Fridge vents - cover them in winter?

[Essgeebee]

Following on from my previous thread on keeping warm in winter, I’m thinking of fitting the vent cover to one or both of the fridge vents while pitched in cold weather. I only run it on electric so there are no fumes to worry about and it would cut down on cold air getting in. Isn’t that what they’re for in any case?
Might be a stupid idea and I’m missing something obvious but somebody has to ask it.

 

[TinaLes]

Yes exactly, storage only if possible, I found out the hard way whilst camping off grid for a week in very high winds ,the van was rocking and the rain was almost horizontal, it was very cold also.
The FF gas pilot light kept blowing out and the fridge alarm sounded, so I rushed out with torch in hand, found covers and put them on.
It wasn't that the vents melted, as many would fear, as there is still a small gap which I thought was OK to allow sufficient ventilation, it was just that the FF could not get down cold enough to store the food safely, due to lack of air flow over the heat exchanger.
We had to chuck most of the food stored after a couple of days, fridge was running above 8C
But at least the beers & wine was OK.
Took the vents back off after wind calmed down, all worked well afterwards.
LES

 

[EuroTrotters]

Yes

 

[Two on Tour]

Our winter covers are used in a few scenarios.
In cold weather, say 5c and below, our F/F can not produce enough heat due to the cold for the refrigerant in the system to operate as it should, so I put a winter cover on the bottom vent to restrict the cold air coming in at the bottom and this allows the heat that's required to build up. In the case of our F/F only covering the bottom vent is required for our F/F to then operate correctly. Covering the top vent as well for us has a detrimental effect on the F/F's operation.
I use the winter covers when I clean our van to stop water from getting into the workings behind the F/F and fit the winter covers when our van is being unused for any length of time to stop bugs and detritus from getting into the area behind the F/F.

If as you say and you only use your F/F on electric, then try fitting your winter covers and see if your F/F is happy with them on, but if as you say that you get drafts coming past your F/F sides, then I would be very wary of using your F/F on gas and fitting winter cover as there is a greater chance of carbon monoxide from the burner flue building up behind the winter cover and being drawn into your hab area.

 

[63720]

I only use both when washing the van, only the lower one in freezing conditions and when I fitted the top one the freezer didn't get down to temperature and the food defrosted.

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[poppycamper]

It would be interesting to know just how many fridges there are that are not fitted correctly, as an awful lot on here seem to have this issue of drafts in van and think winter covers are designed to stop drafts in van.
A properly fitted fridge should have NO drafts coming around it and into van!

 

[kevenh]

Yes, the manual for our Dometic 3 way fridge describes using a vent cover in winter.
Our top vent has a cutout for the gas flu but I’ve only used the bottom cover to get our fridge working in winter.

 

[Nirvanauk]

The Dometic manual says use them if temp below 8 degrees. It could be 5.

 

[Shrimp]

Is it a F/F or just a fridge?
If it’s a Dometic 3-way fridge then yes fit the covers in winter they are designed for that!

 

[mikebeaches]

Our fridge freezer vent covers still have ventilation slots, just much less than without the covers.

My understanding is that they should be used on the van when ambient temperatures are below around 5-8 C.

Under those sort of conditions, the fridge appears to work normally with them in place.

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[Lenny HB]

only run it on electric so there are no fumes to worry about and it would cut down on cold air getting in.

If they is cold air getting into the van past the fridge it is not installed correctly and needs sorting.

 

[peterc10]

It would be interesting to know just how many fridges there are that are not fitted correctly, as an awful lot on here seem to have this issue of drafts in van and think winter covers are designed to stop drafts in van.
A properly fitted fridge should have NO drafts coming around it and into van!

Totally agree with that. I am always surprised when people say they pull out their fridge to do work on it. Ours is sealed all round at the back with some form of mastic, which was obviously done before the exterior wall was fitted. The gas flue discharges into the rear space nowadays rather than having a separate flue through the walls or the top vent like earlier models did.

 

[EML]

Pointing out what may not be obvious from the above: the air flow around the back of a gas-powered fridge is meant to be sealed for a reason. The reason is that the combustion products are poisonous, and you need to get rid of them. If you have air flow into the hab unit, the seal around the fridge is broken, and you are potentially breathing Carbon Monoxide (Ok, Essgeebee only runs on electric, so not an issue for him). There is a second issue with potential leaks of propane. Propane is heavier than air, and the lower vent needs to be open during operation to ensure that propane leaks out of the van, and not into it.

Secondly: there's a lot of talk online about the benefits of getting cold air flow over the heat exchanger. I'm not an expert, but I suspect this is just rationalising a choice to use a gas-powered fridge. The fact is that a room-temperature flow over the heat exchanger is perfectly adequate, or your kitchen fridges wouldn't work. I use a small kitchen fridge in my van, with no external vents, and it works fine. There's another issue with putting your fridge in a cold environment: it won't work. I don't think the Thetford fridges are rated for operation below about 16C ambient (or even 18C?)

 

[PaulC70]

I've fitted the covers to mine recently and kept them on throughout our trip in January (about 6 / 7 nights) where the temperature was consistantly 8 or less. Worked great for me. They also stay on parked up to keep leaves / rain etc out.

 

[weemalkie]

I've just bought a pair for my IXEO. Couldn't believe the prices being asked for a flimsy bit of plastic. I got mine from eBay @ £22 each. Some outlets charging £95 each! Could probably make your own out of some perspex.

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[kevenh]

I think the OP’s mention of:

cut down on cold air getting in

is just that he means to cut down cold air getting to the back of the fridge. Not necessarily into the habit area.
Though only they can confirm 100%

 

[Two on Tour]

I think the OP’s mention of:

is just that he means to cut down cold air getting to the back of the fridge. Not necessarily into the habit area.
Though only they can confirm 100%

Here's the OP's thread for you to read where the OP is talking about drafts blowing in from behind their fridge into their hab area.

Keeping warm - not easy in our Autotrail last week

Just back from Cornwall where we spent a lovely dry four days in our 2019 Autotrail Tracker. However, at night we struggled to keep the van warm enough. I’m reluctant to use gas for space heating as it’s still hard to get replacement cylinders at times so we just had the electric on full. We...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[kevenh]

Here's the OP's thread for you to read where the OP is talking about drafts blowing in from behind their fridge into their hab area.

Keeping warm - not easy in our Autotrail last week

Just back from Cornwall where we spent a lovely dry four days in our 2019 Autotrail Tracker. However, at night we struggled to keep the van warm enough. I’m reluctant to use gas for space heating as it’s still hard to get replacement cylinders at times so we just had the electric on full. We...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Thanks. I had missed that they’d taken the covers off to a side thread.

 

[peterc10]

Secondly: there's a lot of talk online about the benefits of getting cold air flow over the heat exchanger. I'm not an expert, but I suspect this is just rationalising a choice to use a gas-powered fridge. The fact is that a room-temperature flow over the heat exchanger is perfectly adequate, or your kitchen fridges wouldn't work. I use a small kitchen fridge in my van, with no external vents, and it works fine. There's another issue with putting your fridge in a cold environment: it won't work. I don't think the Thetford fridges are rated for operation below about 16C ambient (or even 18C?)

There is a lot of difference between the workings of a 240v kitchen fridge and the 3 way fridges made for motorhomes. The kitchen fridge is a compressor fridge. The 3 way fridge is a more complex absorption fridge which work through applying heat to two different gasses. Unlike kitchen fridges, it can operate in low outside temperatures, but below 5 C it is recommended that winter covers are clipped on. It starts to struggle when outside temperatures get into the mid 20s, which is why many of us have fitted automatic fans to assist airflow at the back when needed. There is nothing worse than warm beer in the summer.

 

[Reallyretired]

I only ever fit the lower vent cover, and only if its very cold.

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[WillH]

Took my F/F out and resealed it using neoprene foam, no draughts at all.