Strange roof attachment

[Re-Pete]

Do any of you Excella owners recognize this? I thought it was PO installed, but it was installed with buck rivets, so now I'm thinking oem.

[Burnside Bob]

OEM.

It is a wind deflector for the thru-the-roof gas refrigerator vent. Doesn't let a cross wind impair ventilation of exhaust gases from refer roof vent when operating refer on propane.

Your installation seems unusual in that the deflector is offset from the refer vent. On our two trailers the deflector is side by side with refer vent.

[AlinCal]

Mine is directly in line above the refer vent and my thought was it's a rain gutter to keep excess water away from the vent.
It sits between the AC unit and the refer vent and can't see how it would effect or influence the wind?

[Re-Pete]

Thanks guys, this makes sense. A PO had beefed this up with a thicker piece of angled aluminum and mounted a cell phone signal enhancer (old) which I removed a few years ago. I'm removing and replacing most of the items on my roof and I always thought a PO had installed this for this to attach their phone antenna. Only the other day did I first realise this must have been factory installed. I'm going back with a DC compressor refrigerator so I won't need the wind protection. The high curb beneath the cover has always handled rain flow and this strip was not located beside my vent anyway. I probably won't reinstall it. Thanks for enlightening me.

[Burnside Bob]

Hi Re-Pete and AlinCal:

I don't remember where I read about the function of the air deflector--possibly in the owner or parts manuals for our 1973.

According to the parts manual for our 2009 Flying Cloud, page I-24, this item is part number 104948 and is described as "Air deflector, between roof A/C and refrigerator".

Unfortunately no schematic is given of the roof component lay out in the 2009 parts manual. The refer vent and cover are on a different page, IV-44.

One difference between the 1973 manuals and the 2009 manuals was extensive explanation of some features/functions and maintenance procedures in the 1973's. The 1973 parts manual was actually titled "Service Manual" even tho most of its contents were parts lists and schematics like today's Parts Manual.

[voxmaestro]

That deflector between the a/c and the refrigerator vent is so the refrigerator will properly convect air from the refrigerator coils without incurring interference from turbulence created by air movement from an operating roof air unit.

Without it, the standard gas/electric refrigerator would not cool as well when running the roof air, especially on the high speed.

[Re-Pete]

After I posted this thread, and learning what it was for, I ended up removing the air deflector. Then realizing I no longer needed a roof vent for the fridge I took that out as well and patched the giant hole it left. This allowed me to add two extra 100W solar panels. I ended up installing mounting that will allow me to install 800W of roof top solar.