A broken fan, 80 degrees, and how we're making it work

So we were at 20 degrees last week and now we're back in the 70s and 80s. We recovered well from the storm with no ice or cold damage... until our MaxxAir fan stopped spinning. Here's what we're doing to keep the van cool.

Madi was cooking dinner just fine on Saturday (2-20) with our MaxxAir fan venting out to pull the moisture from the van. This is our common practice whenever we cook. If we don't run the fan and don't have the side door open, we can easily build up moisture and set off the fire alarm. She turned it off and plated dinner as Adam was pulling in. We ate and decided to have some tea. Adam went to turn the fan on... and it didn't spin. It made the little beep that the buttons always make when we press them, but no movement. So we tried what everyone else would do, turn it off and turn it back on. No movement. Tried turning it on and off Auto mode. No movement.

Adam spent a lot of time pulling gently on wires, checking circuits, pulling off pieces of the fan and putting them back, basically anything he could do without causing more damage. Nothing worked. So we tried calling some technical support lines, but they were all closed for the day. The next day he got on the phone with MaxxAir technical support and they were less than friendly. They told us our solar panels burned up our fan, but we know that wasn't the case. They told us a wire was broken and there was no power to the fan, but that wasn't the case because the buttons were making noise. They were very difficult to work with. We are waiting on a switchboard in the mail to replace our current one and see if that is the broken part.

In the meantime here's what we're doing to stay cool as our daytime highs are in the 70s with full sun and our nighttime lows are in the 60s.

1. Portable electric fan. We purchased a small electric fan and plugged it into our shore power here at the park. It was difficult to get it set up in a way that would remain stable and pull in air from the open front window, but we decided on setting it by on our desk/counter and aiming it toward the bed. It's worked so far to circulate air, but it doesn't pull out any moisture.

2. Keep the MaxxAir fan open always. By keeping our fan vent open, we are hoping some of the moisture from cooking and breathing in the van will be swept out of the rooftop hole.

3. Creativity with our small clip fans. We purchased these small USB-rechargeable fans back when we built the van for extra circulation in the back. Adam got creative and made kind of a back board that would push air from the kitchen out of the fan vent. We haven't cooked with it yet, so stay tuned for an update soon.

4. Keep the side door open whenever possible. Madi had a presentation yesterday and the wind was too strong to keep the side door open; it got hot quick in the van. When we leave our big sliding door open, we get a lot of good airflow in the van. We try to do this whenever we're around, but it obviously can't happen when we are gone from the van.

Hopefully we have some good news about the fan updated here soon. This is the first major issue we've ran into in the 7 months we've been in the van, so I consider us lucky. This isn't enough to make us find somewhere else to sleep. It's just an inconvenience and a slight stressor. Moisture can build up easily in the van and we need that outtake van back for moisture control and comfort. Meanwhile, we're spending lots of time outside and that is always a bonus!