Fantastic Fan Vent Not Opening - Montana Owners Club

TYR · 09-18-2010, 08:15 AM

We have a 2009 Montana 3585SA.

The Fantastic Fan in the bathroom will not open, either on the automatic or manual settings. The black knob on the fan turns in the appropriate direction, but the vent will not open. Dave was just up on the roof seeing if there was an obstruction, but found none. I checked the 4 amp fuse on the fan and it looks okay.

Coincidentally, the smoke alarm in the hall was beeping yesterday. Dave checked the battery, which was okay, plugged it all back in and it was fine.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions on the fan? We have no shower facilities and sure miss the fan!

We seem to keep having minor electrical gremlins . . . landing gear sometimes blows the inline fuse, already blown some light bulbs, etc. Perhaps coincidences . . .

bncinwv · 09-18-2010, 09:10 AM

The only solution to the Fantastic Vent fan will require another trip to the roof. While someone (I hope of hte female persuasion) turns the fan on, someone else (I hope the male part of the family) needs to be on top to assist the opening by lifting on the cover. When it comes up apply some vaseline to the sticky places and that should solve the problem for awhile.
Bingo

TYR · 09-18-2010, 09:55 AM

Thanks for that sensible idea; however, we could not get the vent to open. Everything looks in working order but it's simply not wanting to raise up. Guess I'll be on the horn with Keystone/local RV place on Monday. We are working and have to be on site, so I'll have to get a tech to come out; we can't take the rig in for about another month and a half. Yeah, go ahead and laugh . . .

HamRad · 09-18-2010, 10:37 AM

TxYellowRose,
Unless your rig is still under warranty I'd just call the Fantastic Fan folks. They are one of the best outfits to work with. We had ours stop working and we called and they had a new one on the way the next day. At no cost. Not only that but they will help trouble shoot the problem. Unfortunately I don't happen to have their phone number handy but you can either search here or so a Google search for them. I think that is what I did.
Good luck,
HamRad

bigmurf · 09-18-2010, 10:40 AM

Is the knob pushed in?

TYR · 09-18-2010, 10:50 AM

Thanks, HamRad. I have already sent the tech dept at Fan-Tastic an email. Since we are under warranty, we are reluctant to manhandle anything lest we break something.

I'll make some phone calls Monday.

Yep, Bigmurf, the knob is pushed in; had not messed with it. The darn thing just stopped working!

clutch · 09-18-2010, 05:37 PM

Our vent sometimes needs a little persuasion to open up after it has been sitting idle for a while. I just twist the knob by hand until it pops open. Once it opens it works fine until it sets for a month or more.

Art-n-Marge · 09-18-2010, 05:56 PM

Did you check its 12v fuse?

How about fully manual operation? Why someone turns the knob the other person on the roof tries to assist opening the vent to ensure it's not stuck - don't use much pressure to pry it up because it shouldn't take much. If that doesn't work, some part of the mechanics is broken which is why auto or manual wouldn't work.

TYR · 09-18-2010, 06:07 PM

Thanks to all who have responded.

We have been on the road almost three months now, so it is definitely not from lack of use. Yes, we've tried manually opening it as suggested; again, it will not budge and we do not want to break it. We're under warranty so will go that route.

Thanks a bunch, everyone!

Cheers!

nowinter · 09-19-2010, 02:56 AM

We have two Fantastic Fans and neither would open manually or on auto. Still under warranty but I delt directly with the staff at Fantastic Fan - they were great and very helpful. They sent me a repair kit the next day. I manually opened the vents, wiped the inside of the cover with alcohol, then applied 303 Protectant to the gaskets. They both work great so far. They recommended to perform this procedure every six months or so. The repair kit included the 303 Protectant and directions.

sreigle · 09-21-2010, 05:15 PM

I apologize in advance if this sounds condescending or offensive in any way but I have to ask... have you checked to see if there is a breaker popped or maybe a fuse blown? I'm not sure whether it goes through the breakers or has a fuse on the fuse panel. If it obviously has power to it and tries to open, then never mind. Again, sorry if this is offensive.

TYR · 09-21-2010, 05:30 PM

Steve,

Yes, it has power and one of the first things I did was check the fuse. Thanks, though. Motor comes on but dome does not rise.

Fan-Tastic says it sounds like stripped gears in the motor and has shipped a repair kit.

Cheers!

Desert RVer · 12-17-2010, 05:48 AM

This is a very common problem on Fantastic Fan Vent Covers. Call or email them and they will send you a kit to solve the problem.

Robev · 09-01-2021, 01:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TYR

We have a 2009 Montana 3585SA.

The Fantastic Fan in the bathroom will not open, either on the automatic or manual settings. The black knob on the fan turns in the appropriate direction, but the vent will not open. Dave was just up on the roof seeing if there was an obstruction, but found none. I checked the 4 amp fuse on the fan and it looks okay.

Coincidentally, the smoke alarm in the hall was beeping yesterday. Dave checked the battery, which was okay, plugged it all back in and it was fine.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions on the fan? We have no shower facilities and sure miss the fan!

We seem to keep having minor electrical gremlins . . . landing gear sometimes blows the inline fuse, already blown some light bulbs, etc. Perhaps coincidences . . .

3120 Dometic/Fantastic fan lift cover motor.
Since new, one of our roof fans has been super sluggish raising the vent and sometime stops halfway. Today was the day I was going to find out why? I checked the voltage at the motor and it was 13.2v, so I removed the motor and put it across a new battery as a double check and it remained sluggish. Suspecting that maybe the gearbox attached to the motor might be the cause, turning it by hand on the bench is appeared normal, so I figured it must be electrical and inside the motor. The brush box and motor end cap is the black piece in the attached picture at the bottom of the picture and it held in place by four metal tabs. (see the red arrows)
I bent these all back and pulled the brush box off the end of the motor. The armature/commutator and brushes were covered in a black thick oily residue. I carefully cleaned the commutator with CRC and then wiped it dry with an clean cloth. The brushes are actually two very thin spring steel arms that seem quite flimsy, but considering the motor doesn't work for very long, hard, or often, they are obviously adequate. I needed to make up a little spring retainer for the brushes, so that I could get the motor end cap back on and there is provision in the plastic end cap for this to fit. I had resigned myself to spending the $50 required for a new motor/gearbox before I started this job and was just really interested why a new motor would fail almost when new? As I had more or less destroyed the four locking tabs, I just held the end in place with my hand after finishing the assembly and tried the motor again on a separate battery I have and now it worked perfectly at 17rpm as required. So currently, I have the black end cap/brush box sitting in my vice waiting for the araldite to dry overnight and I will then refit it. Pictured is the motor/gearbox hanging from the underside of the roof vent, so I could record the part number. I googled this before I undertook the job and couldn't find anyone else that had looked into why these things fail at times. So if it happens on yours and you are a bit of a DIY'er, give it a go.

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