Repairing or replacing vent covers

[73ANDY]

Hello, I was wondering whether or not anyone has had any experience with those Maxx Air vent cap/covers? It seems like they would be handy in keeping it cooler inside the A/S without having to worry about it raining in.

Any opinions??

[Chas]

Other than they look butt ugly I have heard they seem to work well. Maybe the somewhat clear smoke tint ones would blend in a little better. I am kicking it around myself as well.

Chas

[wyhjr]

I've installed a couple on the roof of my Safari. They work fine and also gave me some good experience working on the roof of an Airstream!
Don't even look bad imho.

[Silvertwinkie]

Ok, I'm gonna put on my learning hat right now. What is that?

Eric

[femuse]

What is that?

What is "What is that ?"

[Pick]

Fantastic Fan does not recommend using those vent covers. They say it cuts airflow by 60%. Not sure if it is with just with their vents or everyones. Theirs do have a much higher airflow then other OEM vents.

Fantastic Vent FAQ

[Silvertwinkie]

Originally posted by femuse

What is "What is that ?"

The max air thingie....

Eric

[femuse]

Maxx Air Vent

[Silvertwinkie]

Looks to me like th maxair not only moves a more air than the fantastic, but it's also much more bulky, heavy and take more amps.

I figure the fantastic is the way to go for me if I were going to do this. The 5000 looks like a real winner. For me if I needed more, I'd park at a place with electric and crank on the A/C!

I thought that maxair was an A/C unit it was so big!

Eric

[Pahaska]

Guess I'm too much of a purist to want to put those projections on my A/S roof. I did put two on my previous white box; one over my Fantastic Fan.

My current A/S has two rain-sensor Fantastic Fans. My only concern is a sudden cloudburst since they take a few seconds to close. I didn't trust them until I was working in the trailer one day and a small shower came up. They closed without a drop getting inside. I run the one in the gallet blowing in and the one over the bed blowing out. That way, we have no draft on the bed and raindrops would be blown upward where they would do the most harm.

[Silvertwinkie]

John and others.

I am starting to seriously consider the fantastic for my Bambi. It appears to fit any standard 14"vent opening which I think the Bambi has...

I am considering doing this myself. If any of you have done it on a new A/S (2000 or newer) that had this as an option, but you wound up doing it yourself later, I'm interested if like GM, they put the wires up there, but if you don't buy the option, the wires are still there (for lowering production costs) but the fantastic is not.

Even though I didn't get the fan option, are the wires still there for the fan specifically or did A/S as will I have to run it off the ceiling light?

Thanks,

Eric

[Chuck]

Take a look at my pix if you want to get an idea of what the charcoal one's look like on an A/S. I took them off....they restrict the movement of the vent cover....and they collect alot of crud, too. The PO installed them, I suspect perhaps as a cheap/easy way of eliminating leaks. I discoverd a leak while on a campout last fall, after driving 100 miles through the pouring rain. When I investigated, I found a very sloppy batch of layers upon layers of various sealants around the vents. What a mess!! caulk/silicone/whatever sticky-stuff. I was able to pull lots of it off in chucks...I don't think it was sealing much, and it took me hours and hours to clean it up properly. I think that the maxx-aire vents were "re-directing" rain water far enough away from these poor seams so that any leaks didn't become apparent...until I was moving through the rain, and it managed to slide up underneath the vent covers. (they aren't mounted flush to the roof of the trailer; they sit up off the roof about a 1/4", supported by brackets. )