Baffle

leggings

leggings

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Apr 10, 2018
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Since 2010
Anyone know where the fridge baffle hangs from?

image.jpg
 
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From memory it just hangs down the inside of the chimney. The bent bit just hooks over the top and there is a slot in the upper chimney bit in your photo that allows it to fit over.
 
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It’s for cleaning soot. I used to put a vacuum cleaner at the bottom of the tube and move the “baffle” up and down a few times. Got lots of soot out that way 👍
 
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Itsmcb said:
From memory it just hangs down the inside of the chimney. The bent bit just hooks over the top and there is a slot in the upper chimney bit in your photo that allows it to fit over.
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Thanks for your prompt reply. I’ve just paid my subs and it’s this help that makes it worthwhile.
 
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Badknee said:
It’s for cleaning soot. I used to put a vacuum cleaner at the bottom of the tube and move the “baffle” up and down a few times. Got lots of soot out that way 👍
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Thats a secondary purpose.

'A Flue Baffle is a helical piece of metal that works to slow down and aid the path of exhaust (flue) gases from the burner assembly, causing the gases to swirl on their upward path as they leave the unit and trap the heat as it comes up and transfer it to the generator inside the unit.'

Edited to include missing text :rolleyes:

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From what I can figure out after a great deal of internet/YouTube searching, is that it has to be in a particular position in order to do it’s job, to trap/slow heat near the exchanger.
I thought it just hung in the top about six inches down but from what I can find, it needs to be at the bottom, a measured distance above the flame. I’ve seen 1 and 7/8th inches and 3 inches mentioned.
I’ve got one on order, arriving in the next few days because my flue hasn’t got one, discovered when cleaning.
Whilst our fridge works on gas, it burns almost constantly and uses a lot of gas.
I’ll need a bit more searching to know exactly where it should go but find it odd that some have it and some don’t, on exactly the same model fridge. Maybe the converters are responsible for some being missing.
IMG_0672.png
 
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Hettie's Crew said:
From what I can figure out after a great deal of internet/YouTube searching, is that it has to be in a particular position in order to do it’s job, to trap/slow heat near the exchanger.
I thought it just hung in the top about six inches down but from what I can find, it needs to be at the bottom, a measured distance above the flame. I’ve seen 1 and 7/8th inches and 3 inches mentioned.
I’ve got one on order, arriving in the next few days because my flue hasn’t got one.
Whilst our fridge works on gas, it burns almost constantly and uses a lot of gas.
I’ll need a bit more searching to know exactly where it should go but find it odd that some have it and some don’t, on exactly the same model fridge. Maybe the converters are responsible for some being missing.
View attachment 776276
Click to expand...
There's at least 4 of us on here who got vans without baffles.

Fault of the motorhome maker rather than the fridge company (dealer ended up having to pay)
 
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Baffle arrived today, £20 for this? You can get them a couple of quid cheaper but this from Interspares claimed to be a genuine OE part.
If I’d known the dimensions I would have made one.
So for anyone wanting to make their own, it’s non magnetic metal about 1mm thick, 15mm wide and 120mm long. The wire is copper about <2mm thick like you’d get from some twin and earth electrical cable.
The overall length from the centre of the wire hook to the bottom of the baffle is 260mm.
Our fridge is the Dometic 8 series (RMDT8505)
IMG_0673.jpeg
is 260mm.
 
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Hettie's Crew said:
From what I can figure out after a great deal of internet/YouTube searching, is that it has to be in a particular position in order to do it’s job, to trap/slow heat near the exchanger.
I thought it just hung in the top about six inches down but from what I can find, it needs to be at the bottom, a measured distance above the flame. I’ve seen 1 and 7/8th inches and 3 inches mentioned.
I’ve got one on order, arriving in the next few days because my flue hasn’t got one, discovered when cleaning.
Whilst our fridge works on gas, it burns almost constantly and uses a lot of gas.
I’ll need a bit more searching to know exactly where it should go but find it odd that some have it and some don’t, on exactly the same model fridge. Maybe the converters are responsible for some being missing.
View attachment 776276
Click to expand...
Thanks. I took the baffle out and putting it back it came off the hook and dropped down the damn funnel. Baffled how to get it out again as there’s not much room and it’s a pig to take the fridge out.
 
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leggings said:
Thanks. I took the baffle out and putting it back it came off the hook and dropped down the damn funnel. Baffled how to get it out again as there’s not much room and it’s a pig to take the fridge out.
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It’s easy to remove the burner unit at the bottom and it should just drop out.

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leggings said:
Nothing so easy on this van. Floor is almost immediately under the burner.
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Remove the burner so the baffle drops out as far as it can. Feed some thin flexible wire down from the top until it appears at the bottom. Fix to exposed bit of baffle and pull back up the chimney 👍
 
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Itsmcb said:
Remove the burner so the baffle drops out as far as it can. Feed some thin flexible wire down from the top until it appears at the bottom. Fix to exposed bit of baffle and pull back up the chimney 👍
Click to expand...
That sounds like a good idea I’ll give it a shot.
 
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Hettie's Crew said:
Baffle arrived today, £20 for this? You can get them a couple of quid cheaper but this from Interspares claimed to be a genuine OE part.
If I’d known the dimensions I would have made one.
So for anyone wanting to make their own, it’s non magnetic metal about 1mm thick, 15mm wide and 120mm long. The wire is copper about <2mm thick like you’d get from some twin and earth electrical cable.
The overall length from the centre of the wire hook to the bottom of the baffle is 260mm.
Our fridge is the Dometic 8 series (RMDT8505)
View attachment 776462is 260mm.
Click to expand...
I thought I should put a correction to this. I said the wire was copper like in Twin and Earth cable, well it’s actually coppered wire rather than copper. I cut a piece of electrical T&E, thicker than the supplied wire and it’s much softer. I’m not sure if copper would be suitable in that very hot environment so I’ve bought 1.6mm galvanised wire to use, should I need to lengthen the drop.
I‘ve sent an enquiry to Dometic support regarding the correct position of the baffle. The supplied wire positions it above half way in the flue, nowhere near the heating elements.
Yet all the images I’ve seen show it at the bottom about 2 inches above the flame.
 
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Just a quick comment on its for removing soot.
If you have soot in the chimney your burner is not burning correctly and it is that that requires a clean
 
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That would seem to go against the idea of having fans to promote airflow unless it is accurately directed over the coolant pipe.

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cyberyacht said:
That would seem to go against the idea of having fans to promote airflow unless it is accurately directed over the coolant pipe.
Click to expand...
It slows the heat rising in the flue. It is positioned where the heat needs to transfer to the fridge coolant which will be where the 12v and 230v elements are. If it just went up the flue no cooling would take place. Air flow over the coolant fins helps the cooling.
 
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MontyB said:
The point I am making is that there should be no soot in the flue to clean the gas should burn cleanly
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There will be soot deposits eventually depending on how long since last cleaned, how much it gets used and the quantity of the gas. Dometic and Thetford both recommend flue cleaning because of soot buildup.
The flame should burn nice and blue, as you say but wind blowing in there will cause white flame, try blowing on it when it’s burning.
I’ve just cleaned mine and got soot out, even though the flame burns perfectly blue.
 
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