Mod to water heater access panel

[Captain Skip]

Latest mod, thought I would share in case anyone is interested. The water heater in my 2024 29V is under the stove behind the cheap louvered panel that’s held in place with 4 short wood screws. The stiles (framework) of the kitchen cabinets are not solid wood. They’re the best compressed sawdust particle board that money can buy….in other words not real wood. If you winterize your rig you’re going to be removing and reinstalling those 4 screws at least twice a year. I do it 4 times a year because I winterize in late October, un-winterize just after the first of the year as we go somewhere warm for January and February, then I have to winterize again when we get home in March - our winters can last until April sometimes, then unwinterize for the summer season. With wood screws going into particle board if you’re very careful you can probably get 6 or maybe even 8 remove/install cycles in. If you’re not careful then you might get 2 or 3. The particle board strips out very easily. To remedy that issue I removed the grill and installed brass wood inserts. You drill a 3/8” hole where the screw was in the cabinet and screw in the insert. They have deep threads that honestly, make it a PITA to install them in the particle board, but once they’re in you don’t have to worry about stripping the hole out. The ones I got take a 10x32 machine screw thread so I got 4 threaded knobs from Amazon to fit. Now I can remove and reinstall the panel without tools without having to worry about stripping the “wood”.

[Camper_bob]

LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea!!

I tried using some magnets, and that was a total fail. I couldn't get them thin enough for my satisfaction, and while they hold great in one direction, they have absolutely no "shear" strength....

[Captain Skip]

Be prepared to do some grunting screwing the inserts in. I found I had to drill the holes just a hair bigger, I wiggled the drill just a little bit after the hole was done. The threads still grab and hold but they don’t dig in as deeply as they do in real wood. That particle board may be cheap but it’s hard as a rock….until it gets wet!

[Camper_bob]

Yes, I have some experience with that stuff (read, garbage).

I think I'll try to find inserts that have the hex opening in them. I've seen them before, but have no idea how easy they would be to source. Not that I'm a fan of hex fittings in general, but anything's better than the flat-head slot...

Heck, maybe I could use the material's weakness against it and wet down the holes a little before I try to drive the inserts in...

ETA: Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Taiss-Threade...1zcF9hdGY&th=1

[Captain Skip]

I’ve never used those but I like the idea of using a hex driver instead of a flat blade screwdriver. The brass ones with a straight slot have a bad habit of tearing up the slot if they hit too much resistance. My local hardware store stocks the brass ones so that’s why I use them.

[pauldeere]

I did not use inserts however I did replace the screws with a Phillips head with a built on flat washer. I tried to find metal covers at the big box store but couldn't find any the same size.

[pconroy]

I pulled off all of the panels when we were chasing down a mouse. I ended up using industrial strength Velcro. Staples hold more than the adhesive.