Visit our Popular Forums

perryg114 · 01-15-2013, 07:55 PM

Well I have been fighting a leak coming from the stove vent for a month or two now. There are too many ways for this thing to leak. Water blows in and water finds its way in and gets sucked into cracks. Looks like if it rains while towing it is going to leak. There is no way that the current design is going to keep that gasket under compression. The awning touches the top lip of the door hinge and I think it is wicking water past the hinge. I have already sealed around the inverted top hat that holds the fan motor to the outside skin. This helped some but I still have leaks in a long soaking rain.

I am thinking the best solution now is to just make a circular aluminum cap that fits over the flange for the vent fan. I don't see a need for a vent above the stove anyway when the trailer is full of windows and vents as it is. If you don't burn stuff why do you need a vent? Most houses don't have real stove vents anymore anyway. This is just one more crappy designed gadget that is more trouble that it is worth. My stove has not been used that much but it is starting to rust because of the water that ends up there. It has been raining here in Bama for a week solid. The good news is that none of the stuff I rebuilt is leaking.

Perry

HiHoAgRV · 01-15-2013, 08:37 PM

Ya wanna post some photos? I don't think I've ever had a leak on the stove vent on any of my streams...My SOB leaked but it was just a rotten plastic louver style on the side of the camper.

My '63's stove vent wall penetration is 5-6" up inside the shroud

perryg114 · 01-16-2013, 05:44 AM

I will post some photos when it stops raining. Mine has a flap door that is controlled by a lawn mower choke cable. Problem is there is no way to make sure that there is a 100% seal around that door. I expect the older Airstreams have something like a dryer vent pointed down with a flap in there. This would work better than the door mess. There is a drip cap at the top but surface tension seems to be funneling water past that. It sorta works in a short downpoor but it leaks like crazy in a week long soaking rain which is common in the fall to spring time frame in the south east.

I would not mind a few drips on the stove lid but this is enough to make puddles under the burner compartment on the stove.

Perry

Lily&Me · 01-16-2013, 06:01 AM

If you have not been up top and completely removed that vent down to the roof, you should do that when it stops raining.

We had a terrible leak from the black tank vent into our closet, that was finally traced back to the poorly done originally install.

Minus the gory details, you might find the solution at the base of things up there.

Maggie

slowmover · 01-16-2013, 06:16 AM

A/S and ODM both have a stainless replacement. The OEM flap allows rain past the seal and I can see where the PO tried taping off this vent on this '90 S/S. This piece is on my short list of skin penetration replacements.

https://store.airstream.com/product_...roducts_id=599

Ridgerunner3 · 01-16-2013, 06:57 AM

We removed the range exhaust vent hood inside the trailer and sealed the flapper from the inside. The range hood in our camper was a cheap piece of "head knocking" equipment. The light in the hood was useless. The fan was very loud and not particularly effective. I built an oak spice rack to cover the opening where the exhaust hood went through the wall. I bought two nice LED fixtures from LED4RV.com and mounted them to light up the cooktop. The lighting improvement is dramatic. I'll post some pictures of the finished product.

The fantastic fan performs as an exhaust fan when we need one. We do not fry food in our camper. Typical action for our stove and cooktop is cornbread and beans. I imagine the range exhaust hood is required by some construction code in the RV industry. I find the hardware and installation of range hoods in most RV's is marginally effective and poor quality.

Ridgerunner3 · 01-16-2013, 08:46 AM

Here is a photo of the modification (elimination) of my range hood and addition of LED light fixtures. I added a spice rack to cover the hole. I previously added a rack for holding a sink cover.

perryg114 · 01-16-2013, 11:01 AM

My hood is built into the overhead cabinet. I would gain some overhead storage if I ripped that vent out of the inside. I think the effort involved in making a vent that works is not worth the trouble. The hole in my trailer is round not square. The lid is square though. To me fixing it is not worth the time and the water damage that will occur when it decides to leak again. I can probably leave all the guts in there and just put a round patch over the existing inverted hat that is in there now. If someone wants to put it back like it was all they need do is remove the patch that will be help in with Trempro and Stainless steel screws.

Perry

perryg114 · 01-20-2013, 02:15 PM

Well the vent is gone and hopefully all the associated leaks. The major problem that I saw was the drip edge on the top of the hinged cover did not cover the hinged area so that water could sneek under the cover and leak. Yes this could be fixed but it was easier to just cover it for now. I have all the old parts so I can put the thing back in later if I want it back. No leaks are the first order of business. Having a vent fan that I don't use just to say I have one was not enough reason to keep it. I will take photos when I get a chance. I will also try to take some photos of the fan assembly so others are aware of the problems.

Perry

Paulaale · 10-16-2015, 05:46 PM

I see that you removed the vent. How did you get the vent out? Do I have to do it from the outside. Was hoping I could just seal off the outside and not have a big hole.

perryg114 · 10-16-2015, 07:51 PM

Remove from the outside. Remove lid the drill out rivets the remove fan housing.

Perry

Paulaale · 10-17-2015, 04:27 PM

Was hoping I didn't have to make another hole in the trailer. But I kind of knew that's what you were going to say thank you for your advice I'm on it.

perryg114 · 10-18-2015, 05:53 PM

I made a circular patch and screwed it to the same holes the fan housing came out of and sealed the whole thing with Trempro 635.

Perry

ajcannon · 08-18-2016, 03:07 PM

Perry, do you happen to have pictures of what you did?

In my mind, I am thinking that you kept the rectangle "flapper" part of the outside vent, but removed the round vent itself. Then you put a patch (of sheet aluminum?) over the round hole, used Trempro and stainless steel screws to fasten the patch to the exterior sheet metal, and then this whole patch piece is still covered by the rectangular vent lid that is on a hinge?

Does what I am saying sound like what you did? That's what I'm planning on doing this weekend...just wanted to make sure that was what you had done too and that I am not missing a step. Thanks!

perryg114 · 08-19-2016, 09:51 AM

I removed all the guts of the thing, flapper and all and made a patch using the same screw holes that were already there. The flapper was the leaker. Need a scoop and maybe a flapper inside that. May put it back when I have time to mess with it.

Perry

ajcannon · 08-19-2016, 10:19 AM

Awesome thank you!

perryg114 · 08-20-2016, 09:58 AM

The patch is flat at the top and round at the bottom to follow the existing screw holes. You should be able to use the vent hardware to reproduce the hole pattern.

Perry

ajcannon · 08-20-2016, 10:44 PM

Yes - I did it this morning. It was easy after reading your description of it. As a bonus we also had a pretty good rain tonight so I had the chance to test it out and...no leaks!

Thanks again!