range hood exhaust vent
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 5:35 pm
During our shakedown trip we noticed a heck of a lot of noise coming from flapper on the vent. We stuffed a towel up it to keep the flapper from making noise for the duration of the trip.
On closer examination the exterior vent cover designed to keep rain, bugs and dust out of the van with an outside manual release damper on our 190 has the two tabs (hinges) broken off; more than likely this is normal wear and tear for the years it has on it.
We repaired the damper with two finishing nails covered with heat shrink at the ends. Finishing nails are held in place by melting the plastic with a soldering iron and the addition of thin wire filaments to hold the nails in place. See enclosed image . We believe the repair is actually more durable than the original plastic tabs. But it is not pretty however anyone looking up our vent deserves to see something ugly. Replacement of the hold vent unit is probably cheap enough if you must have pretty but it will only break again after a few years. Quite frankly we'd rather have the 25 bucks in our pockets for other van expenditures. One must go the outside the van to manual release damper, the damper automatically opens when the range hood fan is activated to allow vapors from cooking to be exhausted. The damper automatically closes to prevent insects and dust from entering when the range hood is not in operation, theoretically. However the manual release damper must be secured before driving off down the road. We placed a paper towel underneath the flapper to prevent road vibrations making noise and/or releasing the damper.
We repaired the damper with two finishing nails covered with heat shrink at the ends. Finishing nails are held in place by melting the plastic with a soldering iron and the addition of thin wire filaments to hold the nails in place. See enclosed image . We believe the repair is actually more durable than the original plastic tabs. But it is not pretty however anyone looking up our vent deserves to see something ugly. Replacement of the hold vent unit is probably cheap enough if you must have pretty but it will only break again after a few years. Quite frankly we'd rather have the 25 bucks in our pockets for other van expenditures. One must go the outside the van to manual release damper, the damper automatically opens when the range hood fan is activated to allow vapors from cooking to be exhausted. The damper automatically closes to prevent insects and dust from entering when the range hood is not in operation, theoretically. However the manual release damper must be secured before driving off down the road. We placed a paper towel underneath the flapper to prevent road vibrations making noise and/or releasing the damper.
There's tape on it to keep it closed for now.
their should be no problems.