Exterior Fridge Vents

Had the van's habitation inspection today by an approved mobile workshop technician, when he removed the fridge vents he was surprised there were no fly screens fitted.

On previous van's they have been fitted, should all fridge vent's have these?

He also said the fridge should be properly room sealed (gas operation), this one clearly wasn't, anyone else noticed this?

Also the CO2 alarm should be fitted 150mm from the ceiling, not flush to it as on this van.

On previous Hab inspections by Marquis, none of these issues ever mentioned!

Milhouse wrote:Had the van's habitation inspection today by an approved mobile workshop technician, when he removed the fridge vents he was surprised there were no fly screens fitted.

On previous van's they have been fitted, should all fridge vent's have these? Ours hasn't! Dead easy to glue onto the back of the louvres if you want them.

He also said the fridge should be properly room sealed (gas operation), this one clearly wasn't, anyone else noticed this? Common fault, not only with A/S, or indeed motorhomes. Caravans often suffer the same potentially dangerous fault. Ours is pretty good, though not perfect.

Also the CO2 alarm should be fitted 150mm from the ceiling, not flush to it as on this van. Don't think this is critical, as if the gas rises it will get there soon enough. Did you mean CO (carbon monoxide) though? Carbon Dioxide is heavier than air. Carbon monoxide is slightly lighter than air, but in any case thermal convection currents will move gases around the room.

On previous Hab inspections by Marquis, none of these issues ever mentioned! No surprise there then!!!

Nothing there that would worry me unduly, though I think I would look at the fridge housing seal. It may or may not be dangerous, but it could bring in nasty niffs if the wind is in the right (or wrong ) direction.

Had several caravans and fridges were never sealed. Our Nuevo was also not sealed. The fridge had to be removed for a new element to be fitted and the mobile engineer has sealed it now with clear silicon. It can only be removed now by cutting through the silicon with a razor blade. No draughts now though.

Thanks for replies, apologies, I did mean CO.

There were a couple of other minor jobs to do, nothing serious.  I presume the fly screens are easy to get hold of?

Still miffed with Marquis for not noticing these issues, considering how much they charge for their service!

The installation manual does state that the fridge should be sealed in with a foam seal. As you've mentioned to ensure no CO ingress and of course the cold wind.

Milhouse wrote: I presume the fly screens are easy to get hold of?

What fly screens?

I've never seen one fitted to the fridge vents so can't help there.

I wouldn't bother trying to find bespoke ones though, as they are bound to cost far more than they are worth. Just get some nylon mesh from an ironmonger and a tube of glue. Cut to size and stick on the inside of the vents. That way if you need to remove the vents you can do so easily, as the fly screen comes off with them rather than as a fiddly separate item.

It does occur to me to ask why fly screens would be fitted to the vents in any case, since they give access only to the rear of the fridge, which is (in theory ) sealed from the interior.

They were fitted on ours and are useful for keeping bugs and spiders out of the burner where for some reason they seem to like to nest .

Our fridge wasn't sealed and hence we had cold draughts, especially if the wind was blowing onto that side of the 'van, so I sealed it all around on the inside with clear silicon, which will have to be cut through in the hopefully unlikely event of it ever needing to be removed.

This is our third motorhome and none of them has ever had flyscreens under the external fridge vents - as Dave reasons above, why would they need them?  Bear in mind fitting any mesh fine enough to stop small bugs such as midges will result in reducing the open cross-sectional area and hence impede cooling, which may cause problems in warmer weather, especially if dust and fluff is drawn in by the convection current and clogs them.

I suppose there is always a chance of spiders getting in through the vent grille and building webs, or even worse wasps building a nest, but it's no big deal to remove the grilles now and then to check and if need be remove anything untoward.

Gromit wrote:

Milhouse wrote: I presume the fly screens are easy to get hold of?

What fly screens?

I've never seen one fitted to the fridge vents so can't help there.

I wouldn't bother trying to find bespoke ones though, as they are bound to cost far more than they are worth. Just get some nylon mesh from an ironmonger and a tube of glue. Cut to size and stick on the inside of the vents. That way if you need to remove the vents you can do so easily, as the fly screen comes off with them rather than as a fiddly separate item.

It does occur to me to ask why fly screens would be fitted to the vents in any case, since they give access only to the rear of the fridge, which is (in theory ) sealed from the interior.

Oh dear, Dave.  We have both fly screens and a fridge that is properly sealed from the interior. Ours is a 2012.  Warranty repair perhaps?

Probably A/S penny pinching again Ron - or their infamous lack of quality control.

As many of us can attest, they produce what is basically a cracking good van, but spoil it by lack of care and attention to detail.

The problem is that most of us are geriatrics (give or take a gammy knee or a tin hip) and we love to recall the halcyon days when things were done proper, like!!

Or perhaps we are looking back through rose coloured eyeballs in our dotage?

Problem for us more mature in years Dave is we 'expect' things to be done properly and are more often than not disappointed. 

Share your analysis, Gromit!

What's disappointing is how the trends seem to be diverging: a few decades ago motor cars used to be prone to rust and mechanical weaknesses, but these days there's precious little one can, or needs to, do to a modern car to keep it going. (Indeed, I gather from chatting to my contemporary wrinklies that it seems that our offspring do nothing to their cars until a warning light tells them to inflate tyres / add oil, add windscreen fluid, change pads etc etc.)


But for modern motorhomes (well, at least those by A-S) the owner needs to be able and prepared to carry out quite a bit of DiY repairs and maintenance.  I just don't accept that it's all because a motorhome is so complex. It's more to do with sourcing the cheapest components and with poor design.

The driving force (no pun intended) in pushing up quality in cars was undoubtedly competition. Oddly, there's also competition amongst marques of motorhomes. Whether that'll drive the inefficient and the deteriorating quality manufacturers out of business remains to be seen. I note that A-S was recently taken over....

PS: Sorry, Admin, but I've wandered off the topic of fridge vents....

Fridge was foam sealed and fly screens fitted behind the fridge vents when the 2014 Kemerton was purchased. I've been told on the forum that the fly screens can rattle when driving but luckily not for me.
Mel

Yes there are fly screens behind the vents on our van. Needed to confirm as previous Nuevo and Broadway had them also. Can't remember which van including the present whereby I had to stop them rattling. May I suggest that if you don't have them, then you possibly have been robbed of essential components. I state this after calculating the total area of venting through the side wall being equivalent say by your roof light being left permanently open by a couple of inches. Therefore it doesn't need much imagination to realise how easily insects and other debris could get inside.

Shall have to check mine, although I expect the floor vents under the the fridge will let in spiders anyway. 
Must look, see, if fridge is sealed from inside van, as don't do drafts.     Checks, checks, and more checks.   :scratch head:Shall have to see if I can actually get away and use the van....

March 2015 Nuevo: no fly screens in fridge vents.

Fridge vent fly screens supplied with our 2014 Broadway EB. Earlier this month we had the cracked vents replaced with the improved version, hopefully the slightly raised damp readings will start to recede now, though I will keep a check on it!

Pete

Where you don't have fly screens with your slightly later 2015 reg Nuevos, might it be worthwhile to enquire with A/S as to reason why? Surely, or......perhaps not, they could have been accidentally forgotten at the build stage?

I have put the question to A/S and waiting for Mark Burdett to get back to me, he did ask whether we had a Dometic or Thetford fridge fitted so will be interested to see what their response is.

Milhouse wrote:I have put the question to A/S and waiting for Mark Burdett to get back to me, he did ask whether we had a Dometic or Thetford fridge fitted so will be interested to see what their response is.

He's on holiday this week. Back next week I think.

Yes he is Gromit, said he would get back to me next week

Finally received a reply from A-S Homologation Engineer. Apparently Thetford have never fitted flyscreens to their fridge vents, Dometic used to but haven't done so for some time.

Milhouse wrote:Finally received a reply from A-S Homologation Engineer. Apparently Thetford have never fitted flyscreens to their fridge vents, Dometic used to but haven't done so for some time.

Thought so, but wasn't 100% certain.

Thanks Milhouse.

Gromit wrote:

Milhouse wrote:Finally received a reply from A-S Homologation Engineer. Apparently Thetford have never fitted flyscreens to their fridge vents, Dometic used to but haven't done so for some time.

Thought so, but wasn't 100% certain.

Thanks Milhouse.

I have a Thetford fridge, I assume Thetford vents AND flyscreens which are obviously part of the vents.

Mine must have been one of the last then. Dometic and flyscreens