Fridge vent winter covers?

[Chod Jacqui]

On Thursday we are off to the Peak District for a few days, we will be on ehu so should we think about putting our fridge vent winter covers back On?

 

[jwells]

Only to keep the bad weather out! It's not cold enough yet!

 

[JohnJan]

I don't think you will need them on right now as attached forecast, it's not going to be too cold.

XCWeather Forecast

 

[Griffithii]

I've never used mine so I'll be interested in the answer..

 

[Chod Jacqui]

I know it's not cold enough to warrant putting them on yet it was just to keep some of the weather out. Not running the fridge on gas should mean that there is not a over heating issue this time of year.

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[Off da Grid]

I would still leave them off to run the fridge on the mains, even in the winter in the U.K. it doesn’t get cold enough these days in most places.
I don’t even bother to fit them when I wash the van.
Only fit them when the vans laid up for the winter after new year.

 

[Clarky]

Put them on if the vent is facing into a howling gale...........or alternatively turn the van round.

Richard.

 

[Hirsch]

I have been looking for some to buy. They seem rather a bit expensive. My thoughts turned to cardboard whilst searching. Stupid I know.

 

[Richard n Ann]

Never used ours. Even one night in France at -4c and the fridge was fine. Even when very cold I'd still try and leave the top one off.

 

[Riverbankannie]

I have been looking for some to buy. They seem rather a bit expensive. My thoughts turned to cardboard whilst searching. Stupid I know.

I bought cheap white ones from an Ebay seller and we spray painted them black with car paint to match the fitted vents. Only fit them at home in the winter to keep out the weather and seeds from the silver birch trees.

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[Hirsch]

I bought cheap white ones from an Ebay seller and we spray painted them black with car paint to match the fitted vents. Only fit them at home in the winter to keep out the weather and seeds from the silver birch trees.

I will keep looking

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Never used the vent covers whilst out and about. I'd only have put them on if I thought the fridge seemed to have a problem. The fridge rear compartment seems well sealed from the van's internal area so I don't have concerns that covers reduce draughts, or if I was on gas that there might be fumes getting into the van (it does also have a carbon monixide detector).

My van is parked up with the vents facing prevailing weather. I applied the covers last winter to protect against risks of driving rain. A few days later one was missing, dissapeared somewhere down the street during a gale. So much for protection. Getting a replacement seems a lot of money for a single cover when most vendors seem to want to sell the entire grille assembly.

 

[TinaLes]

Fitted ours last winter over new years bash, very cold, strong breeze, so thought it was sensible thing to do. Result was fridge/freezer would not cool down to 5 degrees, despite cold icy weather outside, removed when we got home all was well, FF worked as it should do.
Conclusion,in future I will only fit
(1.)when stored over winter to keep leaves out,
(2) should we experience very high gusts of wind blowing gas flame out, when we cannot turn van around.
(3) on the unlikely event of sustaining driving snow/horizontal rain in the Alps/highlands or such like.

Knowing what I know now, unless they had been supplied with van from new, I would cut out thin flexible plastic templates, and use sticky tape to secure over top & bottom vents during winter storage.

Dometic will be disappointed in reading this.
LES

 

[Reallyretired]

I have two vent covers which came with the van. I use one in the winter on the oven vent which lets in a draught, never bothered with the fridge and would certainly never think of covering the top vent.

 

[Chod Jacqui]

Thank you for all your replies, I will leave them off.

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[NoName]

Thank you for all your replies, I will leave them off.

Worth considering fitting whilst travelling to reduce risk of airborne dirt ingressing.

 

[ChrisCross]

I simply pop them out cling film them and pop them back in for storage. Just done mine as not going anywhere, we are in Lockdown so it is currently just a very expensive garden ornament

 

[TinaLes]

I simply pop them out cling film them and pop them back in for storage. Just done mine as not going anywhere, we are in Lockdown so it is currently just a very expensive garden ornament

What's the cling film for Chris?
I must put our covers on soon, as we are not going anywhere the rest of this year either
I made the tough decision to Sorn the van from the 1st Oct, having just got its 1st MOT, now need to insure it with bare minimum mileage which with Comfort is 1500, with no break down cover, but they say they need it alarmed, ideally tracked, and on a fully comp basis, they dont do just Fire & Theft, for stored vehicles, even though its not going anywhere.
LES

 

[ChrisCross]

What's the cling film for Chris?
LES

To cover the vents with. I don't have the Dometic Fridge Vent Covers and refuse to pay ~£30 each for them when cling film seals the the vents just as well.

 

[Richard n Ann]

I remember my dad used to block the car radiator with foil in winter, at least that's fire proof

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[ChrisCross]

I remember my dad used to block the car radiator with foil in winter, at least that's fire proof

I would not recommend using cling film with the fridge running. Foil is fine as well, also not to be used when fridge is on. As I said in my post "for storage"

 

[Chod Jacqui]

Criss Cross, you didn't go to Newland Park College in 1968?

 

[TinaLes]

Ha, Ha Sorry Chris there was me wrongly thinking that as the vent covers are so expensive, you were trying to make them look better for longer by covering them in cling film!
Yes I totally agree with your method, if we were not provided with them on van collection, I too would have made something to do the same job, as no way are they worth £30 just for storage purposes.
PS: to all that have the Dometic covers, make sure you dont lose the securing tabs, they have a tendency to fall off and get lost, searched high & low for one of them, luckily found it in the end.
LES

 

[ChrisCross]

Criss Cross, you didn't go to Newland Park College in 1968?

No. Basseleg in S Wales then left school at 14yrs old and went to sea as a merchant seaman. Which one could do in those "Olden Times" as my granddaughters call them

 

[kevenh]

Our fridge was inefficient last Autumn. RTM and there was a mention of fitting the vent covers. Lower one first. (It could be "Only fit lower" if your fridge doesn't have the separate gas flu)
Did that and the fridge started to work well.

OTOH I was spray jetting the outside of the MH and in a lapse of concentration pointed the spray square onto the uncovered vent.
After some curse words I removed the vent - top & bottom - and found it was still bone dry.

So by luck or otherwise, I think most water stays out of the inside area due to the shape of the vent's vanes. IDK not my SME

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[pelican]

I know it's not cold enough to warrant putting them on yet it was just to keep some of the weather out. Not running the fridge on gas should mean that there is not a over heating issue this time of year.

I have looked behind our grills and the void behind is completely sealed from the interior, I don't understand how fitting winter vents will keep van warmer or is it just to stop water ingress.

 

[TinaLes]

I have looked behind our grills and the void behind is completely sealed from the interior, I don't understand how fitting winter vents will keep van warmer or is it just to stop water ingress.

Our FF is fully sealed also, the idea of fitting the vents for me at least is to stop leaves, crud, or snow getting inside, whilst in storage on the drive over winter.
Hell knows how crud manages to get in there, as there is a fine mesh behind each grill cover, but it does get in there somehow, as I discover each spring when I clean it out, understandable if we had been to Morocco, or some very dusty place, but we haven't.
When it comes to MH,s there is always something to learn, or at least another way of doing things, isn't there?
LES

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Mostly it’s about temperature in the void behind the fridge and perhaps wind if on gas. Too hot and the absorbtion system doesn’t work and similarly too cold and it’s unhappy