What is this vent?

melpeter

And can I cover it with stuff? It’s in the storage beneath my refrigerator. 2017 Tab 320S

Sharon_is_SAM

Best to not cover that vent.  It helps dissipate heat from the frig.

melpeter

Ok. There’s also a big vent on the outside by the front door that runs all the time when the fridge is on. That’s why I didn’t think it was for the fridge. 

dragonsdofly

@melpeter, that vent helps intake cooler exterior air into the cabinet surrounding the fridge. The door side vent you are talking about expels hot air from the cabinet created by the cooling action of the fins inside that cabinet. There is an auxiliary fan in the side vent for this purpose. That's what you hear running in the side vent. There had been an issue before with having a very hot countertop. The auxiliary fan was added in the side vent to help correct the issue, but, if you exhaust the hot air, you have to intake cooler air from somewhere. Thus the floor vent. Newer t@bs have a different model fridge and different vent system, so you see 2 door side vents.

pthomas745

I can't see how that vent can "intake" anything.  The entire cabinet under the fridge is completely ventilated all around the Norcold, and there are numerous cables and hoses that penetrate the shelf the fridge rests on and the walls around it.

Homebodyatheart

@pthomas745 that’s an older model Tab, pre late 2016. Different model years have different setups depending on NuCamp upgrades. 

pthomas745

Mine is a 2017 and it has a vent like it.  With the Norcold's manual fan, and the automatic fan, I just don't see that little vent doing much to help.  My counter gets a little warm, but nothing close to the "melt butter" range.  In the interest of science, I'm bringing along a little battery operated fan on my next trip (hopefully, next week).  I'll see if driving some air in there does anything to keep the automatic fan from kicking in.

Do the newer Tab's with 3 way fridges have this mystery vent?

Homebodyatheart

@pthomas745 no. My 2017 320S must be the next model after yours as I don’t have the under vent, do have the reconfigured three way Norcold with fins on the right, no front outside vents but two rectangular outside vents by the door. I also have a cool counter no matter the fridge setting. I read lots of older posts waiting for my Tab delivery that talked about some people finding water in that lower cabinet after towing in heavy rain. I really love my setup!