AROUND-OZ MOTORHOMES

Winnebago Roof Flues - Electrolux

This would have to be one of the best moves Winnebago have ever made! We are absolutely qualified to comment on this, as our Freeway had the "old" system and when we first got it, inside cabinet temperatures were plus 10 and way above sometimes, and that was just in Brisbane. The new system is absolutely excellent. A flue takes hot gases right up to the ceiling and out the roof via a very large vent. This is usually done by hiding the flue inside a wardrobe. There are no fans or other gadgets inside the flue cap. You could if you wished instal a solar dome fan on top but in our experience this is not needed. Gone are the two Electrolux vents on the side and these are replaced with a new type of single vent. This is very easy to remove with a silver coin on your thumb nail. The only downside to this is it would be much harder to clean the flue without removing the fridge. The fridge shown above left is the newer "tropicalised" version and is much improved on the older models. They have in our view stuffed up a little on the controls as they don't look any better at all, yet the innards which you don't see, look fantastic.

Above left is a very important new addition found on just about all household fridges for 20 years, but now just appearing on RV fridges. (defrost tank) Sometimes you really wonder if anyone designing RVs ever actually go camping in them as the oversights are so obvious! Enough moaning! Now don't get too excited, they haven't "discovered" auto defrost just yet, but when you turn the fridge off, the melting water now trickles out of the cabinet instead of into that little dish in the older models, which as you know, we all forget to empty, until waking up with a wet floor! (and accusing the dog of all sorts of evil things!) Now you can cheat a bit here! Elsewhere in this section is a small story on defrosting whilst your fridge is still running! This works well with this system and if your fridge is 150 litre or above you leave everything inside. The photo at above right is the new flue vent. This is also handy if you want to run solar through your roof without drilling more holes. The flues are made by Electrolux and are a fairly simple plastic moulding. If you hit something it is easily removed by undoing four screws. Camec sold a similar unit a couple of years ago, but in a recent email they advise that it has been dropped. There is not a lot of room to add booster fans, but we suggest you give the new system a good trial before adding anything. You might be very pleasantly suprised as on ours you NEVER need to run it above a thermostat setting of "2" otherwise everything inside freezes! If you must add a fan try using a 4" poly pipe coming up through the floor and mount the fan inside. When travelling in dusty areas simply screw on a standard 4" cap (same set up as annex pole carriers found on many caravans)