The second day into a 4 week trip in the Canadian Rockies the manual lift mechanism that opens the cover to allow the Maxxfan to work on our 2016 Escape 17B disintegrated. Unless we could open and close that cover we wouldn't be able to use the fan on the trip. A lot of the campsites we were going to use don't have electricity to run our A/C, so I was counting on the Maxxfan to help cool the trailer if it got too hot. I couldn't find any supplier that had the part on hand that could get it to us somewhere on our trip.
So, I cooked something up.
The struts that hold the Maxxfan motor and fan blades are above the fan blade and below the fan cover. The motor struts are 3/4” wide. I made a prop that would fit onto the motor strut that is long enough to hold the fan cover open. To install it, I remove the Maxxfan screen, temporarily hold the Maxxfan cover open with a makeshift rod (I'm using leftover 3/4" PVC), insert my custom kludged cover prop with another makeshift rod (3/8" wood dowel), withdraw the rods when the prop is in place, and the cover stays open. I then turn on the fan. When I turn off the fan, I remove the prop, which closes the cover. I replace the screen. Its just as easy to remove the prop as it is to put it in place. .
To make the prop: I got short pieces of 3/4” and 3/8” PVC pipe, a 3/8" wood dowel, and a rubber stopper to fit the 3/4 PVC pipe, at a hardware store. I cut a slot into the 3/4” PVC pipe so it would fit over one of the 3/4" wide struts that hold the Maxxfan motor in place. I inserted a rubber stopper into the end of the 3/4" PVC pipe that would be touching the fan cover. I taped a short length of 3/8” PVC to its side. All as shown in the photo. I cut the slot using the soldering gun, a hacksaw, and a knife from my travel tool kit.
The prop:
The 3/8” PVC is in the design so I can use a wood dowel to help position the strut exactly where I want it. When the strut is in place, the wood dowel can be withdrawn, so the fan blades can move freely.
I thought the rubber stopper might help the device stay in position especially if there was some wind gusts. I haven’t used this device enough to say how it would stand up in all conditions. I suppose, now that I think of it, if wind gusts prove to be a problem, something that would help would be to lengthen the strut so it would hold the cover open to its maximum amount plus a bit. This length holds the cover almost all the way open.
To install the prop: I remove the Maxxfan screen. I insert a short length of wood dowel into the 3/8” PVC taped to the prop. Using some of the leftover 3/4” PVC ( in my left hand in the photo ) I temporarily hold the Maxxfan cover open while inserting the prop (using the wood dowel in the my right hand in the photo).
The groove cut into the bottom of the 3/4’ PVC prop is fitted over the motor strut. The rubber stopper is resting against the Maxxfan cover holding it open. When the prop is in position, I remove the 3/4” PVC I’m holding in my left hand, as well as the 3/8” dowel that is in my right hand.
This contraption has worked well, so far, to hold the Maxxfan cover open while the fan operates.
Holding the Maxxfan cover open and getting ready to insert the prop:
I have the Maxxfan deluxe 5100K.
The part for this fan that disintegrated that required me to make this contraption is called the “
Operator Mechanism Manual Lift”, part number
10-20281K-3CF. This part is used in a number of different Maxxfans that have manual lift covers, from 4000 series to 7000 series. Maxxfan has good info on their website listing part numbers that fit their various fans. This part is cast out of whatever metal they had melted down in the pot that day. Mine just disintegrated in normal use which points to a design flaw and/or lousy metal used to implement the design the day they made it. I ordered two of these replacement parts, in case the replacements are as subject to failure as the one installed at the factory in my Maxxfan was.
(This part has been known in the past as the Coleman 62-2289, a part that was superceded by Coleman 73-4748). There is a similar but different part for the fans that open with a motor.
Linear Mode
