Is It Normal For The Lid On My MaxxFan Deluxe Roof Vent To Have Some Play In High Wind?

Question:

I have the max air fan with the outer rain guard it has the manual black knob to open the vent lid under the rain guard. It seems the vent mechanism works fin when I turn the black knob the vent flap/lid opens and closes, and it closes tightly. but when I have the vent opened on a very windy day it will have a bit of play to move up a few more inches open with the wind. and when the wind catches it makes a noise when it is forced up further. now when I say windy I mean like gusts of 30- 60 mph. I am mostly in Colorado and NM and when in the foothills or in southern nm it is very windy in the spring and fall. But unlike most vents its seems the lid is not held open in a fixed way. I have had other vans with vents and they seems to have had a different kind of arm design. The problem is this ability to move up a bit more when the wind pushes it has woken me up a few times at night. Is this few inches play normal?. What I can see looking up from the inside of the van, it seems the vent arm ends sit in metal brackets have a one inch track the arm ends can travel in. It looks the fan is designed to open even more than possible with the rain guard on it. So the end of the vent arms where there are nubsinch with white round clips holding them in the tracks. So actually this track is never needed unless the lid opened more, because from what i see because my lid only can be opened like 20 degrees. Maybe that one inch travel is needed to open it further if there was no rain guard, but in my case I do not see its purpose. But for me the one inch travel allows the flap to flutter open in that one inch travel when the winds are strong. Is there something wrong with my unit. I do not see anyone else on line complaining about this. if you have serviced these fans do you think there is something broken in my fan or if I am correct thinking this 1 inch play is just in the design? I just see a photo that shows the fan in its most open position and the pars Im trying to describe are easy to see. I attached the photo that shows a fan without a rain guard opened all the way . In that photo you can see the end of the arms in the 1 inch metal tracks sitting at the bottom of the track. The end of the arms in my fan never go to the bottom of the track but just sit in the top, but for some reason in the wind the lid can travel up higher making a noise. Im thinking of creating something to block the track maybe super gluing a piece of plastic in that 1 inch track or using epoxy putty to fill it so the end of the arms need to stay in the farthest position and so when caught by the wind it remains fixed.

asked by: Joshua E

Helpful Expert Reply:

I took a look at your MaxxFan Deluxe Roof Vent w/ 12V Fan and Thermostat # MA00-05100K, and yes some play in your vent lid is completely normal.

Since you are in an area with relatively high winds like you mention, some play in your lid is expected.

Alternatively, if you do find that your lift arms aren't functioning any longer as before, i.e., the lid reaches a certain height and bumps down to a partially opened state, you will need to replace the lift arms with the:

-Replacement Lift Arm for MaxxFan Roof Vents # MA10-20222KS.

expert reply by: Bryce D