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Old 11-04-2012, 06:21 AM   #1
Bob Landry
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Fantastic Fan

I'm finally fed up with having to take the battery out of the smoke alarm that's in front of the stove everytime we cook because Keystone didn't see fit to install an exhaust for the range hood. Man, if there is ever another trailer in my future, I'll check for that and it will be a deal breaker if it's not there. What a PITA. I don't know why they even bothered with a range hood. it would have been cheaper to just put a light over the stove and call it good. <rant off>

Specifically, this is an Outback 277RL. I'm just wondering if anyone has relaced this manual vent with a Fantastic Fan, and if so where you picked up the 12V for it. There is a ceiling light fixture close to it that I'm sure I could get power from the 12V wiring to the light, but that would require that the ceiling light switch be turned on. That's not a deal breaker, but I would rather have an independent power source for the fan. I called Keystone( for another issue) lookin for a wiring schematic and was told they don't use them(Called BS on that one), so I'm on my own.
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Old 11-04-2012, 06:36 AM   #2
Watchman
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I just installed a Comfort Air fan running electrical from a light fixture. All you are doing is wiring into the hot wire BEFORE the switch on your light so it being on or off doesn't matter to the fan.
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Old 11-04-2012, 06:42 AM   #3
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I don't know how far the light switch, or the power panel is from where the fan will be, but, you might use the existing wire to "snake" the new wire through.
Tie the new wire, and an extra wire or fish tape to the existing wire at the light and then use the existing wire to pull it to the switch or panel. Then disconnect the new wire and pull the original wire back using extra wire or the fish tape.
Another idea would be to connect the fantastic fan to the stove hood wire and disconnect the now unused stove fan. When you turn the hood switch on, the fantastic fan would run instead of the stove fan?
Just thinking out loud. Hope it helps
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Old 11-04-2012, 07:06 AM   #4
KenBob
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Our Fuzion does not have a stove vent either. Installed a remote controlled fan to replace the manual fan in the living/kitchen area. The closest power source was a wall switched light in the kitchen. Had to run a wire to a light in the hall in front of the bathroom door. Had to fish the wire from the vent site forward to the bathroom, then over to the hall light. Tried a straight shot but could not feed the fish tape. Only ran the power wire to the hall light. Ran the ground to the switched light wiring closest to the vent. Find the closest non wall switched light and try to use it.

We thought it was strange to have no stove vent and no powered roof vent as well. Installing the power vent was the first thing done and it works great!
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Old 11-04-2012, 07:23 AM   #5
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On the Cougar model the exhaust hood is vented to the outside, but we still wanted the Fantastic Fan with the automatic controls. Dealer wanted $220 to install the fan since he needed to run a separate power line from the converter. Will I install it myself using the 12V under cabinet light near the stove for a power source. I removed the Lazy Suzan in the cabinet by the stove and drilled two small holes for the two 12V wires and ground wire. Used a wire chase to enclose the wires, ran this up to the ceiling on the inside of the front cabinet wall to the opening in the roof for the former manual vent. Work greats and we have had no power issues with the vent or light which we do not often use at this location.
Jim W.
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Old 11-04-2012, 08:01 AM   #6
Bob Landry
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jsmith948 View Post
I don't know how far the light switch, or the power panel is from where the fan will be, but, you might use the existing wire to "snake" the new wire through.
Tie the new wire, and an extra wire or fish tape to the existing wire at the light and then use the existing wire to pull it to the switch or panel. Then disconnect the new wire and pull the original wire back using extra wire or the fish tape.
Another idea would be to connect the fantastic fan to the stove hood wire and disconnect the now unused stove fan. When you turn the hood switch on, the fantastic fan would run instead of the stove fan?
Just thinking out loud. Hope it helps
Using the wiring to the range hood fan is a great idea if the hood is 12V and not 110V. I'll have to check. Also, when I pull the trim ring off the existing vent, I may see a way to snake a wire across the ceiling to the range hood. Pulling the microwave out may also expose some wiring and that only takes a couple of minutes. The ceiling light appears to be directly in front of the stove, so there may even be a wire run that will getme over to the cabinet. If I can just get to there, I can get to the DC stuff since the converter is also on that side of the trailer and it would be easy enough to run wires behind cabinets. I had to do that when I added an outlet on the end of the kitchen counter. I do a lot of marine electrical installations, so I'm used to taking time to find out what I can and can not do. Usually it's just time consuming. I'll call Keystone tomorrow and see if their "customer service" people have a suggestion as to where I might pick up the power. Looks like it may be a fun project.
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Old 11-04-2012, 08:29 AM   #7
Javi
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The vent hood on my Passport isn't vented outside either... but I fixed the smoke alarm so it isn't a problem anymore.. I will agree that it took a real idiot to put a smoke detector less than 2 feet in front of a gas range with a vent hood blowing the air straight at it...

what a joke stupid
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Old 11-04-2012, 08:38 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by Javi View Post
The vent hood on my Passport isn't vented outside either... but I fixed the smoke alarm so it isn't a problem anymore.. I will agree that it took a real idiot to put a smoke detector less than 2 feet in front of a gas range with a vent hood blowing the air straight at it...

what a joke stupid
And a bigger idiot to assume that an owner would not want to vent heat and cooking fumes to theoutside instead of having them blown in your face. If it were not for the long windowbehind the stove that Keystone obviously got a real deal on, it would be easy enough to install a vent. I even had a PDF from somewhere that showed how to put one in in spite of Keystone, but the guy who did it was a sheet metal fabricator and the vent was pretty complex for the average handyman.
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Old 11-04-2012, 08:38 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by Jim W View Post
On the Cougar model the exhaust hood is vented to the outside, but we still wanted the Fantastic Fan with the automatic controls. Dealer wanted $220 to install the fan since he needed to run a separate power line from the converter. Will I install it myself using the 12V under cabinet light near the stove for a power source. I removed the Lazy Suzan in the cabinet by the stove and drilled two small holes for the two 12V wires and ground wire. Used a wire chase to enclose the wires, ran this up to the ceiling on the inside of the front cabinet wall to the opening in the roof for the former manual vent. Work greats and we have had no power issues with the vent or light which we do not often use at this location.
Jim W.
Jim,
Thanks for that explanation. I, too, have the 318SAB, and I will install the Fantastic Fan before next season.

Regards,
Phil
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Old 11-04-2012, 09:16 AM   #10
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Bob,

Is there a way to install a vent in the top of the exhaust hood? If so, you may be able to cut a 3" hole in the cabinet base above the hood, route the exhaust up and then out the back of that upper cabinet to the outside of the trailer? Just a thought, I do know that almost all "home" exhaust hoods have horizontal (out the back) and vertical (out the top) venting options. Maybe your current hood has this option?

John
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Old 11-04-2012, 11:24 AM   #11
Bob Landry
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I was wondering about that also. The microwave is directly above the stove, so I would need to pull it out and measure to see if there is enough space behind it. It there is, then the sheet metal fabrication becomes pretty simple and it might be doable.
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Old 11-04-2012, 11:30 AM   #12
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We have a 277RL also, and are dealing with the same problem. I have pulled the trim from around the ceiling vent once, and there are at least 3 sets of wires to the aft of the opening, but I have not taken the time to try and figure out whether they are hot or what circuit they may be on. My next step, like you are talking about, is to pull the microwave and maybe hood to see what is back there. It seems like there should be room to fit some kind of duct up behind the microwave and out through the wall. I also want to check to see if there is a pathway for getting 12 volts from the hood up to the vent. In the end, I will probably install a power vent regardless of whether I can directly vent the stove or not.
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Old 11-04-2012, 11:57 AM   #13
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Originally Posted by cathcartww View Post
We have a 277RL also, and are dealing with the same problem. I have pulled the trim from around the ceiling vent once, and there are at least 3 sets of wires to the aft of the opening, but I have not taken the time to try and figure out whether they are hot or what circuit they may be on. My next step, like you are talking about, is to pull the microwave and maybe hood to see what is back there. It seems like there should be room to fit some kind of duct up behind the microwave and out through the wall. I also want to check to see if there is a pathway for getting 12 volts from the hood up to the vent. In the end, I will probably install a power vent regardless of whether I can directly vent the stove or not.
I agree, having a fantastic vent fan in the cooking area is a great addition. However, if you can figure out how to divert the cooking humidity, heat and smells out of the RV before they even get out into the room, you'll prevent a lot of issues with cooking. The ideal solution is a range hood that vents outside if it's at all possible. GOOD LUCK !!!!!
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Old 11-04-2012, 01:51 PM   #14
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Has anyone considered routing exhaust towards the refer vent? This may solve two problems at once.
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Old 11-04-2012, 07:09 PM   #15
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Has anyone considered routing exhaust towards the refer vent? This may solve two problems at once.
Routing cooking exhaust into the reefer vent will undoubtedly deposit cooking grease on the surfaces of the refrigerator electronics, heating system and electrical components. Additionally, the entire area "back there" is OSB painted with black latex paint, some open fiberglass batting along the sides of the refer compartment and a "chimney" which is the only way to cool the refrigerator to keep it working. Blowing hot greasy exhaust into that area is just inviting trouble.
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Old 11-05-2012, 08:14 AM   #16
Bob Landry
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The ideal solution is a range hood that vents outside if it's at all possible. GOOD LUCK !!!!!
That's the issue that prompted this entire thread.
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Old 11-05-2012, 08:42 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by Bob Landry View Post
I'm finally fed up with having to take the battery out of the smoke alarm that's in front of the stove everytime we cook because Keystone didn't see fit to install an exhaust for the range hood. Man, if there is ever another trailer in my future, I'll check for that and it will be a deal breaker if it's not there. What a PITA. I don't know why they even bothered with a range hood. it would have been cheaper to just put a light over the stove and call it good. <rant off>

Specifically, this is an Outback 277RL. I'm just wondering if anyone has relaced this manual vent with a Fantastic Fan, and if so where you picked up the 12V for it. There is a ceiling light fixture close to it that I'm sure I could get power from the 12V wiring to the light, but that would require that the ceiling light switch be turned on. That's not a deal breaker, but I would rather have an independent power source for the fan. I called Keystone( for another issue) lookin for a wiring schematic and was told they don't use them(Called BS on that one), so I'm on my own.
On my 295RE which is similar layout, I picked up 12V from behind the microwave. When I pulled the microwave I found several hot 12V wire feeds that dropped down from the ceiling. I simply used a snake to go from the Fantastic vent over to the access hole behind the microwave and tapped in there. the stove vent is 12V and the 12V feed to the overhead light over then sink was in the cavity as well.


And using the fantastic on low when cooking keeps the fire alarm off!!

I looked at routing the stove fan vent to the outside by going up into the microwave cabinet then out above the window. It didn't look very promising for anything reasonably easy to do when I looked at it.

It is possible to tap into the ceiling light next to the ceiling vent as you mentioned, getting to the wire is very easy, but having in the 295RE, that means turning on the light switch for the living area overhead lights first. getting to the wiring behind the microwave will take about an extra 1/2 hour, well worth the time IMHO.

FWIW, even if the stove fan vented to the outside, I still install the fantastic fan just to get ventilation for the trailer to cool it down in the evenings etc. I installed the fantastic fan in the living area vent AND replaced the bath fan with a Fantastic. It's impressive on how fast I can cool the trailer down with both fans on and a few windows open. DW even wanted one in the Bedroom, but the only way to do that would put the fan along a plywood joint in the roof, not something I wanted to entertain. Outback puts the roof plywood down such that the existing roof holes never span a plywood joint, a good thing IMHO to avoid leak problems. Also something the dealer service department recomended against doing.
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Old 11-05-2012, 10:30 AM   #18
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Vent hood

Well, sorry to disappoint but we have a vented hood in our 318SAB and the smoke alarm STILL goes when we cook. I always crack the door or the window near the sink. The hood is a good try but it doesn't come out far enough so I still get fumes to trigger the alarm ( unless I cook on the back burner)

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Old 11-05-2012, 11:05 AM   #19
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That's the issue that prompted this entire thread.
That's right, Bob, but it seems like a lot of people have "moved away" from the original issue and are resolved to settling for a fantastic fan, a "compromise" instead of looking at ways to resolve the initial problem. I was simply restating your original issue, that the range vent is not vented outside and it would be nice if it were.

Work arounds are OK, but sometimes they don't resolve the problem, they just move it somewhere else. If it weren't for that window, this would be an easy fix, but, thanks to Keystone (for whatever reason) simple venting is not possible. However, venting the range hood is still the best option, possibly combined with either moving the smoke detector and/or installing a fantastic fan to help remove what the range hood doesn't.

The reason the smoke detector is located where it sits is a requirement from RVIA to have the alarm within "X" feet of heat/fire potential sources. I moved mine to the forward ceiling area as far as I could get it from the stove. Now, it doesn't alarm with heat or humidity from cooking, but since it's still in the main cabin, I feel certain that it will alarm with any smoke or heat produced by the furnace or cooktop. They are still located within 10' of the smoke detector, it's just simply no longer "on top of the stove"
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Old 11-05-2012, 05:09 PM   #20
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Whether I can figure out a way to directly vent the range hood or not, I plan on installing a fan in the living room ceiling like ktmracer described. Both the Fan-tastic Vent and the MaxxFans seem to require the complete replacement of the whole vent assembly. Our trailer allready has the an MaxxAir cover installed over the OEM vent. I was thinking maybe one of these retrofit fans may be almost as good, and easier to install. What do you guys think?

http://www.hengsindustries.com/vents_vortex.html
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