Well, after figureing out that they put an exterior vent on my fifth wheel, but it didn't really vent to the exterior it finally started to bother me. After loading up for a trip and having a little time to burn I decided to take a crack at it. I've had this mod for 6 months now with no issues.
Please note this will only vent the stove top vent. The heat from the convection oven will still vent to the interior. This is to cool the upper casing. Mounted to a cabinet, you still want that!
As you can see I started by removing the cabinet door above the convection oven. I unplugged the unit from the outlet above.
There are 4 allen head machine screws holding the microwave unit in place. Two on the top of the header panel and two inside the cabinet itself.
First lay down some counter protection, I used a small area rug face down. Then I used a future mod to suppport the unit while I removed the four mounting screws. Once those screws are removed you will need to support the front of the unit while you removed the temporary support. The back of the unit is supported by a backing plate mounted to the wall. Lower the front of the unit slightly to lift the rear off the bracket. If you lower the front too far you will bend the mounting tabs on the bracket. If you do this just make sure to bend them back. You can now set the unit on the counter. Fish the remaining cord through the hole in the cabinet.
The header panel can be removed for a little more access by removing a few phillips screws from underneath the panel.
Once you look at the back of the unit it is clearly visible why the center vented microwave vent in the wall and the side vented convection oven do not work together and Jayco installed these units internally vented.
Removing two phillips screws from the top of the diverter panel you can not remove it.
Flipping this panel over changes the unit from interior to exterior venting.
Reinstall the panel and install two screws.
Moving on to the wall, looking at the bracket you can see that there is very little overlap between the backing plate venting and the exterior vent. Take a marker and outline this area as well as the sides of the plate. This will help in realignment later. I actually had two sets of holes. I assume it was installed at the factory and needed to be moved over a 1/4" later.
Using a dremel I set the depth to about 3/4" less than the depth of the vent and proceeded to trim out the outlined exhaust area in the wall. Be careful and go slow!!! I had no wires in this area, but did hit just the edge of a little horizontal cross framing, just taking about 1/16" off a crossing piece. I see no issue with this, but if you hit something stop and dig out the area to expose what you are hitting. Cutting a vertical member is NOT acceptable. If this is the case cover your area, flip your diverter back and reinstall your unit with internal venting. If you can continue, you will also need to trim the side of the external vent to allow flow into the plastic vent area.
You will need a good foil backed tape for ductwork and some self-stick weather stripping. I used 5/16". This size worked well in the tight areas where a thicker tape would have been an issue.
Using the foil tape begin covering the exposed area starting from the inside and overlapping to the outsides of your cut. Think of which way the air is flowing, this should make sense.
Now begin laying down the weather stripping as I've shown here around the exterior of your venting areas. This will seal your exhaust air from migrating back down the wall into the unit.
Install you backing plate to the alignment marks made before removal. If you notice, I ended up having to trim the weatherstipping above the backing plate once mounted. This was due to the reinstalltion of the header panel. First see if your panel will line up with your original screw holes with the weatherstripping in place. If not, trim your weatherstipping as I did.
Using more foil tape seal over the upper area prior to reinstallation of the header panel. If yours fit as tight as mine you will need to make sure that you get it pressed into the corners well otherwise when you reinstall the panel you will tear the tape. Reinstall header panel with phillips screws.
Reinstall of the convection oven is the reverse. Begin fishing your power cord through the hole. At this point it would help of have someone pulling the cable through as you lift the unit. Lift the unit and place the rear on the lip of the backing panel. The lips should latch into the bottom of the unit and raise the front. Support the front fo the unit as before. I used a box. Reinstall the allen head screws and washer. Tighten securely. Plug in the outlet in the cabinet.
Make sure to unlock the latches on the external vent. You may not turn on the vent. What a glorious site! Congratulations.
This takes care of the venting. Now I'm looking to deal with the fact that the vent is so far back from the stove. I'm looking to breaks some sheet metal and make an extension for the range to be able to pick up the moisture and smell and insure that I remove everything I can while cooking. I will let you know if I ever get to that!
* This post was
edited 06/22/08 08:52am by CHV_FRK *
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