Boarding up refrigerator vent

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Sweetfarm

Sweetfarm

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Joined
Oct 16, 2018
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Hi everyone. I?m planning on permanently sealing up my refrigerator roof vent and am wondering what would be the best material to use. The whole is about 5 1/2? x 20.

( after the patch is been made I also plan on running a 3 inch diameter stove pipe through the same area)
 
Sweetfarm said:
Hi everyone. I?m planning on permanently sealing up my refrigerator roof vent and am wondering what would be the best material to use. The whole is about 5 1/2? x 20.

( after the patch is been made I also plan on running a 3 inch diameter stove pipe through the same area)
Click to expand...

I can just envision a serious problem without a good ending. I would go through the sidewall instead.
 
I?m installing a cubic mini wood stove. Many people have installed  them in RVs with great success. This is a 35 foot travel trailer with an aluminum roof which I will not be removing from my property. It?s going to be a guest house. I will be using an electric mini fridge so I do not need the vent for the propane and instead of drilling yet another hole in my roof why not use the one that?s already there.
 
I would just like to know what kind of material would be the best to cover up the existing hole. I was thinking a piece of sheet metal screwed down with roofing cement.
https://youtu.be/e15IiEZfk2o
 
Rene T said:
I can just envision a serious problem without a good ending. I would go through the sidewall instead.
Click to expand...

I have done my do diligence. It will be safe. It is NOT recommended to use elbows or go through a sidewall with this stove.  My question does not concern the stove. I'm wondering what material would be best to patch the existing hole.
 
I would use sheet aluminum.
I lucked out a few yeas ago and came across a bunch of old stop signs that were being discarded, and I use them for lots of various projects like that.

jack L
 
You didn't mention what kind of material your roof is.  If it is aluminum, I wouldn't use steel, you can get weird galvanic reactions from dissimilar metals.

If it's wood, with a rubber roof, it's probably not a big deal.

Personally, if I were doing it, I wouldn't just screw the sheet metal down and put stuff over it.  I would clean the roof carefully in that area then put a layer of sealant like Dicor  - compatible with the rubber roof - down UNDER the patch, screw it down, and then use the same sealant around the edges and over the screws.
 
Thanks everyone, it is an aluminum roof as I mentioned in the comments above. I guess I?ll just walk around Home Depot and see if anything jumps out at me.
 
If it is aluminum I would certainly get a aluminum sheet to block it in with.  I would probably try to get a 6x24 street sign blank, should be about $10, check with your local sign shops, or perhaps on ebay or other online source.  I was in the vinyl sign and screen printing business back in the late 90's, so I tend to think sign materials for such projects, unfortunately most of the trade sources will not sell just 1.
 
Thanks Isaac! Sounds like a street sign would be just about right too!
 
I too would choose sheet aluminum, a fairly heavy gauge. Bed it on butyl tape or a good quality sealant and screw it down.  Is the side wall smooth or corrugated?  Getting a tight seal on a corrugated aluminum sidewall is challenging! Insulate the inner side with a fire retardant material or leave a gap between the insulation and the stove pipe.
 
I will look into the aluminum sheet! Not sure what you mean by corrugated side wall. This is strictly on the roof. Flat aluminum. Venting the pipe straight up per the manufacturers instructions.
 
OK; when you said fridge vent, I was thinking the lower one in the sidewall (the air inlet).  Should have realized that a chimney would more likely go through the roof. 

For the roof opening, I'd slip the aluminum sheet under the edges of the roof material (EPDM rubber?) and screw it down, then bond the edges of the roof fabric to it with an adhesive and layer roof lap sealant (e.g. Dicor self-leveling) liberally over top of the seam.  Or Eternabond tape.
 
Thanks, I understand the confusion. I should?ve stated initially that my roof is aluminum. I think I will find some aluminum sheeting and just apply sealant liberally.
 
The only thing I would add is that for anyone installing a wood stove, when assembling the stove pipe, the joints should be configured so that if creosote starts building up inside the pipe and is in a liquid state, it should be able to run down back into the stove to burn off. I noticed in the video, that the 1st (stove Joint) and second joint of the pipes were not assembled correctly. The way he had them, if creosote did run down the pipe, it could run out of the joint and onto the top of the stove possibly starting a fire. Also, the joints should be held together with self tapping sheet metal screws. Probably 3 on each joint. 
Contact your local Fire Dept for guidance if you have any questions.
Me being a retired firefighter, I've seen too many house fires because of improper installations. Please be safe.
 
Unless your stove has a sealed firebox and gets it's combustion air from outside the RV, you'll also need a source of intake air like cracking open a window or vent while it's operating.  RVs aren't large enough to rely on air seepage to replace the air exiting out the chimney.

One thought would be to use the lower refrigerator opening and run a tube and damper from it to directly behind the woodstove so it can heat the intake air before it diffuses around the living area.
 
I really appreciate all of your advice! What I was really looking for was a solution to my roof problem. I?ve done all of the research I need to do in order to install and run this stove safely! No problems on that front! Just hoping to find advice as to a decent material to block the small hole in my roof and hopefully something besides a very obscure street sign! Cheers!
 
Rene T said:
The only thing I would add is that for anyone installing a wood stove, when assembling the stove pipe, the joints should be configured so that if creosote starts building up inside the pipe and is in a liquid state, it should be able to run down back into the stove to burn off. I noticed in the video, that the 1st (stove Joint) and second joint of the pipes were not assembled correctly. The way he had them, if creosote did run down the pipe, it could run out of the joint and onto the top of the stove possibly starting a fire. Also, the joints should be held together with self tapping sheet metal screws. Probably 3 on each joint. 
Contact your local Fire Dept for guidance if you have any questions.
Me being a retired firefighter, I've seen too many house fires because of improper installations. Please be safe.
Click to expand...

I can’t get into all of the details as to how this stove is run and installed because that would take me far too long, but I will say that the pipe is intentionally run backwards and it does have creosote issues which I plan to keep up on.  Rest assured I have taken all precautions and have done my research. What I’m really looking for is some advice as to what material would be good to block the hole in my roof. :)
 
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