Dometic fridge vent screws need to be replaced.

[red_georgia]

Added two thermostat controlled fans to top of vent stack this weekend. During that process, discovered a very poorly designed vent attachment method. The screws are oriented vertically and create four vertical paths for water to collect on top of the screws. The screws used (provided by Dometic I assume) "were" black oxide. The screws were completely rusted (and the vertical column stained with rusty water that sits in the hole) and almost disintegrated when I removed them to access top of vent stack. This is a 2021 unit....screws almost unusable. I replaced them with stainless..... quick fix for those of you with same fridge/vent arrangement. A few more years and I'm guessing those screws would never come out. Small job to avoid bigger one in future (replace vent assembly).

 

[TitanMike]

The recesses in the vent cover that the screws are installed in are often filled with some calking material to prevent water pooling on the screws..

It's not exactly the problem of the screws, but improper installation.

I doubt the factory will use Stainless Screws due to the cost and like always, installation flaws will always be with us.

 

[jneum525]

Added two thermostat controlled fans to top of vent stack this weekend. During that process, discovered a very poorly designed vent attachment method. The screws are oriented vertically and create four vertical paths for water to collect on top of the screws. The screws used (provided by Dometic I assume) "were" black oxide. The screws were completely rusted (and the vertical column stained with rusty water that sits in the hole) and almost disintegrated when I removed them to access top of vent stack. This is a 2021 unit....screws almost unusable. I replaced them with stainless..... quick fix for those of you with same fridge/vent arrangement. A few more years and I'm guessing those screws would never come out. Small job to avoid bigger one in future (replace vent assembly).

Any pics of the screws or the fans you installed?

What make model MH do you have?

 

[bclemens]

The recesses in the vent cover that the screws are installed in are often filled with some calking material to prevent water pooling on the screws..

It's not exactly the problem of the screws, but improper installation.

I doubt the factory will use Stainless Screws due to the cost and like always, installation flaws will always be with us.

We actually use stainless screws in lots of locations.

The Suburban furnace exhaust, because the ones they provide rust over night.
The door key pad because those rust early and often.
Several exterior trim and light attachments.

OEM's don't avoid them necessarily, but we use higher rated zinc screws in many cases...if we see thsoe being crappy screws, we normally change over to SS.

Some areas, maybe a guy grabs the wrong screw, or it is an area where it is not supposed to get wet, but maybe it does.

IF the OP would post a picture...would happily take a look at the area in question and see if it is an area we need to make a change.

 

[red_georgia]

fridge vent screws./fans

Attached is a pic of the screws in fridge vent from vehicle made in March of this year. I replace with SS #8 flatheads 1.25". Also is a pic of the dual fan controllers I installed. Can set one fan to come on when warm and a second fan when hot. I forgot to take pics of the fans but they are ball bearing 4" computer fans with 50,000 hour life. Installed with conduit hangers to top of condenser stack. Easy project.

 

[bclemens]

Ah, gotcha. It was a roof vent. I'll take a look.

 

[red_georgia]

Ah, gotcha. It was a roof vent. I'll take a look.

Thanks Brian, one more item to instruct the boys on. When they install the powered antennae on roof, tell them to run the cables toward the center line of coach from antennae and then to the roof penetration. On mine, they ran the cables toward the starboard side around unit and back up to roof penetration and covered it all in self leveling sealant. Due to that path, and them taking it to low edge of roof and back up, it has created a Damn for water to sit on roof from AC drain on that side. If they ran it the other way around the unit, no dam would be created and water could find a path off the roof.

 

[pmsherman]

The dealer I purchased my 2011 Georgetown from had to replace the roof after it had an encounter with a tree limb. When they reassembled everything, they only installed two screws in the front of the fridge cover but filled all of the screw holes with filler. I discovered this when driving when I heard a constant banging sound from that area of the rig. Nothing was visible when I looked for the problem. When we stopped for the night, the rig was facing into the wind and I started hearing the noise again. When I went out to check, I could see the fridge vent cover lift up then bang down every time a gust of wind hit it. I dug out the sealer, installed screws and reinstalled sealer to protect them. This solved the flapping vent cover issue.


Phil