Now that I am out of the big deep freeze for awhile, it was time to do some piddlin’ around the Old Girl. I used a precious gallon of propane to run up the Generac 6.6kw generator for an hour. I checked all the lower compartments closely for any signs of mice. Cold weather like we recently had really drives them inside. I went up on the roof and swept all the pine needles away. I checked the air pressure in the tires and the fluid levels on the Cummins. I keep thinking we are going to get a clear weather window and the mud will dry up enough to finish this job! I want the Old Girl to be ready to hit the road to the next job over by Hearne, TX when the time comes. On January 28th, I will have been sitting at this same location for a year. Hard to believe that much time has passed.
While I was up on the roof, I got to thinking. I have Maxxair vent covers on all the vents. The older RVs had more vents than the newer ones I think. I have 5 vents in the Fish Bus. My brother only has 2 in his Heartland 5er. When I bought the Old Girl, there was one Maxxair vent installed on the vent in the forward compartment. I bought 4 more just so they would “match”. I found out later that the Maxxairs have a good rep so I did good without even knowing it.
Vent covers offer two advantages. One is that you can leave your vent open all the time without worrying about it raining in. I guess some of the newer technology vents have rain sensors and thermostats that will open/close them automatically. I am thinking that would be a handy thing but I don’t think I will be spending good money on it to upgrade the Old Girl. The other thing a vent cover does is to keep all the trash out of the vents. I absolutely hate taking that inside screen off to clean it. Such a pain!
One of the Maxxair vents is different from the others.
Maxxair Fanmate
It is a Maxxair Fanmate that is specifically designed to fit over my Fantastic Fan and give it extra space to exhaust air out of my RV. I need to expand on this subject a little more. My Fantastic Vent Fan
is never turned off- ever. It is set on low speed exhaust and it has run day in and day out for almost 5 years now. It is their simplest model — just a 2 position switch that sets it to exhaust or pull air in and another fan speed switch. I added a Fantastic Pop ‘n Lock screen on the inside. Now, when the screen gets dirty, I just pop it off and clean it with compressed air. Takes two minutes.
Why in the world would I run the fan non-stop? Well, it is because I would not make a very good Sunday School teacher. I drink (in moderation), I cuss (when the situation calls for it) and…. I smoke. Yep, I said it. I smoke inside the Old Girl. I smoke in my Suburban. I happily smoke in bars and any venue that allows it. Funny thing is that I do not care for the smell of stale smoke. It bugs me in the Suburban because I can smell it. I usually run down the road with one of the windows cracked open a few inches to draw the smoke out. The Fantastic Fan helps a tremendous amount in alleviating the stale smoke odor in the Old Girl. It doesn’t completely get rid of it but it sure is a huge improvement.
The Fantastic Fan has a cult following in the RV community. I have read message after message on the RV Forums about how “fantastic” their customer service is. Most say that a phone call to the company in Michigan results in a free replacement part being sent to them. I said “free” and with no hassle; no receipts or paperwork required. I have never had an occasion to call them which is a testament in itself. I estimate my Fantastic Fan has run 40,000 hours trouble free!
Possibly Related Posts:
- The Merciless Sun; Ravages of Time
- Incoherent Ramblings and Disjointed Thoughts
- Piddlin’ and Sweatin’
- Air Conditioners Running Hard….
- Shedding the Yoke….
I have three vents in my TT and they all have covers. Only the one in the bathroom has a fan. I don’t see anyway to take the screens out to clean them. It’s one thing I’ll have to research when it warms up because after a year and a half of living here, they are getting pretty dirty.
Well Miss Tango,
Cleaning those screens is just a royal pain. I do it every year as part of Spring Cleaning. Pick a rainy day when you are bored and cabin fever is creeping up on ya.