Do we have air outlet in Sprinter van ?

I am converting my van and took most of the interior apart.
I don't see any flaps for out -venting?
All MB cars do have vents via the trunk, where you see flappers hidden behind the bumper.
Now my Sprinter originally was build as bus for 15 people. They suppose to have fresh air flow.
I am putting ceiling vent in new bathroom, but shall I add some ventilation in rear sleeping area?

What wheelbase?

bill in tomahawk

There is venting already, but specifics depend on year and model

Mine did.

Part A9018300042

Behind the bumper on the corner part (on the sides of the van, not the back)

You can see it in this picture in the very bottom right hand corner.

So my guess is that my log bus has those too. Thanks for the picture sparkplug.
I did not want to remove the bumper just to check it, but my inside paneling was out already, what shows no clear passage.
The underbody has huge plug in this area, but peeking behind it doesn't show the vents neither.
So whatever it is - it is small and with maze the air has to take to flow.
Not much ventilation for 15 people if you ask me, considering that those buses don't have openable windows.
Anaway, something to keep in mind when I lock myself in it overnight.

There are also air vents along the bottom of the body skirt area. They also serve as drains, but aren't very large individually.

No worries Kajtek1,

I didn't really get any pics which show how it links to the inside, but it sort of goes up into the van through the (how to describe this?) gap between the outer metal skin and the inner part which you would attach your ply lining to, if you understand what I mean.

So, I removed mine because it was cracked



and this is how it looks from the inside with the flap removed



The cable you can see is where the towing electrics have been pushed down through a hole which was drilled to allow the cable to go from the inside to the outside of the vehicle.

I've tried to show how it's linked to the inside of the van in this pic in case it's clearer than my description



You probably get more actual 'ventilation' from the poorly fitting seals on the doors :

Midwestdrifter said:

There are also air vents along the bottom of the body skirt area. They also serve as drains, but aren't very large individually.

Click to expand...

Oh, yes. I'd forgotten those.

I discovered that they work better as vents or drains when you unblock a decade of debris out of them





These vans can hold a surprising amount of water in the sills

Both T1N and NCV3 have vents back there:

T1N:



NCV3:



--dick

Midwestdrifter said:

There are also air vents along the bottom of the body skirt area. They also serve as drains, but aren't very large individually.

Click to expand...

I found if I left the front windows open on a nice day driving on a dirt road the negative pressure sucked dust up those holes in the side door and into the van, to my surprise I had no insulation. I sealed them from the inside to allow them to still act as a drain, unfortunately insulating a completed conversion is just not real.

Aus regulations (yes we even have regulations for campervan ventilation) state that there must be through flow ventilation to prevent suffocation if a gas appliance is fitted so I have a vent in the side step that I also had to make a dust filter for and one in the roof for exhaust.

The air flow looks good on cargo vans, but my bus has plastic floor liner all around and paneling on all walls. The only way for air to go out is enter small sloots in the molding 1/2 up the rear corners, go down between the molding and interior sheet metal, make couple of loops around metal in lower corner of the van, before it can reach the flappers.

Mine has also changed a lot since those pictures were taken.

I also have insulation, a vapour barrier and some plywood on the walls.

So I have pretty much sealed the inside off from the outside - a bit like your passenger van would have been built.

However, I have a skylight for ventilation when sleeping in the van and I'm designing some metal vents which I can put into the cab windows so I still have security but also air (yes, I know these are available commercially but I just cannot see why the cost as much as they do. Should be a simple DIY job)

I joked about the seals leaking and the doors not closing 100% but you will also get some air in this way.

Probably the easiest way to increase your ventilation would be to cut a hole in the floor and install a drop out vent (or two) like people put in propane lockers. You can get some plastic covers for them to make them look a bit nicer (and to stop random animals crawling into your van) and maybe place them under a seat or somewhere where they are not too noticeable.

On the old T1N vans there is a designated roof vent installation area in the roof that more or less lines up with the sliding door.
I went to the local junk yard and liberated two sliding windows from a cab over sleeper and installed them in the sliding door and the opposite wall. This turned out to be above the cooking area so that due only to serendipity everything lined up and the natural air flow works well. I put in a maxi-fan but rarely need to use it.

Boondocking in the desert it's easy to regulate the in van temperature and airflow at night and adjustments can be done quickly.

I have my solar panel on an extension cord on the ground so roof airflow is good.

Driving with the Maxifan cracked an inch or so really airs things out inside.







bill in tomahawk