Adding a Vent Fan to the Travel Trailer

Our travel trailer, which is one of our lily pads, has a vent in the bedroom, but no fan. We get afternoon sun and decided we'd like a roof fan in that room. The vent lid was showing some fatigue and so I decided to:

1. Replace the vent lid.
2. Add a vent cover so we can leave the vent lid open when the TT is unattended. This also affords additional protection to the lid, keeps birds from moving in, etc.
3. Add a fan inside the existing vent. I chose a fan which is rated 188CFM and  designed to retrofit within an existing 14 x 14 housing. 

I have three vents, so I needed three vent lids and three covers to replace all.

I found replacement vent lids for about $19 each delivered so I purchased enough to do all three vent lids. (I purchased two sets of two because the price was better than buying three singles. So I now have a spare which I can give to a neighbor).

I also purchased three vent covers; two white and one smoke tint for about $28 each. I purchased one fan kit for the existing vent. The fan was about $59.

Total price each set of vent lid and vent cover = $47 each set.
Vent fan = $58.50
Labor: $0 (I'm free)
Wire, etc $0, from my hardware box.

The vent lid replacement was very easy. I did need G inside to open and close it on request for testing of the new one. Tools were a phillips screwdriver and a needle nose pliers. To remove the lid I removed the crank handle, the inside screen and the two screws holding the mechanism in place. That allowed me to open it fully from the roof and slide the mechanism off of the old lid. I put the mechanism aside, bent the tabs which held the vent lid in place and slid the old lid off of the full width hinge.  I took the opportunity to clean the existing gasket and the screen.

The new lid went on in the reverse fashion. I slid it on and bent the tabs to keep it in place on the hinge. I then went inside the trailer and inserted the mechanism into the mating connector and screwed it in place. Then the screen went back and is held in place with two screws. Finally the crank handle was re-attached.   Time to do this per vent lid was less than 30 minutes.

Each vent cover went on in about 20-30 minutes.

Clean up about 30 minutes.

The  fan took a while because I had to drill an opening for two wires (I provided two #18 AWG per the fan instructions). I pulled the wires from an existing fixture to the fan location. I attached to the power of an existing light fixture for source of 12VDC. The fixture has two 1141 incandescent bulbs which draw a total of 3.06A. The fan draws 2.2A, I understand. With the dual fixture off, this circuit will draw less than the current draw of the bulbs. I may change this lighting fixture to LED bulbs to keep the current near the original 3A. The bedroom has three fixtures total with (4) 1141 12V bulbs, which is a total lighting load of 6.12A.

The fan is a 5 speed 3-forward and 2-reverse and is very quiet at the low and medium settings. We're quite pleased with it. 

Fan in box

Out of the box - CAUTION don't hang the fan from the wires during installation. According to the manufacturer doing so will damage the fan. 

Typical roof vent with the old vent lid removed. Note the mechanism hanging so  could remove the lid. I've cleaned the lid gasket. 

New vent lid installed

Wiring of existing lighting fixture -this will also supply the fan. CAUTION - make certain DC power is off before working on wiring. Note the interior of the vent lid is completely removed, so I could drill a hole and pull the new wires in the ceiling to the fan location. 

After drilling a hole I fished the new wiring through, attached it to the existing lighting. The meter is to verify polarity before wiring the fan. I did install a split grommet to protect the wiring where it goes through the thin aluminum sidewall of the opening. 

New fan completely installed. It went in place of the existing crank arm and the old screen. Most difficult part was aligning the new crank handle system to the existing lid mechanism while holding it up. G helped. The frame is the existing frame. CAUTION - Don't hang the fan from the wiring during installation. The manufacturer says that will damage the fan. 

Aligning the vent cover with the vent. Then after placing the cover in place I  marked the location of the brackets on the roof. No holes are required in the roof. The markings are to indicate where along the vent perimeter to place the brackets. 

Four brackets installed and ready to place the vent cover in position. This is before cleaning the old gasket.

Close up of cover bracket. It is held in place with a 3/16 screw with washer, lockwasher and nut. The arrow points to the alignment mark I made when I positioned the cover over the closed vent. The mark indicates where to place the bracket before drilling the hole in the side of the vent frame. 

Smoke vent cover over the new vent lid and fan

White vent cover over a new vent lid. I installed a total of three replacement vent lids and two vent covers.

Original material:  https://roadtrek210.blogspot.com/

Adding a screen to the vehicle passenger window

Trekking in my view is to be living a life of moderation. This is consistent with other aspects of my life.  To that end, using nature's breezes and ambience is far superior to air conditioning, etc. That's my opinion and my quest.

Our Roadtrek came with optional screens for the rear and side entry door. These are a good thing. The screen in the rear entry work well, because we don't enter or exit from those doors. I only need to unzip the screens for access to the storage below the rear king-sized bed/sofa.

However, the screen for the side entry is another issue. We enter and exit frequently via this door. I'd say it's obvious that a plastic screen with zipper won't survive long in that location. So we haven't used it.

However, to get good cross-ventilation we need a goodly sized front entry or exit point for those breezes. The side entry window includes a screen and the window pivots on a vertical hinge, and opens about 1/2 inch. This area isn't sufficient for the air movement we need. It is also a problem if the weather turns inclement.

The front of the vehicle also gets a lot of sun (infrared) load if it's pointed that way. In other words, the front of the vehicle gets hot. We really like the heat pump/air conditioner in the rear, but the front of the vehicle remains warm.

So I decided to improve the airflow. To that end I fabricated and installed a screen on the exterior of the passenger side window. With such an arrangement, we can open one of the rear doors with the screens attached and we'll get the cool breezes we love, sans insects.

This was easier than might be imagined. In fact, I'd suggest that Roadtrek offer this as an option for buyers. The screen rolls and is easily attached to the exterior with magnets. The thick black edging in the photos is not used to adhere the screen to the vehicle. Magnets at 8 points will be used.

To construct this I used aluminum screen, but it would be easy to do the same with a plastic screen. I purchased the aluminum to bug-proof the refrigerator and hot water heater ventilation.  I may post on that in the future.

This is a photo of the screen, temporarily held in place with 8 pieces of electrician's tape. Magnets will be used to do this in the future. The 2 inch black edging is "duct tape" which provides a thin surface for magnetic attraction and also seals the edge of the aluminum screening. I installed the black duct tape in two layers "back to back" with the aluminum screen sandwiched between.  However, about only 1 inch of the screen is sandwiched between the tape. The electric window can open and close while the screen is in place.

When not in use (when the vehicle is travelling, etc.) the screen is rolled for storage:

If I were wanting to get "fancy" I'd purchase tape which more closely matches the exterior color of the Roadtrek. I leave that for Roadtrek to offer!

Here's a photo of the screen while being constructed. If one wanted ultra-precision, I'd suggest the old trick of taping newspaper together to fit the area and then using that as a template. My parents did that to purchase a pre-cut linoleum floor back in 1955 or so. It worked then and it will work now.

After installing this, I asked G what she thought about it. She said it was a real improvement. Mission accomplished!