Bathroom Heat Ven

[GrayGhost]

Did some "unscheduled maintenance" today.  I discovered a while back that I was not getting any airflow out of the bathroom heat vent.... None.  Took a flashlight and looked into the vent, and sure enough, the duct had separated from the vent.

 

When I took the little rack off the front of the vanity, discovered the following:

 

1. For those who thought that perhaps there was wasted space in there, there really is not. Duct, plumbing, wiring and the recessed wash cloth rack take up almost all of the room. You will be glad to have space to maneuver under there if you ever want to do some mods or repairs.

 

2. The reducer that attaches the duct to the vent is metal, really heavy for the application, and  just barely fits if everything is lined up just right during the build. In my case, the plumbing vent angles out away from the front wall just slightly, and it's just enough to make the reducer not fit. The joint was held together with foil duct tape, and the weight caused it to separate.

 

3. Found a very light weight plastic reducer on Amazon that fit the situation much better. The joint between the reducer and vent still not a good fit, (meaning it's just a tad too wide to slide into the vent), but with a couple of good wraps with foil tape it's on securely. And feather weight, so no danger that it will come loose.

 

 

[Try2Relax]

Whoa, a heated bathroom floor, that could've been a nice option.

 

Not being near the trailer, to look, is the bathroom vent not the same as the cabin vents? Those are just pushed on the housing on mine, not even taped, hold tight.

[GrayGhost]

Cabin vent duct on mine are on really tight as well. It looks to me that the duct to the cabin is 4", and the run back to the bathroom is 3" to help keep the velocity up over the extra distance, so the reducer is needed to accommodate the smaller duct.

[Mainiac]

Was a razor blade what you used to remove the panel? Easy to do? Did you have to remove the old caulk to reinstall? What did you recaulk with? I don't see any screws. Any concerns other than the reducer? Would a self tapping screw held the duct on?

[John E Davies]

Thanks for posting. Did you have any trouble getting the sealant to break free? I have ordered a round inspection port for this area, to be located in the closet inner wall. It will be too small to work through, but it should be useful for checking things out with a flashlight and mirror.

 

FYI: If you have a duct that slips off the outlet, you can always drill two holes at 180 degrees and install a couple of small sheet metal screws or pop rivets through both parts. Wrap tape over the top and you have a forever joint (for your forever trailer).

 

Stainless screws are best, and never do this for a home dryer duct, since it will catch lint, which becomes a restriction and fire hazard..

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[Overland]

a) I'm surprised that Oliver doesn't use semi-rigid ducting for the vents.  Maybe it's a question of weight?  Tiny difference if it is.

 

b) I wonder why they didn't reduce it at the split and use a 3" duct up to the vent.  Though I guess that vent is the end of the line.  Still, they could have reduced it at the floor and given themselves more room to work.

[GrayGhost]

The front came off very easily, just a sharp razor blade to cut the caulk.  It went back on fairly easily, but to make it even easier I re-attached it with stainless screws and washers first, didn't want just a bead of caulk to hold it on and have it slip before it dried.  I caulked around it after it was attached with screws. The only way I can see to avoid doing that would be to hold it in place with tape while it dries.

 

I thought about attaching the reducer with a screw(s), but that would have been very difficult within that space to get a drill in there.   And it was so ill-fitting because of size, weight and the angle it was at because of plumbing in the way, I opted for another method.

 

The duct splits at the second cabin vent. I don't know if it reduces from 3-4" there, or somewhere else prior to the bathroom. A three inch vent in the bath would negate the need for a reducer, but perhaps they aren't available.

[GrayGhost]

Also, the old caulk came off very easily, also with a blade (carefully). Re-caulked with 3M marine grade silicone caulk.

[Overland]

Since we're going to install wall mounted dispensers and hooks for wash cloths, etc. I'm wondering now if Oliver would be willing to just supply a gasketed access panel there instead of the insert?  I guess the switch could be relocated easily enough.

 

Of course, my wife would probably question the aesthetics of that idea and it isn't as if I need in there every day.

[Commanche]

That was a good idea to refasten it with screws. When I had to take mine off, to repair the broken water hose, it was fastened with  6 big globs of silicon that was difficult to cut through. Might be nice to have a access door in the closet to get to the stuff under the sink.

 

 

 

Stan

[GrayGhost]

Previously I thought that a hatch in the closet was the way to go. After opening up the front,I can see that there just isn't enough room for anything but a small round port. Enough for an easy visual check of things, but not a practical accesss to do much else I don't think.

[Mainiac]

Nice job: Well Done. Feel a lot better about the whole process. It is doable. Looks like he sink plumbing isn't going anywhere, and would stand up to rough roads...

[GrayGhost]

Yes, the plumbing looks plenty rugged. Also, the pex to faucet connections are done with braided plumbing line. So if you ever wanted to change out the faucet/shower head for any reason it would be very easy.

[Raspy]

GrayGhost,

 

Thanks for this great post.   I've been wondering how difficult it was going to be to get that rack/cover removed for service.  My most pressing concern is how to replace the flex hose to the shower head.  I've been thinking of the round ports too, but now I guess that's out.

 

Was it really just a simple matter of running a knife blade around the caulking and pulling the rack off?

 

Any more pix?

 

Thanks again

[Try2Relax]

John,

 

I don't see that you were ever a part of this thread. Depending upon when they made the switch to something else, you might need to use a little caution.

 

Post #12 is Jason's

 

http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/new-plumbing-design-for-2017/#

[GrayGhost]

Having owned and built boats, I am very familiar with the 3M 5200 and 4200 products. I was expecting the panel on the front of the vanity to be much more difficult to remove because I thought I would run into a thick bead of 4200.  If you look closely at the first photo you can see a thin bead of caulk. And, it was very easy to slip a razor blade between the vanity and the panel and slice through the caulk. I know they use 4200 on all the major joints In the Oliver, and I could be wrong, but I honestly don't think it was 4200 that was holding that panel on....it seemed to me to be silicone. It also cleaned up very easily with the blade, with no damage whatsoever to the gel coat.

 

I believe the newer Ollies have the panels fixed with a couple of screws in the same location I put mine, but they have decorative caps to hide the screw heads.

[Try2Relax]

Thanks. I'd been planning to remove it at some point, for access to the forward hull and after Jason's warning I was hesitant. I have no experience with it and was nervous of causing damage to the gel coat. So thanks for alleviating some of that fear.