Stove exhaust fan in 2001 Journey?

[Rodger]

I have a 2001 Journey. There is not an exhaust fan for the stove. The microwave, I think, has a fan that pulls thru the microwave and exhaust the air back into the motorhome. I was wondering if anyone has tried to put in an exhaust outlet for the stove. Thanks.

[Eagle5]

Hi Roger,
I was able to find a very detailed installation of a Range Hood into a Winnebago Outlook, but nothing specific for a Journey. This guy actually builds airplanes, and I believe he did more than most of us would have undertaken. He extended the back of the hood's sheet metal to move the whole hood outward to match the front edge of the stove. I prefer to have the hood less deep so I can see the back burner without crouching.
If I needed to do this, I would shop carefully to get the hood size that I wanted, so the hood would not need to be modified.
Thanks, Eagle5
P.S. While my Minnie Winnie does come with a range hood, I continue to hear of many motorhomes and trailers which do not. As for me, I believe having a range hood which exhausts outside is a must.

How to install a range hood

[Morich]

We are pretty limited on what details we can dig up as we don't have any idea which RV you have. Your profile shows a 40 footer but there is no 40 listed in the Winnebago files, so we are lost on looking at what might be needed.
What type help were you needing?

Basic idea is semi-simple but it depends on what you have to start. Got the height between the stove top and whatever is above? That is often a real problem if there was no options or plan for the hood.
But if you go shopping to look at details for the setup/install of a specific hood, there may be one availble to fit the space you have. If you have the spacing needed to fit one, the duct and wiring are not that complex. I have added things in houses and found guys who had the tools to do furnace/AC ducts could bend the metal if I needed something special.
This is one that is made for the smaller space of RV:
https://www.recpro.com/rv-stove-vent...6Zq2V3MzhjYHmI
Wiring will depend on the specs of the hood you buy. Part of the shopping would involve looking at which power you want to use, 12VDc or 110AC and what it takes to get it at the location you have. I think the normal RV use would lean toward 12VDC.

[creativepart]

Roger, don't you have a Fantastic Vent in the ceiling opposite the stovetop? If you do, the simple answer is to put that on exhaust and turn it on when cooking on the stovetop.

[Rodger]

My Journey is a 36G, I need to change that, and has a microwave above the stove. The microwave also acts as a range hood. The microwave takes air in from the bottom, coming off the stove, routes it thru a metal filter then exhaust it back into the motorhome. If the top of the microwave is like I think it is I can put an exhaust vent to the outside or route a flexible metal tube to the roof to exhaust the heat from the stove. I have never done this nor seen it done but if I could it would not send greasy air out into the MH. There is a fan in the ceiling right next to the stove and the previous owner used the stove so I have to replace the screen in that fan. Thanks

[Rodger]

That will work but it will also allow greasy air to permeate the kitchen/living area. The fan above the stove, in the ceiling, is all greasy and the screen needs to be replaced. I don't want the air coming off the stove coming back into the MH. I would like to exhaust it outside, either out the wall behind the stove or pipe it and exhaust it thru the roof.
I have an idea on how to do it I just don't know what is behind that wall. I will try to get some pics and show you the fan in the ceiling with the greasy screen.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Rodger

I have an idea on how to do it I just don't know what is behind that wall. I will try to get some pics and show you the fan in the ceiling with the greasy screen.

The "behind the outer wall" mystery is universal. Best of luck. My 2017 Adventurer has a fan above the stove ducted to outside. The irony is we almost never use the stove. We have two grills and cook everything in the microwave or outside on one of the grills. (My wife is a vegetarian and doesn't want to use my disgusting "meat" grill.)

[Rodger]

I don't really plan on using the stove but if it was a rainy day I might would. I would just like to have it.

[Morich]

With that added info, I might not want to go to the trouble but that is often a personal thing and depends on what and how we each cook! That much grease on the cooktop is not likely to happen very often with us.
But it sounds like the folks who had the rv were not big on cleaning things like the filters, so that might be one thing I would do first for several reasons.
One is to improve the work the filter does. It is designed to catch the grease floating around in the air, so if it is packed, that would be my first thought. Clean or replace and see what that does for things.
You can do a lot of filter change and cleaning for the money and effort of adding a vent!
I can't imagine being the one to clean the stove if there is that much grease in the air!

[Rodger]

I also would like to do it to reduce the heat that would go back into the MH. That is what I am most "concerned" with, though I don't really expect that much use of the stove except to boil water or reheat something or something like that.

[Morich]

I can't think of anything that I would add to the video above except for a small thought on where to pick up the power.
When looking at power feed, it is often true that LED lights are very low power. That means it may not work to connect a light and fan motor to the feed for an LED! It may be fine but I would check before deciding it will be enough to power both light and fan as motors tend to need more power!

[Rodger]

Thanks, everyone.

[Eagle5]

Originally Posted by Morich

I can't think of anything that I would add to the video above except for a small thought on where to pick up the power.
When looking at power feed, it is often true that LED lights are very low power. That means it may not work to connect a light and fan motor to the feed for an LED! It may be fine but I would check before deciding it will be enough to power both light and fan as motors tend to need more power!

more power

[Morich]

Those yellow dots that glow? That is what the LED do! Just before dark!

LED are cute little things and have lots of good points but they can also be very fussy! I was raising fish and got into planted tanks for a time. One of the biggie factors is the lighting and it is possible to build your own LED arrays and covers. That allows a person to specify what wavelength of lights and how many of what color.
I looked at building them for a while and decided it was not something I wanted to work on hard enough to get any better results than just ready made, so stayed well clear of that drama!

Then I got into a timeframe where travel was more fun for a while! One thing I'm certain of is the aquarium is not good when in an RV!

What caught my attention on the wiring done in the video was tying a light and fan on wiring meant for a single LED! Was that going to be 16 gauge wire feeding a motor now? UGH!

[JR314]

I have a 2004 Journey 32T. On the outside above where the microwave is located is an exhaust vent with a flapper on it. I always thought the microwave exhausted through that. Maybe I’m wrong. Above my microwave is a shallow cabinet with my 12 volt circuit breaker and inverter controls. It looks like if I removed the 4 screws I could access the wall above the microwave, but I’ve never tried it. You might give it a shot if yours is the same.

[dickb46]

Ours has a vent on the outside wall above the microwave. I can't think of anything other than a vent for the stove/microwave fan.
dickb

[dnrainey]

We have a 2003 Journey and the microwave exhausts through a vent in the wall, I'm not sure why they didn't apparently do that on yours. All over the range microwaves can vent in three ways, either through the wall behind the microwave, or up to vent through the roof of a structure or they can just be set up to recirculate the exhaust into the room as yours is. It is a simple matter to change how the exhaust is routed, but it would require removing the microwave so that you can get to the fan/motor assembly in the back at the top of the microwave. It's just a matter of rotating the fan/motor assembly to the desired position, if you have the manual on the unit that will show you or download one, but even if you don't have a manual, it's easy and should be pretty obvious. Normally, you just remove one or two screws. Check to see if you have a vent already installed through the wall where your microwave is located. It's possible that when it was installed they failed to rotate the fan assembly to the proper orientation for it to use the vent provided. Most over the range microwaves come from the factory set up to recirculate the exhaust, mainly because nowadays most building contractors are too cheap to vent them outside. Or, it's possible that a previous owner replaced the microwave and didn't set the fan up properly. Hope this helps, I can't stand an exhaust that's not vented either.

[Rodger]

I have looked for a vent on the outside wall and didn't see one. I need to get up on the roof and look. It would not be hard to put in a vent thru the wall, I am just concerned with what is behind it when I go to put in the vent.