Upgrading the Vent Fan

This maintenance stop we decided to upgrade the vent fan in our bathroom. We had broken a few clips on the screen, and it was time for a better item.

In our rig, it had this little fan, with little motor, and of course, everything was manual.

We decided on the MaxxFan. No frills, but a much nicer fan and a cleaner look. Purchased it though Campingworld. Prices there was about the same as online or from that A online retailer.

It came with all the parts you need to install it into a 14″ square location.

Tools needed: Scraper, P2 screwdriver, Sq2 screwdriver, cleaner (alcohol), rag, caulk gun.

Parts needed: Fan, Self Leveling Lap Sealant, butyl tape.

Start by taking down the inside trim ring. This gives access to wires, and gets the trim out of the way.

I then removed the bottom plastic piece by pushing on the clips on the front and back.

Wires are accessible now, and were cut loose from the rig’s 12v power supply.

On the roof, I had to remove our weather guard cover from the old fan and then start removing the sealant that was on the old fan. I started with an 1.5″ tape knife/scraper. This did not work well. Next choice was a 3/4″ chisel. this cut it loose from the roof nicely, just had to take small bites of the sealant on each pass.

Once most of the sealant was removed, I could get to the screws to remove them. The screws here on my rig was sq2. These are heads that have a square bit to turn them. Of course, I used a screw gun. You have to apply downward pressure to make sure the bit grabs in on the screw. If not you may wind up messing up the tip or stripping out the head of the screw.

After removing all the screws, I pried up the outside metal ring on the old fan enclosure. I still had to scrape and cut using the chisel.

After that was removed, we had a 14 x 14 hole that needed the new fan.

More scraping to prepare the area. This was to remove as much sealant and butyl tape as possible. When most of it was off, I used alcohol to clean the surface well to make a good spot for the next sealants to stick to.

Place the new fan in the cutout. Trying to center it as well as possible from the top. Go into the trailer and check for squareness on the inside. Take a pencil back up to the roof and make marks where the fan will sit.

Pull the fan out, put sealing tape on the bottom where the screws will go through it. Make sure the wires for the new fan are accessible. Place the fan back in the cut out where it was marked.

Put a bunch of screws in the screw locations to pull it down tight to the roof. Somewhere in here I needed to remove the shipping materials.

Back inside to check the covering ring. There are directions on how to cut it if it is too tall for your ceiling. In our rig, it was the correct hight.

Wire up the (+) to the (+) and the (-) to the (-). There was excess wire on the fan, so I cut the wires to a proper length. In the campers, most of the 12v system is installed with reusable crimp connectors. I reused them. Here I tested the fan to make sure it was working.

Put the trim piece in, using the provided screws.

Back to the roof to seal the whole thing. It took me 3 tubes of lap sealant to cover ring. Now it looks like this was a factory installation of the MaxxFan in our Keystone Arcadia.

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