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Fantastic Fan With Rain Sensor

Lane and Michael

Lane and Michael

Junior Ranger
Donating Member
I asked about this when our camper first arrived, but I'll ask again. My fan closes perfectly when it is wet, but it never opens all by itself after it has had a chance to dry out. I wonder if there are DIP switches or some other settings that I could make so that it will reopen automatically. Does anyone have an answer? I should have pursued the topic before, because I am confident the warranty time has lapsed by now. It would be great if I could activate that feature somehow. Having tried to get some information from Dometic's website regarding the Fantastic Vent, I found nothing useful.
 
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I wonder if some of the campers had different models installed. Some reopening versions and then ones like mine that stay shut.
 
Finally I have found a phone number for the Fantastic Fan Company. I think it's worth a call to them. In case anyone else is interested it is 800-521-0298.
 
The woman I spoke with said that the engineers are working on it, so there must have been some troubles. They were promoting it as "pet safe". Maybe it wouldn't consistently reopen. It would be a great feature to have.
 
We just bought ours #943, ours doesn't reopen either, was wondering the same thing, since Cary cautioned us against it, remembering to make sue it is turned off and really closed, not just rain-sensored closed, lest you forget, it dries out and then opens automatically while going down the highway. If I am correct, you can turn the fan off (setting -0-) and middle (in-out button) and manually open the vent, which will give you ventilation at least. Our 1st week out it rained every day except day of arrival, our fan kept closing. it would dry out and we had to manually open it again. But we were able to turn it off as described above, and still get the ventilation with the door screens zipped and the doors open during non rain time. The rain had cooled things off so much, we didn't want to use the a/c. Obviously, if it was actively raining, we would close it, but then we just used the a/c fan setting.
 
During the hot humid FL nights the AC is a blessing but as the evening cools I would like to turn off the AC and run the Fantastic Fan. Problems is the AC results in enough condensation forming on the rain sensor that it will not open. Those muggy nights of Florida! My fan does not have a sensor override switch and the only solution I can think of is fashioning a tool to dry the sensor from inside the TD after removing the screen or hitting the sensor with a hair drying blast. Do not wish to engineer an override switch as I wish to use the sensor as designed. Any other suggestions?
 
Personally, I wish my fan didn't reopen upon drying. I would not want to forget to close the fan before breaking camp and driving down the road. Just my luck I would forget the fan closed due to moisture and dry out while I was driving 65 miles an hour. It hasn't happened yet, but I added a check off to the "Ready to Roll Checklist" on the back page of the Owners Manual.

Additionally, I have the window cracked open when running the Fantastic Fan, so the trailer is not completely without fresh air exchange. As an interesting side note my trailer was completed at the end of July 2015, so Camp Inn must have had an inventory of rain sensing fans.
 
Old_Prospector said:
Personally, I wish my fan didn't reopen upon drying. I would not want to forget to close the fan before breaking camp and driving down the road. Just my luck I would forget the fan closed due to moisture and dry out while I was driving 65 miles an hour. It hasn't happened yet, but I added a check off to the "Ready to Roll Checklist" on the back page of the Owners Manual.

Additionally, I have the window cracked open when running the Fantastic Fan, so the trailer is not completely without fresh air exchange. As an interesting side note my trailer was completed at the end of July 2015, so Camp Inn must have had an inventory of rain sensing fans.
Click to expand...
 
The Fantastic Vent company claims that driving with the vent open is possible. However, I wouldn’t want to try it, so I can understand your point.
 
Old Prospector, you can disable the rain sensor feature on your fan if you are concerned about it opening when driving. Turn the fan speed switch to zero, this turns off the power to the rain sensor and electric lift motor.

Lane, Fantastic does say that you can drive with the vent open. But, that is pertaining to conventional travel trailers. The aerodynamics of a teardrop camper with it's rather effective wing shape have a different result. With a teardrop camper the roof vent should be closed tightly when driving.

Cary
 
RShep said:
During the hot humid FL nights the AC is a blessing but as the evening cools I would like to turn off the AC and run the Fantastic Fan. Problems is the AC results in enough condensation forming on the rain sensor that it will not open. Those muggy nights of Florida! My fan does not have a sensor override switch and the only solution I can think of is fashioning a tool to dry the sensor from inside the TD after removing the screen or hitting the sensor with a hair drying blast. Do not wish to engineer an override switch as I wish to use the sensor as designed. Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

After some thought I fabricated the pictured rain sensor dryer using an old sock top, some wooden shims, zip ties and gorilla glue. Remove the fan screen and reach through the fan blades to dry the sensor. The birds in the picture is just a metal bird and has nothing to do the the tool pictured.

IMG_20180711_215227453 (1).jpg
 
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