Disintegrated vent, Warning about using vent cushion/inserts

[willald]

When we first got our current RV back in 2012, we purchased a vent insert/cushion very similar to THIS to go in one of the roof vents. It has a white cushion material on one side that you see on the ceiling, and a reflective foil material on the other to reflect out sunlight, heat. Did not really need a vent where that one was, and the thinking was that this would allow less heat and sunlight to get in, make it cooler inside. We were happy with this, and it worked fine (until just recently...read on).

Anyway, last week, we took a long, 5 day weekend trip to a local state park. On the road headed there, that insert piece drops out of the vent opening, and to the floor. Adhesive must have wore out, I thought, when driving down the road, no biggie, I easily fix that when we get to our campsite. Well, when I get to the campsite and set up, go to put the vent insert back in, look up at the vent opening and Whoa!! I'm staring up at blue sky, vent is wide open! No, vent itself is not open, it is closed, but the plastic vent cover itself is completely gone!! Ohhhhh, its a really, really good thing no rain is in the forecast for next several days! hahahaha!

Anyway, I found that the plastic vent itself had with time been exposed to sooo much heat from the sun, it had become brittle and literally broken away to pieces and was completely gone. I got up on the roof to investigate, found that the little bit of the plastic of the vent that was left was sooo brittle and worn out, you just touch it and it would flake away into pieces. Not sure when, how this happened, but know it must have been very recent, as in, probably on the way to the campground, 'cause it had been raining just days before that, and there was zero evidence of any water that had got down onto the insert piece. Neither was there any evidence on the roof that a branch or other object had fallen on to it and caused any of the damage. That plastic roof vent just literally rotted away to nothing and at some point, came completely apart going down the road. I checked everything else on the roof very closely while I was up there. Everything else, other vents, seals, etc. looked perfectly fine. This only happened to the one vent I had used one of those inserts/cushions on.

Our solution for the time being: On way home Sunday, stopped at RV place, picked up and installed a black MaxAir vent cover over that vent. Now, don't really need the insert, the dark colored Max Air cover keeps the sun out well enough. Eventually I'll have to replace the destroyed plastic vent piece (THIS), but the Max Air cover solves it for now. Not sure yet if I'm going to put the insert/cushion back in or not. The black MaxAir vent cover we put on does a pretty good job of keeping the sun, heat out, not sure if the insert will still be needed or not.

Anyway, lesson to be learned from this: If you use vent inserts like I mentioned here that have the foil like reflective material on the top, be careful!! It seems this can cause sooo much heat to build up on the vent cover, it can make them rot away and disintegrate in a few years from all the heat. I can only guess that the reflective material on the top caused sooooo much heat to be trapped on that vent, it eventually caused the plastic vent to completely rot away and disintegrate.

Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this with a vent?

[tegu69]

The last fw we had, did not have issues with the vent covers. Our current fw has had two go bad. The first camper had white covers and the current one came with dark tinted ones. When I replaced mine, I used white colored covers. It might just be cheaper plastic but we shall see.

[doxiemom11]

We have had to replace a couple on our 16 yr old motorhome. The new ones are so thin compared to the originals there is no doubt they will need to be replaced much sooner than the originals. They don't do much for keeping either cold or hot out.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

Ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun damages plastic. All plastic exposed to the sun.

The only difference between brands is the quality of the plastic used, and the rate of damage. But all plastic suffers damage, especially on the roof.

We use the all white cushions, and have the MaxAir Vent covers. The thermometer shows that it is about 7 degrees cooler in direct sunlight under the vent with the cushions than without them. Saying they don't help is like saying double pane windows don't help.

But they aren't magic.

And everyone needs to check all the plastic on their roof at least once yearly. All my vent covers come off for cleaning and inspection once a year. They, and anything else, get replaced if the plastic shows any signs of discoloration or brittleness.

[dave17352]

Now I like my max air vents even more than before! I have them on all vent covers.

[ata3001]

These original vent lids just simply get brittle with age. Better quality lids are available as replacements.

[jjjandrbaker]

I use the cushions in my trailer when camping and remove them when I'm not. I have Max Air covers and never close the vents. I think that too much heat would definitely build up if you used the cushions with the vents closed.

[Retired_JSO]

I have cushions for every vent that are sheep skin covered. They stay put with friction. Each and every vent has a cover over the vent so we can travel with the vents open, rain or shine.

[amandasgramma]

B.O. Plenty wrote:
I've used the cushion for years. Has nothing to do with the vent falling apart. The Sun destroys them as it will the shroud on the A/C.

B.O.

DITTO....and yearly maintenance would have helped prevent this surprise. We always go thru EVERYTHING before we head out the first time in the spring. Course, now we RV full time, so we see what's happening............I hope.

[tpi]

In the past I've had some RV vents which disintegrated in a couple years. I think it was just cheap crummy plastic. On this RV the Fantastic Vent lids are holding up so far.

[fpresto]

My experience was just the opposite. The vent without the cushion fell apart; the one with the cushion did not.

[NJRVer]

I have two vents. One in bath one in bedroom.
We only use the cushion in the bedroom and I had to replace both vent covers last year (2011 model).
They are just cheap.
Nothing to do with the cushion.

I discovered mine when I was recaulking. I could put my finger right through them. bought the thicker replacement from CW.

[beemerphile1]

willald wrote:

beemerphile1 wrote:
A test that would lend credence to the theory of the cushion causing the problem would be if you had another vent that you did not use a cushion. If the vent without a cushion was still sound and solid, empirical evidence would be that the cushion was to blame.

...And that is exactly the case, beemerphile. I have two vents, one I used the cushion on, the other I did not. The one that had the cushion in it disintegrated, the other one is perfectly fine.

That's why I blame it on the cushion. No doubt the sun will eventually destroy them regardless, but it definitely seems like the cushion makes it happen much faster.

Looks like when I look for a replacement for this vent, need to find one that is a made of a material a bit more resistant to UV than the original one was.

Will

Sounds reasonable, not proof positive but possible. There could also be other factors like parking under shade, different brand of vent, or bad batch of vents.

[willald]

beemerphile1 wrote:
A test that would lend credence to the theory of the cushion causing the problem would be if you had another vent that you did not use a cushion. If the vent without a cushion was still sound and solid, empirical evidence would be that the cushion was to blame.

...And that is exactly the case, beemerphile. I have two vents, one I used the cushion on, the other I did not. The one that had the cushion in it disintegrated, the other one is perfectly fine.

That's why I blame it on the cushion. No doubt the sun will eventually destroy them regardless, but it definitely seems like the cushion makes it happen much faster.

Looks like when I look for a replacement for this vent, need to find one that is a made of a material a bit more resistant to UV than the original one was.

Will

[imgoin4it]

I quit using the cushion years ago because they were gradually bending the screen up and into the fan blade on the fantastic fans. I Was at a rally and fantastic fan folks were selling double walled vent covers. Had two installed and no longer need any additional insulation. They work and insulate very well, but i have never seen them again.