Sunday, September 9, 2012

Improved Circulation

Floorplan from the Scamp website
Perhaps the most important feature that led to our selection of the Scamp 19 Deluxe was the privacy of the loft created by the "front" bathroom. One of the downsides of this layout is reduced circulation when using the air conditioner. A number of people have installed muffin fans pulling air through a duct installed in the storage space over the bathroom. In fact, I collected some of the parts to do just that but then realized the amount of storage that was going to get blocked off.

About the time I was ready to start cutting, Caframo marine fans were mentioned on the Casita forum.  A little research led to a highly adjustable fan with very low power requirements - 4 watts on the high speed setting.  Size, adaptability, ease of mounting, and low power were all pluses.  Pricing was not a plus but that's what you get when you're shopping in the marine world.

With the ability to fold out of the way, we decided to mount it as close to the roof as possible at the top of the stairs to the loft.

The mount is a threaded flange that comes with two wood screws for installation.  I substituted a pair of #8 machine screws with flat washers and nyloc nuts in my installation.

The nut that holds the fan to the threaded flange allows for rotation if desired.  The cam lever at the top (at least in our installation) allows the fan housing to be rotated up to 180 degrees and then latched in place.  The fan will be stowed against the wall when not in use.  The grey button is the on/off/speed switch.

Even when the fan is deployed we have adequate head clearance.  Power was tapped from the feed to the light. Given the previous conversion to LED, even with the fan at high speed we'll only draw 1/3 of the draw of the incandescent lamp that was originally installed.

The fan puts out LOTS of air. I'm pretty sure that we'll only use it on the lowest setting. Even at that, we've significantly improved circulation.

5 comments:

  1. John,

    Does not your 5er have a Fantastic Fans on both ends ?
    Crack both lids a bit and turn the rear one on low (incoming air)........
    For me those steps are already too narrow !!!!

    DaveL
    (from the Scamp List on Yahoo)

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    1. We have a Fantastic Fan over the dinette and an emergency hatch / vent over the loft. If we'd ordered direct from the factory we would have deleted the forward vent. As it is, we had to teach our trailer to kneel to fit through the 9' high garage door.

      I thought about a Fantastic Fan in front, but our experience has been that they are a bit limited in the rain unless you add a vent cover which isn't an option with our garage limitation.

      John

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    2. John the A-liner list talk about a special FF that is low profile so the folding of a A-line will clear.
      P & C

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  2. Hi, John.

    That fan looks sweet. Only 4W draw at max setting is VERY impressive.

    FYI. On a previous Scamp 19 with front bath I added a ductless fan through the cabinet. Unless really stuffed full air found it's way from one side to the other. Never had an issue with bedding or linens causing a problem. They make grates for muffin fans.

    Rock on!

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    Replies
    1. I considered that idea but the location where I wanted to put the muffin fan was where we stuff the extra toilet paper, paper towels, etc. and I was concerned with a package totally blocking off the airflow. That's when I moved to the ducted fan idea, which led to this solution. Lots of ways to get it done!

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