AROUND-OZ MOTORHOMES

Freeway Review - continued . . .

The Kitchen - a woman's perspective

Generally bearing in mind the size of the Freeway, this is hard to fault in its layout. Whilst very compact with little bench space - you only have the stove top, sink and drainer - the correct sized glass cutting board fits perfectly into the sink as a work area extension of the drainer area. We have noticed later production models come with a wooden sink top. The four burner Electrolux Spinflow stove is excellent and the griller casing a breeze to clean. In our unit, there is more space at the left hand end of the one piece stove/sink/drainer unit than the right. This makes it harder to clean at the right hand end - positioning the unit centrally would be easy at time of manufacture. We have fitted the optional glass cover for the stove top ourselves. This is a one piece affair and far better than the split type that break easily in the hands of the inexperienced. The part is a stock item and costs around $100.00. We ordered ours through an accessory store as you cannot buy directly from Electrolux. Fitting is a breeze. All you do is line the rear hinges up tight with the back of the stove and mark the four holes with say a pointed screwdriver. Lift off and drill four say 3/32 holes. The screws are supplied. Best to put a smidgen of soap on each one as it is pretty tough plywood used on the sink top. We have fitted a neat slip on cover to keep it looking neat and shiny. We strongly suggest all owners fit a lid as it does wonders for increasing bench space. We have fitted a cloth cover to protect the glass top, but this is not an essential item. Both the photos below show the accessory cover.

WARNING:- Be extremely careful not to lower the glass top with the gas still running (above left). On low, you really can't see any flame. Best to physically check that each burner is fully off before lowering. The two cupboards overhead fit in well with the Jensen exhaust fan/light combination. A divider between the inside of the two cupboards would be helpful, as depending on where you pack what, things tend to slide from left to right in cupboards. We have done this work ourselves - it makes a huge difference. Notice on the photo below how the curtains can easily hang over the edge. In our view this is not really desirable near a cooktop and could be a slight fire hazard.

The underneath cupboards include a large drawer which will fit a cutlery tray and still leave room for those necessary utensils such as can opener, masher, big knives, egg lifter, etc. We fitted MagicGrip rubberised matting to most cupboards to protect the lovely timber insides. You can, of course, fit another smaller drawer above this directly under the sink. Of course, the drain does get in the way, but there are ways around this. Of course, if Spinflo located the drain right at the rear of the sink this wouldn't be a problem. We have seen this done on A'van campers for instance in another brand of sink.

There are three other doors, one being a big slide out drawer, probably designed for pots and pans, but our tinned and packet food, tea and coffee etc. now resides there. It is much easier to see what you have in stock rather than sitting on the floor digging to the back of the other cupboards. A very strong recommendation would be for all these lower shelves to be slide out drawers - bearing in mind that most of us are in the over 50's category and few don't have bad backs or knees, hence bending to get to the back of the cupboards isn't really easy.

Finish wise it is hard to fault it as the construction of the draws is all plywood with strengthened corners, and all have metal runners - a delight to use. Runners are all steel and good quality.

The Electrolux RM2330 90 litre 3 way fridge, has a good sized freezer - easily takes in our case four packets of frozen vegies with room for a packet of Weiss mango bars! The little tray sits margarine or butter two high with ease. The two smaller trays on the door fit most sized jars, cheese, eggs very comfortably, whilst we fit Rex's 1 litre custard, happy hour wine or port, and two bottles for cold water. With the rest of the three shelves we could fit heaps of fruit and fresh salad vegies, cold meat etc. Only one problem, the fridge definitely only operates to cooling capacity when the motor home is fairly level.

Kitchen rating as supplied - 8.5 out of 10

Comments on Electrolux as supplied - mods

We are going to look at fitting external condenser fans to give it a bit of a hand plus increase the cable size to 6mm on 12 volt. Our previous Electrolux from another manufacturer used to get down to minus 2 all through Queensland summers. When the Winnebago was delivered in November 2001, it was running at a totally unacceptable 12 degrees. Food easily spoils at this high temperature. As supplied there is a real danger of flattening the house battery if you forget to switch to gas when stationary. We simply fitted a normally open 30 amp relay activated by the ignition. There were faults with the fridge and the installation. We took it to Electrolux direct and they were fantastic! They popped out the fridge in 10 minutes and then placed it in a 33 degree room for a week. It had so many wires coming off it you would think it was on life support! The top seals were leaking and this was fixed simply by waving a hot air dryer along the top - a fantastic trick well worth remembering. We would point out that this was an Electrolux problem and Winnebago QC would have been hard pressed to detect it.

Very well made cavity for the Electrolux

Electrolux pointed out that a baffle should be fitted right along the top, insulation should be fitted inside the cavity and then sealed by poking more insulation into all gaps. This is easier said than done as there isn't much access from the rear via the vents. Looking at the photo above you can see that the cavity is very well made and very strong - like the base is thick 5 ply! Sadly this 2001 model doesn't even remotely comply with the Electrolux fitting instructions. There is absolutely zero insulation and no attempt has been made to seal the rear, and there is no sign of a baffle. If you stored a chocolate in the wardrobe it would be "liquid" in 30 minutes! To us this is just not acceptable even in a "budget" model, as it is such a fundamental requirement. We have not checked other Freeways just yet so this could just be a "forgot" on this particular motorhome. Rather than go into a warranty battle with Winnebago (plus it's a long way to Sydney!) we are having this fixed as it is not hard to do. They also suggested fitting 12 volt computer fans. A good suggestion was to use 24 volt as these run slightly slower, but make less noise if you are a light sleeper. As we write this we are parked next to a Jayco at Moonee Beach NSW, where the owner has fitted an ex-Telstra phone exchange 240 volt extractor fan to the top of the vent. The noise is dreadful - so please keep this in mind! He can get his fridge down to an astounding minus 10 degrees and it is a very old fridge! We will be setting ours up using a small dedicated non-regulated solar panel - no need for a switch as it won't run at night.

Electrolux mentioned that after 20 years new models are on the way (RM2350). One major change is increasing the 12 volt battery element rating by 30 watts. This will result in a draw of around 12 amps. Let's all hope that they increase the insulation to cope with the Australian tropics, as at present it is a little BELOW what is required. This is why you get so much day/night variation. You should NOT have to fiddle around turning down the "pretend" thermostat each night to stop all your fruit etc. going hard as rocks. Oh by the way, on the test bed with 33 degrees day in, day out it maintained 5 degrees. This is only just acceptable as the recommended temperature for storing milk is maximum 4 degrees . The readings were taken BEFORE they fixed the seals. Just for the record we wouldn't have anything else but a gas fridge simply because of the reliability and ease of carrying fuel.

UPDATE: Fantastic news - Winnebago are fitting the new tropicalised models in late 2002 and all 2003 models. We have had first hand experience on these and yes they work BETTER than one could ever dream! (December 2002)

Absolutely superb attention to detail where you don't see it!

The photo on the right above shows the excellent attention to detail on a part of the cabinetry not even seen unless the fridge is removed - great stuff Winnebago! The location of the hot water service gives the fridge a really hard time on really hot days and is why we got such a high reading. All you need is a bit of insulation in this wall. Maybe Winnebago could think about moving the HWS to the rear end of the locker? It is worth noting that starting in the 2001 Leisure Seeker range Winnebago have the best Electrolux venting installation in the industry. They are fitting an overhead exhaust system - it is basically a special flue that exits on the roof. Rather oddly, their marketing department haven't picked up on this as it is NOT mentioned in any brochure or on their website. Dealers also seem to know zilch on this excellent development. It has also got other hidden advantages - a great way to get aerial, phone and solar leads through your roof without risking another potential leak point.

Another problem we had was with the top plastic external vent distorting badly. We have never had this problem before and have had several Electrolux products (8 in all). They simply replaced the assembly - as usual, with no quibbles The Brisbane Electrolux team out at Brendale consists of Peter, Jamie, Chris and Dianne. All fantastically helpful people and a pleasure to deal with as nothing is too much trouble, and their delivery times are very reliable. It is a huge complex and the service offered leaves nothing to be desired, and access is very motorhome friendly and fast service, but please remember that they will need to have your fridge several days to test it. You do not need to leave your motorhome. They do remove and replace it for free if it is under warranty.

The most fascinating thing we learned from Electrolux was you can add a Danfoss compressor driven mechanism directly on top of the existing evaporator. Now this is really exciting as you get the best of all worlds. In Victoria and NSW use the gas all the time. In the tropics use the 12 volt Danfoss on its own or to supplement the gas. Fantastic for long periods of rain with zero sun for days, as you then revert back to gas. We are certainly going to explore this excellent approach despite its higher cost. A very good place to buy Danfoss compressors and get sound refrigeration advice is out at Solar Panel Xpress in Queensland.