Finally relented.... (1 Viewer)

[Fletton]

Popped the lower fridge vent cover on tonight....

Give it a week or three and I may pop top one on too....

 

[RogerThat]

Can you explain to the newbies here (ie. me) what this cover does?

 

[Cliffdale]

Second that!

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[Bobby22]

Can you explain to the newbies here (ie. me) what this cover does?

They are winter covers that go over the vents. They help the fridge to be more efficient.
Once the outside temperature drops to around 4degrees you fit them and in springtime take them off, when it hearts up, or the fridge can over heat.

 

[RogerThat]

Interesting... so the fridge uses less gas / electric to stay cold?

Which leads me straight to my next question(s), why do you leave a time period between fitting top and bottom covers?

And, is this cover for use when on mains hookup? Or on gas?

 

[Brimal]

A lot of it will depend on the size of your fridge vents. Normally have the bigger vents for a fridge and freezer combi.
It will also depend on whereabouts you are for the winter months. Also if like me and I suspect most, you park with your
door side facing the sun and the fridge/freezer on the same side, you may not find it necessary to fit the covers iin the warmer winter climates.

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[Bobby22]

Interesting... so the fridge uses less gas / electric to stay cold?

Which leads me straight to my next question(s), why do you leave a time period between fitting top and bottom covers?

And, is this cover for use when on mains hookup? Or on gas?

I don't know why the op has a time difference between covers, i don't think it makes any difference if you fit both together.
The covers go on now and come off march........they stay on no matter what fuel you use.

 

[irnbru]

We found they also helped cut down on draughts coming through when it was blowing a Hoolie outside in winter.

 

[jockaneezer]

My fridge doesn't have winter vents, am I missing out ?

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[Fletton]

Which leads me straight to my next question(s), why do you leave a time period between fitting top and bottom covers?

And, is this cover for use when on mains hookup? Or on gas?

@RogerThat ...It's just a personal thing for me...
The days are ok but we are having frosts in early hrs.... so I just fitted the bottom one for now... to see how it goes.. performs.. (I'm on gas 90% of time) and its my first cold snap since becoming a recent full timer..

My thinking being... hot air rises... so top vent not "as" critical whilst weather is still "on the cusp"..

FYI .. I have the larger vents and the large TEC tower fridge and seperate freezer...

Ref gas or EHU... manual refers to temp only ... so my assuption is all modes for AES fridge/freezers when temperature drops below "x"

John T

 

[frogijock]

When I bought my Burstner I asked about vent covers and was told that Burstner say their is no need for them

 

[Bobby22]

My fridge doesn't have winter vents, am I missing out ?

If you have a gas fridge you will have vents on the sidewall of your van. You can buy covers that cut down the ventilation both in and out of the back of your fridge. It makes your fridge more efficient in winter time.

My Dometic fridge came with them from new. So i imagine dometic must endorse them.

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[TheCaller]

We found they also helped cut down on draughts coming through when it was blowing a Hoolie outside in winter.

Draughts from outside shouldn't reach the inside with or without the vent covers. If they do, it means that the fridge isn't fitted properly. No air should pass between the inside of the van & the space behind the fridge that is vented to the outside. It leads to two problems if there are air leaks around the fridge. Firstly, your heating won't work as well, as you have discovered. Secondly, if the fridge burner develops a problem & emits unburned propane, excess carbon monoxide, or even if the draught blows the normal exhaust gas into the van, you are at risk.

I'm not sure why restricting the airflow behind the fridge makes it work better in cold weather, but one benefit will be to the interior heating. Even with no draughts, the vented area behind the fridge won't be as well insulated from the van interior as the rest of the outside walls. So keeping that area a bit warmer will reduce heat loss.

Can anyone explain the physics of the optimum 'behind the fridge' temperature & airflow? Too hot seems easy to understand, but what's the problem of it being too cold?

 

[Andrew gill151]

Hi,
put my covers on a couple of days ago and found out this morning that the contents of my freezer had defrosted, have just removed the top vent which felt warm to the touch.
Any ideas?
Andy

 

[Fletton]

Hi,
put my covers on a couple of days ago and found out this morning that the contents of my freezer had defrosted, have just removed the top vent which felt warm to the touch.
Any ideas?
Andy

@Andrew gill151 ... Hence why I only fitted the lower one - at the moment ... See my post above

Edit: my guess is that fridge is behaving same as if ambient temp too hot - as when folk fit fans in hot climes... Again that is why I only fitted bottom one in these temps... My fridge and freezer are working fine... Suggest remove top as see if fridge works better... If not ... Remove both and await cooler weather.... Also I don't have setting (cooling) any higher that halfway

Edit Edit: I am sited on Nth East Coast at moment ..

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[Bobby22]

Hi,
put my covers on a couple of days ago and found out this morning that the contents of my freezer had defrosted, have just removed the top vent which felt warm to the touch.
Any ideas?
Andy

Dometic manual says to fit the covers if you notice loss of performance and to stop excessively cold air. Maybe your not cold enough outside yet.

 

[SmithsInFrance]

Where do you get the covers from pls? Our dealer (in France) wanted a small fortune for them...

 

[Andrew gill151]

Removed the top vent and I think its working better now, set fridge to about half and the vent area is cooler.
currently 6℃ outside here in not so sunny Derbyshire and the reason I fitted them is that the fridge didn't feel that cold.
Lets see what happens!

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[cruiser]

I will put mine on. When I can find them.

 

[Lenny HB]

ogether.
......they stay on no matter what fuel you use.

Bad advice if your fridge flue vents into the space behind the fridge by fitting a top vent you are greatly reducing the area the exhaust gases can vent from and the cover gets very hot.

 

[Taran_Las]

Where do you get the covers from pls? Our dealer (in France) wanted a small fortune for them...

E.g here (How does that price (plus any postage) compare with your dealer's price?)

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[Lenny HB]

Depends which fridge and the size of the vent but they will probably be cheaper in France for mine I paid around €22 each in Belgium I know they were a lot cheaper than in the UK.
Have a look on German ebay often find on there you can buy the complete vent with cover cheaper than just the cover.

 

[Bobby22]

Bad advice if your fridge flue vents into the space behind the fridge by fitting a top vent you are greatly reducing the area the exhaust gases can vent from and the cover gets very hot.

Why would they advise you to put covers on in cold weather.................where else are they going to vent if you have two vents on the back of the fridge?

 

[Lenny HB]

n a

Why would they advise you to put covers on in cold weather.................where else are they going to vent if you have two vents on the back of the fridge?

Dometic always used to state do not fit if running on gas, they have now dropped that line in their instructions but dealers & converters will advise you not to fit vents when running on gas. Having tried them myself on a 8508 fridge/freezer the top vent gets far too hot for comfort.

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[Bobby22]

Hi,
put my covers on a couple of days ago and found out this morning that the contents of my freezer had defrosted, have just removed the top vent which felt warm to the touch.
Any ideas?
Andy

Your answer might be in the manual,

 

[TheCaller]

The freezer compartment not working in cold weather is, I suspect, unrelated to the vents.

A fridge with an integrated freezer compartment only has one thermostat. This is sensing the temperature in the fridge compartment. The manual extract above uses the term 'ambient temperature', rather than 'outside temperature', so I think they mean the internal temperature of the van. So if you go out during the day, leaving the heating on very low or off, or if you do the same overnight, then the fridge doesn't need to run to maintain it's usual 5 degrees if it's only a couple of degrees warmer outside the fridge. But now the freezer is switched off as well, so it rises to fridge temperature & your food defrosts.

I first came across this effect when a friend complained that his domestic fridge/freezer kept defrosting. He was one of these people who don't feel the cold & his house was always cold in the winter. His fridge effectively turned itself off, meaning that the freezer was off too.