Fridge vent in awning (1 Viewer)

[Feltwell]

On my recently acquired van is a 4m Fiamma roll-out awning, and in amongst the many bits that came with the van is a safari/privacy room kit, basically walls to turn the roll-out roof into a "proper" weatherproof awning with walls.

I've not put this up yet, but I've just realised that doing so would put the vents for the fridge inside said awning. Leaving aside any problems of the awning getting hot, this clearly isn't a problem whilst I'm on electric hook up and the fridge is on 240v, but what about when it's on gas?

My inclination is to think that the cooker isn't flued so that must put it's small amount of CO into the van itself. The fridge can't use that much gas and any awning is far from air tight, therefore shouldn't be a problem, but does anyone have a more authoritative view?

No one will be sleeping out there.

Incidentally, anyone with one of these safari room kits care to comment on how quick & easy they are to put up? They look like a bit of faff from the instructions!

 

[scotjimland]

Fridge vents in the awning are not an issue, as you said, there is plenty of ventilation.. most caravan fridges are on the awning side..

Can't comment on the Safari room, just what I've read, they are a faff ..

 

[Don Quixote]

We use the safari room without problem and it would need to be really cold to get any heat from the vent..........

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[Sheddy]

We use a Faimma Zip awning / privacy room and our fridge vents are in the awning, we have had no problem in the awning even in very warm weather (40 C).
We have a fan on the fridge vent to help the fridge work in the hot weather, but there no noticeable increase in the awning temperature. Generally there is plenty of ventilation in the awnings, so I don't see it as a problem.
Fitting the awning can take a while so we only use it when on sites for more than a week or so.
There are plenty of Faimma instructional videos on youtube to check out how it should be done.

 

[Jaws]

Could not be without a safari room to be honest.. We always use it if in one place for more than a few days..
Absolute boon

 

[icantremember]

Normally the awning would be well enough ventilated for there not to be a problem.

However if you intend to seal the safari room to avoid draughts then for peace of mind you could always put a Carbon Monoxide detector in there when running the fridge on gas.

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[Feltwell]

Thanks for the replies.

Found safari room video on Youtube, doesn't look too bad to put up after all - especially compared to the trailer tent we used to have! It's a Fiamma Zip canopy, which looks like one of the slightly easier ones to put up the safari room for. We're only likely to use it if we're in one place for a week - our plan is long weekends away or touring we all go in the van, if we stay in one place for a week or more in the UK then Mrs F will bring the "family bus" along - so the van being anchored to the pitch by the awning won't be a big problem.

 

[Eddystone]

Most caravan fridges are on the awning side. We used to be on non electric for 4 weeks during our summer holidays in it. I also fitted a fan to the top vent to assist with cooling.

Brian

 

[pappajohn]

The gas flame is not much bigger than a cigarette lighter flame so the CO will be minimal and as for heating the awning....dream on.  

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[Feltwell]

Ahh, it wasn't heating the awning I was getting at - it was if the awning itself being hot during hot weather would stop the fridge from working properly.

 

[MitchandJenny]

How did you go about with the fan installation on the fridge top vent please ???