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Refurbishing a Kool Matic roof vent

August 25, 2011, 06:33:45 am

Greetings all,

Was thinking I'd have my roof resealed by now. I should know better.  As this was the last chance to straighten out problems before sealing everything, we decided to tend to everything up there. Looks like it's next week now to reseal...

Removed the remnants of the tv antenna, and patched the holes with a piece of painted aluminum, some stainless screws, and more 3M 5200 adhesive sealant. Will be adding the seam sealing tape when the time comes.

We pulled the fridge vent cover. Found a hole in the screen and a big wasp nest over the coils. Then we pulled the Kool Matic roof vent - after 20 years a nasty thing it was indeed. The screen had deteriorated so badly it crumbled when touched. Found some spider remnants and another wasp nest in the nose cone area. There was a bit of fiberglass missing along one side edge where the leg attaches.

As you can't buy replacements, it was elected to attempt to refurbish the assembly. The sides are attached to the aluminum frame with pop rivets. After drilling those out we were able to separate all the pieces. We then had to drill out all the rivets in the aluminum frame which holds the screen.

Now for some reason, they used 1/8 inch solid steel rivets to hold the aluminum screen to the aluminum frame. And whoever did it was somewhat sloppy, as the holes weren't all consistent. We were very careful drilling these out, but inevitably some holes in the frame were elongated in the process, so all holes were drilled out to 3/16 inches. A trip to the local hardware store yielded a 3X4 piece of black aluminum window screen, and some aluminum 3/16 rivets.

To my surprise, everything cleaned up very well. The new screen was fitted to the frame, all the rivets were installed (and there are 42 of them!), and then the screen was trimmed along the sides and around the stack, leaving an overhang at the front, which fits into the nose cone. The frame was then fitted into the top cover, and riveted at the back.

We formed the screen into the shape of the front area , then trimmed the excess. Then the other part of the nose cone was fitted, and the remaining rivets were installed. Ready to go back into service.  Took about three hours and cost about $10 to rejuvenate.

Steve

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Re: Refurbishing a Kool Matic roof vent

Reply #1 – August 25, 2011, 12:40:14 pm

Nice job.

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Re: Refurbishing a Kool Matic roof vent

Reply #2 – August 26, 2011, 05:57:16 am

Thanks. 

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Re: Refurbishing a Kool Matic roof vent

Reply #3 – August 26, 2011, 10:03:41 am

Thanks for the details on how you did it.  As parts are no longer available, I was thinking it might require the manufacture of a new cover, maybe one made of fiberglass and not necessarily the same shape or design. 

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Re: Refurbishing a Kool Matic roof vent

Reply #4 – August 26, 2011, 12:28:21 pm

Great job! What did you use to clean the cover? It looks new!

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Re: Refurbishing a Kool Matic roof vent

Reply #5 – August 26, 2011, 05:54:34 pm

Cleaned it with plain old Simple Green and a dishwashing brush. Wish I had taken a photo before I cleaned the fiberglass parts. The inside was black. Unfortunately, the way these covers are made, it's difficult to clean thoroughly without taking it apart.

The fiberglass is beginning to break off where the side legs attach, and the pieces that came off were very brittle. I doubt that it will last another 20 years.

However, all you really need is the aluminum frame with the stack. A competent shop could easily form a box from thin sheet aluminum, given a sketch with dimensions, to replace the fiberglass parts. Seal or weld up the seams, powder coat it, and it'll last forever.

Saw in another thread here that some folks are looking into making a mold from a salvaged Kool Matic cover, to offer replacements. Something to keep an eye on.

Steve

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