Installing powered bath vent on my 2013 Escape 19

[NCBill]

I bought the kit from Escape to replace the 9 inch square bathroom vent with a powered 6 inch vent. The only "tricky" part is running the power. I am thinking I need to carefully drill a hole in the upper corner of the road side top cabinet, and then feed wire through the gap between the roof and bath enclosure.

Any tips before I start drilling would be appreciated!!!

Kind of odd to me, the vent is screwed into the fiberglass, with no backing or support material behind it. I would have expected rivets in that case. In addition, there was no butyl tape used under the lip of the vent. Instead, there was just a thin line of caulk of some kind (not silicone). Escape included a tube of caulk with the kit.

I am thinking butyl tape and rivets.

Thanks!

bill

[Tonny LR]

I did this mod 2 years ago. It turned out to be very nice. You can thread wires from the exposed vent to the upper cabinet of the driver side and tie to the overhead light there if you don't have a 12v drop in that area. I will take a picture of the mod I did tomorrow and post it.

Tonny LR

[cpaharley2008]

I recommend butyl tape on any attachment made......

[NCBill]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I recommend butyl tape on any attachment made......

Agree, I was surprised/disappointed they didn't use it originally. I've been using a lot of butyl tape on my old Trillium.

[Greg A]

I’ve always added furring strips on vents when I redo them. Prefer screws over rivets if there is wood backing. Definitely butyl tape.
Getting ready to replace the two roof vent caps and it looks like they didn’t use butyl under those either. Going to use butyl and the white Gorilla tape around the base and over the screws instead of Pro flex so it’s maintenance free going forward.

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by Greg A

I’ve always added furring strips on vents when I redo them. Prefer screws over rivets if there is wood backing. Definitely butyl tape.
Getting ready to replace the two roof vent caps and it looks like they didn’t use butyl under those either. Going to use butyl and the white Gorilla tape around the base and over the screws instead of Pro flex so it’s maintenance free going forward.

Instead of Gorilla tape, try Eternabond tape. It seals and sticks much better than any other tape I've seen.

[Greg A]

Good suggestion, Eternabond is great stuff. Used it to completely seal the roof of my stickie years ago and never had any leaks.
The Gorilla tape is Eternabond light, very similar to Eternabond, so I want to try it for this application. Eternabond is almost impossible to remove and while the Gorilla tape is hard to remove it is doable later to remove it if needed.

[Vermilye]

I don't know how useful this is since it was the installation in a 17, but here is how I did it: Power Vent Install.

[Tonny LR]

Installation of power BR vent Kit.
The followings are the tips for you:
1. Prepare the exterior surface properly. Use a heat gun or hair dryer and solvent to remove old chalking. Be patient. This is the hardest part.
2. After removing the the square vent, you will find space/tunnel between BR fiber glass insert shell and ceiling. I threaded wires from the driver side overhead cabinet to the vent. Connect wires to a 12v drop or light fixture.
3. Cut the trim from the square vent housing and use the trim to address up the interior vent. See the attached picture. Screw holes may not all line up.
4. Use Butyl tape or fresh Plumber putty. SS screws and proflex to install the exterior vent parts. See attached picture. I may have used a piece of 1/4" - 1/2" pile wood as backing for screws. Good luck.

Tonny LR