Atwood Furnace Directional Vent and Vent Door Repair

vent 06

Our 2006 Fleetwood Niagara came with an Atwood 7916-II Hydro-Flame forced air heater. I immediately replaced the factory analog thermostat with a LUX-500 digital unit. For 6 years the furnace worked perfectly, except the vent pushed the heat straight out towards the shower door. I had once seen a picture of a directional vent that could be added to the furnace, but was not able to find one anywhere and eventually forgot about it.

0001r Fleetwood
LUX-500 thermostat

A few months ago we had our first problem with the heater — the vent door fell off and I could not locate a part number or source for the little plastic keeper that secured the vent door. This plastic clip kept the door in place by snapping into a hard plastic square fitting that is part of the Electronic Ignition Mounting Plate.

So I went to the hardware store looking for a solution. What I came up with was to run a 3/4″ long 1/4-20 bolt through the square. A flat washer and star washer would be against the bolt head, I would run the bolt through the square and secure it with a clip nut. This would allow about 3/8 inches of the bolt to protrude through the square and the vent door. I could now secure the door with a 1/4-20 brass cap nut onto the bolt. It is kind of hard to describe and I did not take detailed pictures.

vent 01
Hardware used to create a stud to run through the vent door.
vent 02
The clip nut is on the right. The bolt is tightened to the plastic square in the Electronic Ignition plate with the bolt sticking through the vent plate.

Now that I had solved the problem of securing the vent, I made another run at locating a directional louvered vent. Since I had such great luck purchasing our new refrigerator from American RV Company, I did a quick search on their website and found the elusive vent louver immediately. Atwood 36959 Directional Louvered Air Box.

Original vent configuration.
Original vent configuration.
Louver installed.
Louver installed.
Brass cap nut now holds vent door in place.
Brass cap nut now holds vent door in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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