chafing.
Try screwing the antenna to the deflector fin behind the fridge vent. No holes in the roof needed. DIcor isn't enough to hold it alone.

[wulfraat]

On my install I pulled the fridge and fed the antenna cable up from the inside through the metal mesh that caps the fridge vent, and then pulled it through from the roof.

No drilling but I did have to pull the fridge, which needed to happen anyways to route the cable in my particular install....

[waninae39]

never run cable through a vent.
if a fire were to occur, the cable acts as a fast path

that's why business and residential codes prohibit it

[perryg114]

It is a fume vent, I think you are fine there. The PO drilled out the rivets and put screws in mine. Drill out rivets, remove vent, install cable, put vent back on. Calk screws real well.

Perry

[trumpetguy]

When I installed my WEboost I drilled into the top of the fridge vent cover and the screen. Still had to use a fish line to pull the cable because it is so flimsy. The right side of the vent is more open. I protected the cable with plenty of electrical tape and sealed the hole with Sikaflex. I then mounted the antenna to the top of my AC cover with some VHB tape. I still need to add a grounding plate to complete the project.

My water pump is beneath the refrigerator which gave a good location to connect the power supply. Chased the inside antenna wire behind the galley, added an on off switch, and it all works just fine.

[Tbeck11931]

Originally Posted by HiJoeSilver

Your first choice is good. It's a thin single wall so once through you'll be able to drop a wire down fairly easily. Try to keep it away.from the hot fins on the fridge and flue too. The spot you picked is good. Be sure to put a grommet on the hole the wire passes through.
You can also try to fish it up and over that lip and down through the vent.
Either way make sure to protect the wire from chafing.
Try screwing the antenna to the deflector fin behind the fridge vent. No holes in the roof needed. DIcor isn't enough to hold it alone.

Great advice from HiJoeSilver
Avoid drilling holes in exposed skin panels at all cost. Keep in mind that's where you would run any solar power cables if you ever install them.

[HiJoeSilver]

Originally Posted by Tbeck11931

Great advice from HiJoeSilver
Avoid drilling holes in exposed skin panels at all cost. Keep in mind that's where you would run any solar power cables if you ever install them.

It's where my solar wire runs but on the opposite side of the vent, entering on the centerline side since that's where the solar panel is.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by waninae39

never run cable through a vent.
if a fire were to occur, the cable acts as a fast path

that's why business and residential codes prohibit it

In a vehicle or trailer, I'd be surprised if it made much difference. They're so small that when they go up, they just go up, vent cables or no vent cables. In our rig, Airstream ran the DC wire bundle up through our fridge vent, by design.

As others have noted, the fridge roof vent is the place where cables are routinely run. Kits are sold for this purpose, especially for solar. If someone is reluctant to drill a new hole, I suppose they could buy a cable kit and make use of one of the kit's ports instead. This is what ours looks like (for solar, obviously). It was a DIY job.

[GM Airstream]

If I were you.. I'd probably check out the refrig... and run the cable on the opposite side of where the burner tube is... that is the hottest part of the refrig... and they run wires down the frame side...for the fan switch etc...

If you haven't taken the refrig out in a while.. chances are you don't have the ext fan cooling kit on it... so when you pull it to run the cable up through the mesh at the top... you can add the cooling kit on the refig at the same time... well worth the effort as it helps out in hot weather too...

Make sure you using solid dilectric coax cable... as the foam stuff ... I don't think .. stands up to the elevated temps that you will in the vent shaft...

My personal run is UP through the bottom... leaving the coax to snake around the frame.. etc... I run 3 pieces of RG214 coax... one for UHF/VHF one for HF and one for future... while we were at it... it runs from the rear all the way to where the spare tire is under the trailer... It is never coming back out... and we only had to get to the inside frame rail to make it happen... we elected to put the power supply (astron) up under the front couch... and the radios are remoted from their too...
While it would be shorter to put the antennas in front... we found that they were too much of a eyesore... so to the rear with 'em...
As to wifi and phone.. we use the TV line... that was converted over with low loss UHF cable...

This way we don't have leaks... from the top side... as to the antennas... we run 'em off the back of the trailer so that they are part out of sight... and much more easy to get to... and play with...

We put a temp detector up in the refig flu... and found that in the summer time.. with the sun beating down on the exterior... the internal temps got up above 130 deg F... so any wiring that you want to do.. use the good 105 deg C stuff...

Its too bad that AS didn't run all the wireing down through the interior center section so that you could pull it and put it back without too much hassel... like they did on the early AS's... where you only had to drill a couple of Pop rivets... and you could bow the alu piece and remove it but, with the vents and AC etc... that can't happen today... darn...

If I was going to go into the trailer.. I would make them acess panels... in the center section... and just overlap from the front.. around vents...AC etc... in sections... which would make it much easier to service and modify... oh well...

[mayco]

I just replaced my backup camera cable that was run over the roof and down through the fridge vent for 35 years on my 310 TD CLASSIC MOTORHOME. Used the old cable for my pull wire for my new camera cable. No signs of heat damage on the old cable after 35 yrs of use. Cable was in fine shape.
I used Tempro on each screw hole for the cable clamps on the roof. Filled the pilot hole with caulk before attaching the clamps and screws. Just like the original install. Never had a problem with leaks.

[thiel]

Did a video on this very thing:

https://youtu.be/JRfDtxj8Fc8

I hope that helps!

[mythbuster88]

Originally Posted by thiel

Did a video on this very thing:

https://youtu.be/JRfDtxj8Fc8

I hope that helps!

Nice video dude!

[Lucky Tom]

A cooling vent, to rid the fridge of unwanted heat.