So, I've been trying to understand why the fridge on my new 410 is pants when running on gas.

Reason 1 is that the door doesn't shut properly unless you use the travel latch. If just pushed closed the door seal has a gap around the top corner - quality fitting that.

Reason 2 I think has to be the - to me - mad arrangement for venting the flue. It seems that the flue just vents into the void behind the fridge rather than having the tube lead out to a vent in the cover as I think it used to in the good old days. The heat build up is just huge, the gas pipes running through there to the rings get hot, everything gets hot. In 2 hours it has gone from 20C down to 15C - and it's just a lovely fresh summers day. Plonking a battery powered fan from Lidl in the hole helped to extract some heat but it does seem daft

The other thing that bothers me is that I assume the flue is venting CO from the burner - in which gas the gases will just come straight back in through the kitchen window. Also, wouldn't it be a problem if you had an awning side fridge?

Sadly, dreams of being able to off-grid with his van are fading by the minute...........

Robin, your fridge is classed as a 'room-sealed appliance' and as such, if installed according to the manufacturer's instructions, is quite safe to use.

An annual caravan/motorhome service should include a CO room test, where all such appliances are lit and a 30 minute test is carried out to ensure there's no noxious (or obnoxious ) leakages into the habitation area.

I mean, the last thing you want happen when on your hols is to wake up dead

The CO is a relatively minor point as I assume that all the relevant regs would have been complied with during construction - my observations there were more of a by-product than anything else. The chemical / plastic smell alone coming from the vent would be enough for me to not want that any where near an awning.

Primary concern is simply that the new layout seems to be contrary to any basic common sense approach to managing heat dispersal in a heat driven system. I'm going to take a wild stab at assuming the finned pipe next to the flue is for cooling rather than heating. If so it is doomed to failure as the heat created by the flue - and blocked into the cavity - is probably soaking back into the system via the fins. I had considered retrofitting the transfer pipe and earlier external cover, but the angle of the flue is offset and would not match up with the cover.

I suppose I'm just sad as I cannot see how it is supposed to work and so far on my van - it just hasn't. Perhaps I expect too much, but 4 or 5 hours later I'm still only down to 9C - at huge cost in gas and no sense of confidence in keeping anything food related cool in there. The ice box is - granted - very cold, but that's about it. The fins themselves are just cool - not in a good way.