Adding powered fans advise

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redcaddy51

redcaddy51

Active member
Joined
May 26, 2018
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Location
SW Floriduh
The factory bathroom powered vent fan is toast, in my "new to me" 2005 cougar 27 EFS 5th wheel.
I'm pretty sure I can change out the powered fan I have, (would like recommendations on brand/type, please) but would like to investigate replacing the other 2 vents with a powered fan type, prior to resealing the roof and installing new vent covers.

How big a job is this?

Some tips on how do I find or run power?

Are there power wires already run at the factory vent locations?

All good to know BEFORE I start breaking stuff.

Thanks for the help

Paul
 
The other locations do NOT currently have powered fans? If not, it's pure guesswork whether the RV manufacturer left wiring in place that could be used. If there are other models that have powered fans there, they may or may not use a common wire harness for them, and the assembly line guy may or may not have hooked u the wires or left them in a place you could find. The only way to learn is to open it up and poke around - and test for 12v power.

The roof openings are a standard size (14x14) and the flange on the roof is pretty much a standard design, so nothing mechanically tricky about a replacement. Getting a 12v power wire where there is none, however, is a major PITA.  More work than most would contemplate unless you have to tear the roof open anyway.
The Fantastic Vents are great, but so are the MaxxAir Maxxfans.
 
I have Fantastic Fans in my coach, though would not hesitate to buy MaxxAir Maxxfans, both are good though there are some trade offs on design, amp draw, etc.  Here is a good write up on them https://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/8893-fantastic-fan-vs-maxxfan-comparison-including-amp-usage/ though note there is /was a lower level fantastic fan without the thermostat control, there are also various models of each some with remote controls, etc.
 
Years ago I put in a $45 3 speed Heng's vortex fan which moves a lot of air. It will slam the bathroom door if you aren't careful. The advantage was I only had to remove the old small fan and motor and wire up the Heng's without modifying the roof vent. Installation time was 20 minutes. The only downside was on high speed the fan sucks the screen up into the blades and makes a lot of noise. I glued a 1/8" strip of metal to the screen to support it which fixed the noise problem.
 
If there's a light near the fan opening you may be able to pull power from there, through the ceiling.  It may take drilling an access hole in the fan opening frame and if the light is controlled by a wall switch the fan will only have power when the light is on.
 
OK, I arrested all the usual suspects. I've almost decided on the Max air at the $180.00 (all manual) level. One more silly question.

How useful is the reversible feature?


I will replace all three vents (bed room, bathroom and living room) with powered fans, even if I have to surface wire two of them.
I thought about cheaping out on the reversible feature and just wiring in a reversing toggle switch. (although, as I type this that sounds incredibly dumbazz cheap)

Care to share your experience?

Thanks, Paul
 
I have 2 Fantastic fans in my coach, the one in the kitchen is reversible the one in the bathroom is exhaust only, I find it is helpful to run the bathroom on exhaust and the kitchen as an inlet fan to circulate air, but switch the kitchen to exhaust while cooking.

p.s. the kitchen fan also has thermostatic control which is nice when camping in places with hot days and cold nights.
 
another suggestion for the Heng's Vortex.
if
the fan that's there is one of those small bath fans that are somewhat typical factory.... a standard vent with a little 3-4 inch maybe fan mounted in it.
The mini-fan comes right out and the Heng's fits right in.
I went with the single speed for the bath just for simplicity sake, and I'me very happy with it.  It does shade the vent a bit, and it's loud...but it's a bath fan & I don't use it typically for cooling..... but I have.  It pulls a whole lotta air.

I put a Maxxfan Deluxe in my living vent.  The crank part on it broke after some time, but it was otherwise a good fan.  I ordered a remote control version from ebay that was dead, just for parts.  I was able to repair my fan and cobble together a remote control version...much happier with it.
It's a good fan...but I'd rather have something like a fantastic fan, so that I could put a secondary rain cover over it
 
Back when we had a Montana our loud and ineffective fan toasted itself.  I was very tired of the noise so I found a three speed 120mm muffin (AKA computer) fan.  It was easy to install and didn't require too much creativity to figure out how to mount it.  Even on it's fastest speed it was barely audible.  It's didn't slam doors but it did a great job of ventilating the bathroom.  The only problem we had with it was that we tended to leave it on when we put the rig in storage.

Total expense was under $20.

Our current coach has two reversible Fantastic Vents.  I've had to replace the fuse holder on both of them.  Parts were easy to find.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
The other locations do NOT currently have powered fans? If not, it's pure guesswork
Click to expand...
It doesn't have to be. You can get one of these little do-hickeys.
https://www.harborfreight.com/cable-tracker-94181.html

You can clip it to any of the 12v circuits in the fuse box (with power disconnected) and it will generate a tone through the wire. You then, use a pen with adjustable sensitivity to trace where the wires are through the walls.
 
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