Bathroom Exhaust Fan. Louvers

[Crippsfl]

When we purchased our 2015 Cornerstone, one of the things that I thought was lacking was a finished set of louvers mounted under the exhaust fans in the bathrooms. Most higher end coaches have these and I brought it up with Entergra personnel when I ordered my coach. At that time, there was apparently an issue with the vendor, who was worried about air flow restriction.

I was happy to see that it is now a standard feature on the 2016 Cornerstone and decided to order a couple of them to install on my coach. They install directly over the current frame.

Upon receiving them, there are a couple of things to know before adding them to your coach. First of all, the are not hinge mounted. This means you have to remove the decorative plugs and remove the screws to remove the louvers. This is required to clean the screen and fan. A bit labor intensive for me.

The vents are unfinished on the top side. If you decide to add them, I recommend that you apply a couple of coats of exterior satin gloss varnish (I used Minwax Helmsman) to seal the wood from any water or humidity issues

All in all, the do add a touch of class to the baths and I am happy I installed them. I am confident that Entegra will address the issues I have raised.

[DebbieMH]

Can you post a picture - would like to see the finished product. Thanks!

[Cruzer]

We have them on our 2016. I've seen them before on other brands as well. They do look nice but they are in the way when it's time to clean the fan screen behind it plus the louvers themselves get dusty. Taking out all those screws is a pain. Pretty much the same as the return duct louvers for the A/C system.

Following is a picture of an Allegro Bus. They use a standard grabber catch and hinge to allow the unit to drop down for easy access to the fan and screen. But they have a massive frame around it, which isn't really necessary and then use cabinet door hinges. I don't have any photos of this, but another brand, which was Newmar if I recall correctly, used a magnet and piano hinge to attach the trim piece. It was a fairly strong rectangular magnet, larger than the small round magnets that Pat Bauer's used to modify the A/C vent louvers. The magnet was mounted up in the cavity and a chrome plated steel plate was screwed to the back of the louver so that the magnet had something to hold on to. Plus the piano hinge and magnet allow for a frameless installation that eliminates that bulky frame and gives you more ceiling clearance when retracting the slideouts. Either method works but I think the magnet is a more cleaner way to do it.

Guess what just got added to my mods list.

[Nowabeachbum]

I also decided to add covers to the fans. I looked into using hinges but felt it added too much bulk. I decided instead to make them thinner and then attached them with Velcro. Velcro would also potentially make a good fastener for the air conditioner intake vents. My vent covers have been on for a year now without a problem. Heavy duty Velcro can hold a lot of weight, perhaps you can use it to attach your vent covers on the 2016.

[DebbieMH]

Originally Posted by Nowabeachbum

I also decided to add covers to the fans. I looked into using hinges but felt it added too much bulk. I decided instead to make them thinner and then attached them with Velcro. Velcro would also potentially make a good fastener for the air conditioner intake vents. My vent covers have been on for a year now without a problem. Heavy duty Velcro can hold a lot of weight, perhaps you can use it to attach your vent covers on the 2016.

Looks great!

[tomakat]

I love the look of the vent covers. On the Dutch Stars, they only put them over the kitchen fan by default, but I had them add it to both bathrooms. They are flush against the ceiling and are held in place with two beefy clamps on each side which allows it to come completely off.