Hello all this topic has probably been discussed in the past but has anyone got any experience, good or bad on keeping dust out of your van utilising technology eg internal positive pressure systems. Thanks for any feedback. Cheers Gumpo
Wanda said
10:24 AM Jan 19, 2022
The one that seems to get good feedback is the CaraFan, I think from Perth, not cheap but works, fan assisted as the name suggests.
The other is the relatively new one that Dometic released a couple of years back but this does not have the electric fan but works on air being forced in with the speed of the vehicle.(filtered)
The other is the standard cheap scupper vent, again it works as the vehicle increases speed, very small but can help!
Good luck, a lot depends on, 1: how much dirt travel you do and 2: the "type" of dirt roads and corrigation you travel on, it makes a huge difference the surface of the road!!
Ian
erad said
12:55 PM Jan 19, 2022
A fan is the ideal way to pressurise the interior of a caravan. Exactly where you put it is another matter - I would tend to put it on the roof of the van to minimise dust being pumped into the van.
In 2001, we went from Gladstone Qld to Tiboorburra NSW with our newish new Jayco poptop caravan. Prior to this trip we had done a quick trip and one stage was a dusty gravel road. Dust had entered the van via the low level vent in the door, risen up and exited via a high level vent beside the door. At least 10% 0f the dust had exited. The rest 90% was inside. Wife was decidedly unhappy.
I looked at the problem and decided that dust was entering via the lower vent in the door, so the obvious thing was to block that off. I got a piece of foam carpet underlay and fitted it between the inner and outer parts of the door, covering the vent. No other measures were taken. On our trip, once we left Noccundra, it was all dust. Over 200 km of it. At times we could not see the caravan at all in the mirrors. Needless to say, the foam was in place in the door. When we reached Tiboorburra, we opened the van up and there was a small amount of dust under one of the beds at the rear, and a fine layer of dust elsewhere, but otherwise it was clean. Others in the park were amazed at how clean it was. We had no scupper vent at that stage either (subsequently fitted one, but as yet have never used it). Beside the fridge, there is a large hole where cables and plugs were fed through to the underside of a couch. We had previously stuffed plastic bags into that hole to fill up the gap, and very little dust entered that area.
The door vent is designed and located to allow any leaked gas to escape rather than pool up inside the van (LPG is heavier than air). It is critical that this vent be open to drain any LPG or heavier than air (carbon monoxide is also heavier than air) outside. So the carpet underlay MUST be removed as soon as it is not required, and in any event certainly when you are accessing the interior of the van. We keep the piece of carpet underlay under the seat beside the door so if we run into gravel, it is easy to stop, open the door, open the screen door and insert the foam. Foam is really good because it is 'Squishable' ie it is soft enough to deform around the frame of the vent and seal it. A hard piece of board etc will not seal. Just remember to remove the seal when it is not needed.
-- Edited by erad on Wednesday 19th of January 2022 12:57:22 PM
Gumpo said
11:43 AM Jan 20, 2022
Thank you both for your input , much appreciated. The person we bought the van off recommended he blocked all areas of the van that would ingest dust with a piece of cardboard and gaffa tape and it worked well. Not sure if that is practical but maybe it is . Once again thanks
PeterD said
01:02 PM Jan 20, 2022
Did he block off the permanent ventilation that is required under the gas regulations? (All vans with gas appliances must have permanent ventilation. There must be one near the bottom of the van, usually in the door, and one at the top of the opposite wall or in the roof.)
Bobdown said
01:33 PM Jan 20, 2022
We have the scupper and find it works okay, not sure about the Dometic one but was told they okay too.
We temp block off vents if doing more than 5-10k of gravel, otherwise we just take it easy.
I must say with a front door, (in front of the vans wheels) you only have mainly the Tugs dust to deal with, rather than a rear door copping it from the vans wheels as well.
Cheers Bob
yobarr said
02:33 PM Jan 20, 2022
Gumpo wrote:
Hello all this topic has probably been discussed in the past but has anyone got any experience, good or bad on keeping dust out of your van utilising technology eg internal positive pressure systems. Thanks for any feedback. Cheers Gumpo
No time to post ,but this is what I did.NO dust gets into the van,and I've done thousands of kilometres on dirt roads and bulldust.Cheers
-- Edited by yobarr on Thursday 20th of January 2022 07:23:45 PM
The other is the relatively new one that Dometic released a couple of years back but this does not have the electric fan but works on air being forced in with the speed of the vehicle.(filtered)
The other is the standard cheap scupper vent, again it works as the vehicle increases speed, very small but can help!
Good luck, a lot depends on, 1: how much dirt travel you do and 2: the "type" of dirt roads and corrigation you travel on, it makes a huge difference the surface of the road!!
Ian
A fan is the ideal way to pressurise the interior of a caravan. Exactly where you put it is another matter - I would tend to put it on the roof of the van to minimise dust being pumped into the van.
In 2001, we went from Gladstone Qld to Tiboorburra NSW with our newish new Jayco poptop caravan. Prior to this trip we had done a quick trip and one stage was a dusty gravel road. Dust had entered the van via the low level vent in the door, risen up and exited via a high level vent beside the door. At least 10% 0f the dust had exited. The rest 90% was inside. Wife was decidedly unhappy.
I looked at the problem and decided that dust was entering via the lower vent in the door, so the obvious thing was to block that off. I got a piece of foam carpet underlay and fitted it between the inner and outer parts of the door, covering the vent. No other measures were taken. On our trip, once we left Noccundra, it was all dust. Over 200 km of it. At times we could not see the caravan at all in the mirrors. Needless to say, the foam was in place in the door. When we reached Tiboorburra, we opened the van up and there was a small amount of dust under one of the beds at the rear, and a fine layer of dust elsewhere, but otherwise it was clean. Others in the park were amazed at how clean it was. We had no scupper vent at that stage either (subsequently fitted one, but as yet have never used it). Beside the fridge, there is a large hole where cables and plugs were fed through to the underside of a couch. We had previously stuffed plastic bags into that hole to fill up the gap, and very little dust entered that area.
The door vent is designed and located to allow any leaked gas to escape rather than pool up inside the van (LPG is heavier than air). It is critical that this vent be open to drain any LPG or heavier than air (carbon monoxide is also heavier than air) outside. So the carpet underlay MUST be removed as soon as it is not required, and in any event certainly when you are accessing the interior of the van. We keep the piece of carpet underlay under the seat beside the door so if we run into gravel, it is easy to stop, open the door, open the screen door and insert the foam. Foam is really good because it is 'Squishable' ie it is soft enough to deform around the frame of the vent and seal it. A hard piece of board etc will not seal. Just remember to remove the seal when it is not needed.
-- Edited by erad on Wednesday 19th of January 2022 12:57:22 PM
We have the scupper and find it works okay, not sure about the Dometic one but was told they okay too.
We temp block off vents if doing more than 5-10k of gravel, otherwise we just take it easy.
I must say with a front door, (in front of the vans wheels) you only have mainly the Tugs dust to deal with, rather than a rear door copping it from the vans wheels as well.
Cheers Bob
No time to post ,but this is what I did.NO dust gets into the van,and I've done thousands of kilometres on dirt roads and bulldust.Cheers
-- Edited by yobarr on Thursday 20th of January 2022 07:23:45 PM