Adding an outside vent for Microwave exhaust

For whatever un-fathomable reason, Fleetwood decided to NOT vent the micro/convection oven to the outside. It basically renders the exhaust fan useless. Fixing this had been on my to do list for a long time and I finally took care of it.

First step was to pull the unit down, 3 good size bolts hold it in from the top and a bracket on the back wall holds the majority of the weight. After pulling it down the whole fan unit can be removed and rotated 90º so instead of blowing out the front of the unit, it blows out the back.

Then measuring for the rectangle that would need to be cut, laying that out and figuring how to cut it. Ended up using one of those vibrating cutting tools, worked very well.

After the hole was cut, lined it with aluminum tape, just in case water did get past any sealing, would rather it went down the outside of the wall instead of inside the wall. Re-installed the microwave and vent fan lined up great with the hole.

The last step was to install the vent piece that I bought at an RV store, these things are pretty standard. I sealed it with putty tape, screwed it in and then went around it and the screws with silicon sealant.

Now we can actually use are exhaust fan, even on low its pretty powerful.