# Adjustable Vents For Ducted Systems?



## heron (May 13, 2010)

Anyone know if they make vents like what's provided but with a damper. I'd like to be able to close off a couple in the kitchen at night so the bunkhouse gets more air flow for our kids. I already have the upgraded 15K unit so that is not the issue. Just cannot find any circular vent covers that are adjustable to fit the stock ductwork. 
And yes I'm aware that restricting it too much may cause issues.


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## Braggus (Aug 8, 2010)

these are the round ones if that's what you are looking for.
Vents


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

heron said:


> Anyone know if they make vents like what's provided but with a damper. I'd like to be able to close off a couple in the kitchen at night so the bunkhouse gets more air flow for our kids. I already have the upgraded 15K unit so that is not the issue. Just cannot find any circular vent covers that are adjustable to fit the stock ductwork.
> And yes I'm aware that restricting it too much may cause issues.


do search for "aireport" vents. they distribute air 360 degrees rather than one direction, and they can be adjusted for airflow very easily by turning them in/out of the vent hole. Replaced all of mine with them and the work great.

while your at it, do a search on the forum for folks that have made improvements to the air distribution system. I made multiple changes and corrected some factory fubars and in the end really improved the A/C distribtion and cooling


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## Braggus (Aug 8, 2010)

KTMRacer said:


> Anyone know if they make vents like what's provided but with a damper. I'd like to be able to close off a couple in the kitchen at night so the bunkhouse gets more air flow for our kids. I already have the upgraded 15K unit so that is not the issue. Just cannot find any circular vent covers that are adjustable to fit the stock ductwork.
> And yes I'm aware that restricting it too much may cause issues.


do search for "aireport" vents. they distribute air 360 degrees rather than one direction, and they can be adjusted for airflow very easily by turning them in/out of the vent hole. Replaced all of mine with them and the work great.

while your at it, do a search on the forum for folks that have made improvements to the air distribution system. I made multiple changes and corrected some factory fubars and in the end really improved the A/C distribtion and cooling
[/quote]
What changes did you do?


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

Braggus said:


> Anyone know if they make vents like what's provided but with a damper. I'd like to be able to close off a couple in the kitchen at night so the bunkhouse gets more air flow for our kids. I already have the upgraded 15K unit so that is not the issue. Just cannot find any circular vent covers that are adjustable to fit the stock ductwork.
> And yes I'm aware that restricting it too much may cause issues.


do search for "aireport" vents. they distribute air 360 degrees rather than one direction, and they can be adjusted for airflow very easily by turning them in/out of the vent hole. Replaced all of mine with them and the work great.

while your at it, do a search on the forum for folks that have made improvements to the air distribution system. I made multiple changes and corrected some factory fubars and in the end really improved the A/C distribtion and cooling
[/quote]
What changes did you do?
[/quote]

here is one thread, http://www.outbackers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=33065 do a search and you'll find several others with good ideas.


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## heron (May 13, 2010)

Thanks for the help! I ended up ordering some Rotaires from a website and have 3 on the way. Hopefully by closing a couple of them off at night I'll get more air to the end one in the bunkhouse for the kids. Looking at some high temps for our trip to St Andrews in September.


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## jcat67 (Aug 8, 2008)

heron said:


> Thanks for the help! I ended up ordering some Rotaires from a website and have 3 on the way. Hopefully by closing a couple of them off at night I'll get more air to the end one in the bunkhouse for the kids. Looking at some high temps for our trip to St Andrews in September.


Post how it goes. We have the same issue in Florida with our 301BQ...except that it is mom and dads room that is warm, you could hang meat in the bunk area.


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## heron (May 13, 2010)

jcat67 said:


> Thanks for the help! I ended up ordering some Rotaires from a website and have 3 on the way. Hopefully by closing a couple of them off at night I'll get more air to the end one in the bunkhouse for the kids. Looking at some high temps for our trip to St Andrews in September.


Post how it goes. We have the same issue in Florida with our 301BQ...except that it is mom and dads room that is warm, you could hang meat in the bunk area.
[/quote]

I would definitely get some but before you install them take out the frames. When I installed mine last week I found that when they put the frames for the registers in they did not seal off between the frames and the ceiling so my guess a good amount of air was conditioning my ceiling. I took some AC ductwork tape, cut it into 3" strips, placed them around the top of the framework where they would be stuck to the inside of the ductwork and the inside of the frame of the register. Cut little slits in them and folded the tape down into the center of the register frame. Now there is a smooth transition of air from the ductwork down into the center of the frame. 
In your case I'd also check with a spot mirror and a small powerful LED light to make sure your ductwork run is not crushed to your register. Mine was crushed to the register on the floor in the bunkhouse. 
The adjustable registers are the way to go. I can already feel the difference in air flow to the bunkhouse after doing them. I do think I solved our bunkhouse AC issue. Definitely a worthwhile upgrade for $12.


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## LaydBack (Aug 22, 2010)

KTMRacer said:


> Anyone know if they make vents like what's provided but with a damper. I'd like to be able to close off a couple in the kitchen at night so the bunkhouse gets more air flow for our kids. I already have the upgraded 15K unit so that is not the issue. Just cannot find any circular vent covers that are adjustable to fit the stock ductwork.
> And yes I'm aware that restricting it too much may cause issues.


do search for "aireport" vents. they distribute air 360 degrees rather than one direction, and they can be adjusted for airflow very easily by turning them in/out of the vent hole. Replaced all of mine with them and the work great.

while your at it, do a search on the forum for folks that have made improvements to the air distribution system. I made multiple changes and corrected some factory fubars and in the end really improved the A/C distribtion and cooling
[/quote]
I've been looking at the Aireport vents, but they all seem to say they use a 4.25" opening. My openings are 5". Are yours different than 5", or what did you do to make up the difference? I like the 360 degrees of air flow, but don't want to choke the opening down. I just added a 2nd AC unit, so I need to be able to close the 2 vents in the living area, but I'd like to get dampered ones that have preferably more flow than the stock ones that aren't dampered. My other option is to try to squeeze another register in the bunkhouse and bedroom, has anyone done that?


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## Wisconsin-Knight (Mar 10, 2011)

srwsr said:


> Anyone know if they make vents like what's provided but with a damper. I'd like to be able to close off a couple in the kitchen at night so the bunkhouse gets more air flow for our kids. I already have the upgraded 15K unit so that is not the issue. Just cannot find any circular vent covers that are adjustable to fit the stock ductwork.
> And yes I'm aware that restricting it too much may cause issues.


do search for "aireport" vents. they distribute air 360 degrees rather than one direction, and they can be adjusted for airflow very easily by turning them in/out of the vent hole. Replaced all of mine with them and the work great.

while your at it, do a search on the forum for folks that have made improvements to the air distribution system. I made multiple changes and corrected some factory fubars and in the end really improved the A/C distribtion and cooling
[/quote]
I've been looking at the Aireport vents, but they all seem to say they use a 4.25" opening. My openings are 5". Are yours different than 5", or what did you do to make up the difference? I like the 360 degrees of air flow, but don't want to choke the opening down. I just added a 2nd AC unit, so I need to be able to close the 2 vents in the living area, but I'd like to get dampered ones that have preferably more flow than the stock ones that aren't dampered. My other option is to try to squeeze another register in the bunkhouse and bedroom, has anyone done that?
[/quote]

It seems to me that you don't need to have more flow than stock for the living area where you want to dampen down. Your new A/C will provide plenty of cold air there. Also, the vent's flanges suggested in the second post above are 6 1/2 inches and should cover your existing holes. Also, these vents are over 4 5/8 inches, which are pretty close to 5 inches and won't lower flow much when opened. I think you can go with them. I think with two A/C's, flow will not be a concern. You will just have to turn down the A/C to keep from freezing or get your wife a wrap! -Rowland


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

srwsr said:


> Anyone know if they make vents like what's provided but with a damper. I'd like to be able to close off a couple in the kitchen at night so the bunkhouse gets more air flow for our kids. I already have the upgraded 15K unit so that is not the issue. Just cannot find any circular vent covers that are adjustable to fit the stock ductwork.
> And yes I'm aware that restricting it too much may cause issues.


do search for "aireport" vents. they distribute air 360 degrees rather than one direction, and they can be adjusted for airflow very easily by turning them in/out of the vent hole. Replaced all of mine with them and the work great.

while your at it, do a search on the forum for folks that have made improvements to the air distribution system. I made multiple changes and corrected some factory fubars and in the end really improved the A/C distribtion and cooling
[/quote]
I've been looking at the Aireport vents, but they all seem to say they use a 4.25" opening. My openings are 5". Are yours different than 5", or what did you do to make up the difference? I like the 360 degrees of air flow, but don't want to choke the opening down. I just added a 2nd AC unit, so I need to be able to close the 2 vents in the living area, but I'd like to get dampered ones that have preferably more flow than the stock ones that aren't dampered. My other option is to try to squeeze another register in the bunkhouse and bedroom, has anyone done that?
[/quote]

don't know about bunkhouse trailers, but in our 295RE I added an additional vent in the bedroom (2 total) 1 in the bathroom (1 total) and 3 more in the livng area (5 total). All are the aireport vents which really fit a 5" nominal opening. All in all we can not keep the trailer comfortable in 100F temps when camped in the sun.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

KTMRacer said:


> .... All in all we can not keep the trailer comfortable in 100F temps when camped in the sun.


Wow...where are you camping in Oregon/Washington @ 100 degrees? Then...where do you camp that you are not surrounded by HUGE trees? I've had my AC on once, when we went down to Grants Pass to ride the Hells Gate Canyon jet boats and we camped in a RV Resort (in town) when it was about 110 (summer 2009) for around 3-4 days. I'm 99% confident I could remove the AC from our trailer and I would never miss it.


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## LaydBack (Aug 22, 2010)

Wisconsin-Knight said:


> It seems to me that you don't need to have more flow than stock for the living area where you want to dampen down. Your new A/C will provide plenty of cold air there. Also, the vent's flanges suggested in the second post above are 6 1/2 inches and should cover your existing holes. Also, these vents are over 4 5/8 inches, which are pretty close to 5 inches and won't lower flow much when opened. I think you can go with them. I think with two A/C's, flow will not be a concern. You will just have to turn down the A/C to keep from freezing or get your wife a wrap! -Rowland


Agreed, I'm not looking for more flow in the living area. I want more flow in the bedroom and bunkhouse. I want to be able to flow more air in these two areas to offset closing the registers in the living area, so that I am diffusing enough air to meet the minimum requirement to keep the system functioning properly. I looked at a 2012 312BH on Holman's site, and noticed that there is a register in the ceiling that mine doesn't have. It's just inside the front door between the entertainment center and the AC unit. I see how that could be an improvement, because on mine, there's a duct on both sides of the AC unit. One runs forward into the bedroom, and only has 1 register cut into it, the one in the bedroom. The other one runs to the back of the trailer into the bunkhouse, and has 3 registers cut into it, 2 in the living area and 1 in the bunkhouse. So with this new design, there's another register in the duct going forward which would make there be 2 registers in the duct that mine only has 1 register in. What I haven't been able to determine is if they just moved a register from over by the sofa, or if they added this register to give the unit a total of 5 registers vs. 4. If they moved it, then that would seemingly also balance the system more, by having each duct serve two registers.


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

Oregon_Camper said:


> .... All in all we can not keep the trailer comfortable in 100F temps when camped in the sun.


Wow...where are you camping in Oregon/Washington @ 100 degrees? Then...where do you camp that you are not surrounded by HUGE trees? I've had my AC on once, when we went down to Grants Pass to ride the Hells Gate Canyon jet boats and we camped in a RV Resort (in town) when it was about 110 (summer 2009) for around 3-4 days. I'm 99% confident I could remove the AC from our trailer and I would never miss it.
[/quote]

yup in oregon the heater is more important than the A/C, but east of Bend can get hot , We travel out of state lots, and Southern utah, AZ, and Cal. is where we put the A/C to use.


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