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Dust ingress


Michael J

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I have indeed checked around the door posts and all seems OK. I have sealed the vents on the door but was more concerned with the fridge vents (seeing as it is 12v all the time, and of course the water heater vents. Would not like to seal them up to find a problem later on;((

Michael

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but was more concerned with the fridge vents (seeing as it is 12v all the time, and of course the water heater vents. Would not like to seal them up to find a problem later on;((

Michael

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'Evening John,

I replied about 30 mins ago but it has vanished....Oh dear..

Anyway, to paraphrase what I wrote.... I was concerned about dust getting into the van through the drivers side vents for the water heater and the fridge. On reflection, the water heater area would not/should not be a problem however I thought that the fridge, being on 12v and 24x7 could suffer if ventilation was compromised...hence my initial post.

I have sourced some A/C filter and made up sections to fit the vents when we are on dusty/dusty roads. Guess it is just a matter of taking them out every night and washing then replacing in the morning. Trial and error I guess.

Will advise here if successful or not when we get back;)))

Thank your for your time

Cheers

Michael

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  • 3 months later...

Michael

I'd be wary covering the fridge vents in any way. If you have a Vitrifrigio (with the compressor at the bottom) as we do, the bottom external vent needs to be able to get rid of the heat 7/24, hence the openable external door when camped, especially in hot weather. If you have the Waeco, with vent only at the top (no bottom vent), you won't have much of a dust issue anyway as the vent's well above and out of the way of the dust coming off the van wheels.

We don't cover any of the fridge vents or the HWS vent, just the entry door vent with a piece of foam between the two doors. Like Tolley, we tap the dust off the tug aircleaner each day and brush out or vacuum inside the fridge and HWS vents when we can, and after each trip. IMO most of the (little) amount of dust we get inside the van comes in through the entry door seals as noted above, but mainly through the windows which tend to rattle on rough roads. Either way its not a problem for us. As Tony notes above, vans with the rear kitchen seem to suffer a bit more than those with less windows and vents in the rear wall - i.e. dust seems to be mostly sucked up the back of the van.

Enjoy your Kedron and the KOG community. They're a great bunch as you'll find when you meet them out on the road.

Regards, Andrew.

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Good evening to all Kedron peoples, and anyone else reading.



After posting a somewhat inciting initial post, and honestly it was not my intention to do so, we are back from our first sojourn in our Kedron and, for what it is worth, would like to


put ‘pen to paper’ regarding our trip.



Travelled from South Australia to Broken Hill initially, just to reminisce as we lived there for 5 years. The CP as you approach BH from Adelaide is just adequate –IMHO



Anyway we toodled off to WCA but decided to turn left towards Tilpa and Louth instead of viewing the WCA historic buildings.



Tremendous history on this track and we had a ball…quite a bit of dust too.



Without boring youse lot, we made our way via devious means, to Brisbane to get the van serviced……………and it was done with minimum of fuss, and a great deal of care. I had expected nothing less to be honest. Another good reason to choose a Kedron.



Sapphires found at Sapphire and gold found at Clermont………good stories attached to both experiences.



Long story short, we tracked up to Undala and then across the Savannah Way through to Karumba. Turned around and made our way to Adels Grove –via an odd night or two;))



We had intended to go West, but circumstances have put that trip off until next year…anyway we took the dirt track direct from Adels Grove to Camooweal.



It was mainly tar until Glendambo, when we turned right and travelled down the dirt to Wirrulla. We then turned to Ceduna and then followed the coast road to Whyalla, visiting all the little bays on the way…….and fishing of course!!



Stayed with mum at Whyalla for a couple of days and then travelled back home.



To summarise…an enormous experience. Our van more than lived up to our expectations.


It was a tad rough in places, we lost two Kedron hub caps and one off the F250. The corrugations were so rough in places that we sheared off a spot light from the bull bar.


We also lost the anderson plug from the F250 to the caravan…….just ripped off;((



Anyway, for those that have stayed with us thus far, 10,000+kms, heaps of dirt/corrugated/dusty roads. The F250 took it all in its stride and returned good figures too. Good caravan parks, some not so good but heaps of


good free camping areas……….met some magnificent people too (have stayed in touch with a beaut couple –on the road full time, and with a ‘Bushtracker”)



Anyway peoples, again my apologies for my initial post. I will add that dust was not a problem. We used air conditioner pads between the flyscreen and outer door, also between the doors on the fridge and the water heater. All good. Hardly a spec of dust in the van,


Gill was more than impressed, me too. Did have problems with the drawer catches vibrating loose, guess a touch of ‘lock-tight’ will fix it..


If I can provide any info at all that may be of interest please let me know.



At this time we are planning for a trip from SA up to Darwin then across the West (GRR and Kimberly) –plus some gold detecting as an aside…….)))))) OH yessss bring it on…




Regards


MJ


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Hi Michael & Gill,


Great report....very happy to hear your van is performing well for you. And your 'learning' new skills in living & loving life with a quality product.


I'm looking forward to reading more input from your Kedron experiences in the future.



CU down the road


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Hi Michael & Gill,



Very good to see that you're out and about off the "beaten track" and enjoying yourselves


.


The drawer catches on most vans are only made of plastic and will ocassionally, over a bit of off road bumping, fracture. This then allows the drawer to slide out onto the floor. We've got into the habit of removing our heavy drawers and placing them on the bed ,before a coming rough trip.


Even though the large plastic nut can be held in place with sic aflex(to stop it turning) the back of the catch will crack. I have strengthened the catches by screwing(before they break) a piece of plastic strapping across the back of the catch & fastened by two wood screws. Kedron was good enough to give us a couple of spares if they do break.


.


If you happen to have any dust entering your hot water cabinet, check to see that it's not entering via the cabling condute coming along under your van from the batteries. This is a split condute and dust can enter it anywhere along it's length and be channelled into the cabinet. Sealing the cabinet end of the condute with sicaflex will stop the dust. We also always leave the waste plugs in the shower & handbasin.This will stop any dust while travelling as well as any crawling things from coming up when camped .



Good luck for the new year and see you on the road one day.



Ted & Hermy Mackedie


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Hi Maree and Peter

Over a year ago, I raised pressurising the van as a way of preventing or reducing dust ingress however, there was little or no interest in the method. I had seen a custom-built van with an air cleaner on it and the owner explained a bilge venting fan was used to suck through the air cleaner and into the van to pressurise it. It worked a treat for him and see no reason why it would not be a viable and permanent method of stopping the dreaded dust coming in, as an alternative to taping up vents, and using foam etc etc etc. The bilge fans draw very little electricity.

Regards

Barry

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It was good to hear your recent trip was such a success, Michael. You certainly covered a lot of territory and some interesting places. We look forward to the next edition!

Chris

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Hi Michael & Gill,

Very good to see that you're out and about off the "beaten track" and enjoying yourselves

.

The drawer catches on most vans are only made of plastic and will ocassionally, over a bit of off road bumping, fracture. This then allows the drawer to slide out onto the floor. We've got into the habit of removing our heavy drawers and placing them on the bed ,before a coming rough trip.

Even though the large plastic nut can be held in place with sic aflex(to stop it turning) the back of the catch will crack. I have strengthened the catches by screwing(before they break) a piece of plastic strapping across the back of the catch & fastened by two wood screws. Kedron was good enough to give us a couple of spares if they do break.

.

If you happen to have any dust entering your hot water cabinet, check to see that it's not entering via the cabling condute coming along under your van from the batteries. This is a split condute and dust can enter it anywhere along it's length and be channelled into the cabinet. Sealing the cabinet end of the condute with sicaflex will stop the dust. We also always leave the waste plugs in the shower & handbasin.This will stop any dust while travelling as well as any crawling things from coming up when camped .

Good luck for the new year and see you on the road one day.

Ted & Hermy Mackedie

G'day Ted and Hermy,

Tks for taking the time to reply with a heap of good information. Your comments regarding the catches on drawers and cupboards was most interesting. I have spent a heap of time adjusting and tightening all the catches since we got back. Looks like I need to make some alterations too;(((

I am about to spend time under the van with a view to finding any holes that may let dust in and you comments make for a great starting base.

Yep, was dusty and corrugated but about what I expected and yes the van lived up to our expectations.

Kind regards and have a great year travelling.

MJ

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Hi Maree and Peter

Over a year ago, I raised pressurising the van as a way of preventing or reducing dust ingress however, there was little or no interest in the method. I had seen a custom-built van with an air cleaner on it and the owner explained a bilge venting fan was used to suck through the air cleaner and into the van to pressurise it. It worked a treat for him and see no reason why it would not be a viable and permanent method of stopping the dreaded dust coming in, as an alternative to taping up vents, and using foam etc etc etc. The bilge fans draw very little electricity.

Regards

Barry

Hi Barry,

Your idea of pressurising the van indeed has heaps of merit. I too have seen campers/small vans that have been pressurised. Most, if not all, have been home made and appear to work well. Guess it is about cost v benefit to the manufacturer.

Must say that the amount of dust in our van was minimal considering where we went.

Like most things in life I guess, gotta put up with some small inconveniences to enjoy the majority of what life has to offer..

Regards

MJ

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MJ, thanks for the interesting report. Makes me itch to get out there again.



Drawer latches. I have simply run a line of silicon from the wood, across the "nut" that vibrates lose and onto the body of the latch. Works for me. The silicon is easily removed if the need arises.



Regards


Colin


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MJ, thanks for the interesting report. Makes me itch to get out there again.

Drawer latches. I have simply run a line of silicon from the wood, across the "nut" that vibrates lose and onto the body of the latch. Works for me. The silicon is easily removed if the need arises.

Regards

Colin

Hi Colin,

Tks, I was thinking along the same lines but Ted has added another part to the equation. Guess I will probably try the easy fix first..;((

Our planned trip for this year will test it...

MJ

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