A vent fan may not be the sexiest item in your camper van, but it is low-key one of the most essential items to have. We’ll say it again and again; a high-quality fan is worth the money. And in this Maxxair fan review, you’ll learn why the Maxxfan is the undisputed king of mobile home ventilation.
We keep our Maxxair fan on 90% of the time. The only time it’s turned off is while we’re driving. Otherwise, it’s kept on and continually bringing in fresh, cool air.
We’ve used our vent fan in virtually every environment possible:
- Blistering hot weather
- Freezing weather
- Endless monsoon-style rains
- Humid weather
- Corrosive salty beach air
No matter what environment we’re in, our Maxxair vent fan keeps chugging along and does exactly what it’s supposed to do.
A high-quality vent fan is a top van life essential. It exhausts stale, greasy, & musty air and promotes fresh air flow into the van. The Maxxfan's unique rain cover allows you to continue operating the fan even when it's raining hard outside.
What We Like
What can we say? The MaxxFan Deluxe Roof Fan just plain works! Let’s start our Maxxair fan review by listing all the things we love about it.
1. Rain Cover
Unlike many other vent fan brands, the MaxxFan comes with a rain cover. This allows you to continue using the fan even when it’s raining outside.
While most vent fans have a simple pop-up lid, the Maxxfan has a useful rain hood that allows it to draw air through a downward facing screen. This prevents any rain drops from entering the camper.
And if you haven’t lived in a camper van yet, you should know that being able to keep your vent fan on when you’re trapped inside your vehicle while it’s pouring outside is critical to interior comfort.
Without proper airflow, the air starts to get more humid and sticky and the floor is becoming moist.
Trust Us: It's pretty darn uncomfortable to be trapped inside your camper under rainy conditions.
Streamlined Look
Unlike the bulky aftermarket rain-hoods you can buy on Amazon, the rain cover than comes included with the MaxxFan is actually quick sleek and streamlined. What’s nice is that with a turn of the knob, you can raise and lower the rain cover to the height that you want.
2. Strong Air Flow, Yet Quiet Operation
If you’re looking to quickly cool down your van and bring in fresh air, the Maxxfan can do that in a cinch. With 10 different fan speeds, the Maxxair fan can move huge volumes of air in seconds.
In fact, the moment we turn our fan on, we’ll already begin to notice markedly improved air quality inside our camper literally within 5-10 seconds.
At night, on the lowest 1-2 speeds, the Maxxair fan is virtually silent. You’d never know it was even on.
Keeping It Quiet: As the bug mesh starts to build up with dust, the sound of the air passing through gets louder. Keeping the mesh clean helps to keep sound to a minimum.
3. Low Power Draw
At its lowest speeds, the MaxxFan draws less than 3-watts of power. This is important because even though the energy draw is so low, a vent fan can still consume considerable amounts of power over a 24-hour period because continuous use.
Building a camper van? Download our free e-Books with intuitive electrical, solar, and plumbing diagrams.
What We Dislike
No product is completely perfect. And in this Maxxair fan review, we do list a couple of critiques of this fan.
1. Rain Cover Is Hard To Clean
More parts mean more things to clean. And because the MaxxFan comes with a built-in rain cover, it’s just another part you have to clean and maintain. And cleaning the rain cover means having to get onto the roof and detaching the cover from the main fan unit. It’s not difficult, but time consuming and inconvenient.
2. No Sealant Tape Included
Our RV windows came included with sealant tape to prevent rain water from leaking in through the sides. We wished Maxxair would include something similar since these fans are almost exclusively being installed on campervan and RV roofs.
Instead, we had to purchase our own Butyl Tape and lap sealant to create a watertight seal.
To install, check out our MaxxFan installation post to learn more.
3. Retaining Knobs Are Hard To Turn
To clean the bug mesh, four retaining knobs need to be turned out so that the mesh can be removed. But putting the mesh back can be tricky because the knobs don’t turn back in so easily. It takes practice.
Maxxair Fan vs. Fan-Tastic Fan
The Fan-Tastic fan is a popular vent fan alternative to the Maxxair fan. Though prices fluctuate, a Fan-Tastic fan tends to be about $100 cheaper than their Maxxfan competitor.
But perhaps more important, the Fan-Tastic fan is sleeker and has a more streamlined look. This makes the fan a better option if stealth camping is a top priority since the Fan-Tastic fan is less visible from the street side.
But even with considering the fan’s cheaper price point and lower profile, we still wouldn’t buy the Fan-Tastic fan simply because the fan lacks a rain cover. And to repeat our point above, we think the rain cover is the MOST essential feature of the Maxxair fan.
True Story
We once parked next to another camper fan. While they were out, it started pouring rain. Their fan didn’t have a rain cover and they had left the top open while they were out. Not surprising, the rain poured inside their van and everything got wet. And when they got back, they ended up having to hang much of their wet belongings in the sun to dry out.
The Verdict - The Maxxair Fan Is The Best RV Vent Fan
Yes! We absolutely believe that the Maxxfan is the best vent fan for camper vans.
- Works When It Rains
- Durable
- Quiet Operation
- Low Energy Consumption
We understand that it’s important to do your own due diligence, but we did hours of research and realized that the Maxxfan was the best fan for our needs.
And to save you the hassle, we wrote this Maxxair fan review to tell you exactly how we feel.
By The Way: Once you buy your fan, check out our fan installation guide to get your Maxxfan up and running on your camper.
Was This Post Helpful? We have lots of other useful articles to help you build the foundation of your camper van. Check out our Ventilation & Insulation page to read more great van build content!
A high-quality vent fan is a top van life essential. It exhausts stale, greasy, & musty air and promotes fresh air flow into the van. The Maxxfan's unique rain cover allows you to continue operating the fan even when it's raining hard outside.
Maxxair Fan Competitors
If you’re still unsure about the Maxxair fan and want to see what else is out there on the market, check out the competitors below.
Fan-tastic Fan
- Fits standard 14" x 14" openings
- Three fan blade speeds
- Manual lift dome
The Fan-Tastic Fan is another commonly used vent fan for camper vans conversions. It’s a popular fan for van conversions because of it’s low profile, which makes it easier for stealth camping. Fan-Tastic fans are also cheaper than their MaxxFan counterparts.
But the lack of a rain cover means it’s not realistic to use this fan when it’s raining outside. And for us, this is a deal breaker.
Heng’s RV Roof Vent
- 9" fan blade
- Easy installation
- Fits select Heng's exhaust vent kits
For the budget conscious, Heng’s RV Roof Vent might just be the best VALUE vent fan for camper vans. The fan unit fits into a standard 14”x14” hole, is quiet, and provides great value. However, for such a budget model, it’s worth reminding that you ‘get what you pay for’.
People have reported receiving minimal product support and even that the plastic components on the fan aren’t UV stabilized. Meaning that the plastic starts to degrade when exposed to continuous sunlight. Since a roof fan is on a van’s roof and thus constantly exposed to the sun’s rays, we don’t think this makes much sense to us!
Also, the fan’s 6” blades are smaller than the Maxxfan and Fan-Tastic Fan, which means Heng’s RV Roof Vent is able to move much less air than its competitors.
RecPro Solar Vent Fan
If you’re still looking for a way to circulate air in your campervan but stealth is of utmost importance, the RecPro Solar Powered Vent Fan may just be what you’re looking for.
This fan is small and unassuming. In fact, the RecPro fan might just be the STEALTHIEST vent fan for camper vans.
It also has a tiny rain cover so that it can still be used when it’s raining outside.
However, before you pull the trigger on this tiny fan, we don’t think this fan is capable of moving anywhere near the amount of air needed to properly ventilate the inside of a campervan. We encourage you to visit the Amazon page to check this product out yourself and read their reviews.
Building a camper van? Download our free e-Books with intuitive electrical, solar, and plumbing diagrams.
FAQ
Is a rain cover worth it?
Yes! And a million times yes! After 2+ years on the road, we’ve spent many days and nights stuck in our van when it was raining decently hard outside. Venting the inside of your van during the rain is arguably even more important and so we feel getting a vent fan that comes with a rain cover is absolutely necessary.
Is it better to install two vent fans in a van?
We’ve heard that installing two roof vent fans on a campervan does wonders to REALLY circulate air all throughout the interior and to bring down internal temperatures during the hot summer months.
Our only hesitation is that having a second roof fan takes away valuable roof real estate that could be used to install more solar panels. If you already properly calculated your solar array requirements and figured you can still fit a second vent fan on your roof, then we say go for it!
Will these fans keep my pet cool in the RV all day during summer?
While a roof vent can keep your van’s interior cooler for longer during a summer day, we definitely would not recommend leaving your pet inside your van ALL DAY under a blistering sun. It also depends on how well you insulate your camper van and if you’re able to find a shady spot to park.
Manual vs Electric vent fans?
Some of the higher-end vent fans come with a remote control so you can operate the fan without having to operate the manual button on the physical fan unit. In our case, because our campervan is so small, it actually doesn’t take much effort (or distance) to go and manually turn on or off the fan.
Can you drive with the Maxxfan’s rain cover lifted?
While we wouldn’t recommend it because the headwind would put a lot of pressure and stress onto the joints of rain cover, we’ve definitely done it before by accident! But once we realize what we’ve done, we always pull over so we can lower the rain cover.
We Hope Our Maxxair Fan Review Sold You
We hope you enjoyed our Maxxair fan review. We’re firm believers that the Maxxfan is the best vent fan for camper vans and think you will agree!
After over 2+ years on the road we still love our MaxxFan and wouldn’t do anything different with this part of our van build. We did van life in Mexico for an entire rainy season (spoiler alert: it rains A LOT) and the rain cover on our MaxxFan was perfect for our needs.
And being able to circulate fresh air, while pushing out bad air, really increases the long-term livability of our campervan.
If you have any questions on how to install a vent fan on your van, please let us know in the comments below and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!
