Weird box on the roof of my 05 Thomas

[Peterjk]

Hey everyone.
I recently sealed up my roof hatches, and while I was on the roof, I discovered this weird box vented box. Its riveted to the roof and its vented. What concerns me is if I drill out the rivets, I will have to do something with it. But I dont know whats underneath. Anyone have any ideas?


Thanks in advance!


Peter

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Likely a simple vent to prevent heat and pressure from building in the interior and blowing out the glass. I would leave it be. If you remove it, you could be opening ths door to an unstoppabble roof leak.

[Peterjk]

A vent, really ?
What caught my eye is, the base which is riveted to the bus, ISNT sealed very well to the skin of the bus, so water leakage would then be possible, so mold usually follows leakage, right?
Are you sure its a vent?
If that's the case maybe I should re-seal it like I did the emergency exit.
I'm just concerned about leaks, seepage, mold.

[CHEESE_WAGON]

I can't think of anything else it would be in that location. The outer shield doesn't necessarily need to be sealed, it only needs to keep rainwater out.

[Peterjk]

Yep, found it, its a vent, interesting. Wonder how its vented under that cover.

STATIC ROOF VENT ASSEMBLY, RECTANGULAR Bus Part - All Points Bus

[cadillackid]

its a passive vent.. designed to suck heat / moisture out to helop with defrosting..

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Peterjk

Yep, found it, its a vent, interesting. Wonder how its vented under that cover.

STATIC ROOF VENT ASSEMBLY, RECTANGULAR Bus Part - All Points Bus

I deleted mine a couple of months ago, for no particularly good reason (there was no sign of it leaking inside). I ripped it apart to see how it works, and here are some pics.

This is the bottom plate, how it would look if you were inside the bus looking up at it.



The bottom plate and the top vent cover are spot-welded together, which made this tough to get apart since I was trying to be quiet.



Inside is this arched plate which prevents any water that is blown in through the slats from being blown down through the round hole in the bottom plate. You can also see the four gutters in the corners of the bottom plate that allow any water to run out and onto the roof.



Since the plate is arched over the hole, air can still get in and out of the hole, but not water.







If that bottom plate is not sealed all the way around, this would let in a ton of water, but if it's properly sealed it looks like it's waterproof unless you're submerged.

Really a pretty cool design and I now regret deleting mine, since it would have continued to provide some ventilation to my cab area which is not part of my insulated living space. If this is going to be part of your heated (or cooled) living space, I'd say it's a somewhat significant conduit for heat transfer and you might want to delete it.

[Native]

I was not that curious when I removed mine.

[bus-bro]

I was told that roof vent up by the driver was used to draw air forward and out so the driver could smell what the kids were burning.

[dwood443]

Originally Posted by bus-bro

I was told that roof vent up by the driver was used to draw air forward and out so the driver could smell what the kids were burning.

This one got me

[Peterjk]

Originally Posted by dwood443

This one got me

Oh funny. Thanks for all this info, I'll leave mine till it start to leak I suppose.

[BusWanderer83]

Originally Posted by Peterjk

Yep, found it, its a vent, interesting. Wonder how its vented under that cover.

STATIC ROOF VENT ASSEMBLY, RECTANGULAR Bus Part - All Points Bus

There should be a grill looking part on one of the ceiling panels.

[Danjo]

I deleted mine too.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by BusWanderer83

There should be a grill looking part on one of the ceiling panels.

If the ceiling panels are perforated, there won't be. There will just be a hole in the insulation underneath this vent.

[MrBoogie]

Originally Posted by Peterjk

Hey everyone.
I recently sealed up my roof hatches, and while I was on the roof, I discovered this weird box vented box. Its riveted to the roof and its vented. What concerns me is if I drill out the rivets, I will have to do something with it. But I dont know whats underneath. Anyone have any ideas?


Thanks in advance!


Peter

It's a vent i would maybe seal it with some clear caulk not sure why you would seal up your emergency hatches... I used one of mine for a roof-top air unit & may put another one in as well they are perfect for those & great for parked camping with external power or even generator power on super hot days but then again I have the original ceiling in mine. We use it for a promotional vehicle for our DJ & event company as well as a camper. Not living in the thing.

[Karin70]

We removed that vent on our bus, the hole was filled with a fantastic fan. We did this because there is no way to close that vent off.

[Rock-N-Ruth]

Originally Posted by Peterjk

Hey everyone.
I recently sealed up my roof hatches, and while I was on the roof, I discovered this weird box vented box. Its riveted to the roof and its vented. What concerns me is if I drill out the rivets, I will have to do something with it. But I dont know whats underneath. Anyone have any ideas?


Thanks in advance!


Peter

Got the same thing on ours. It is a vent. Look on your ceiling you should find an adjacent vent.

[Doktari]

Seems like I could loose precious heat from my vent. I better check it out and plug it. Does that mean I won’t know if Im burning my dinner.

[mmoore6856]

most roof escape hatches can be opened from the outside so you have no security from them. the vent will leak in a hard rain if pointed wrong i deleted the vent and 1 hatch. the other hatch ill modify so it can not be opened from the outside

[BusWanderer83]

Do you have a pic? Mine looked like a heat register but the ceiling panel was all one piece...just curious