There are some design flaws in this unit that I’ve stumble upon during these about two years owning the thing. – As the Mökkönen has been used only as a summer cupboard and for random stay overs many of the flaws haven’t bothered that much, until now.

As I’ve not been here for longer periods of time the water tank has been mainly empty. It has been more convenient to bring the water and drinks needed with me in bottles and cans, than filling the water tank of the Mökkönen. – And also in the previous winters I have not have had to keep the place warm everyday cause in here was nothing that would suffer from sub-zero temperatures and freezing.

But now things have changed as I live here and the first issue that I needed to address was the freezing water pipes and the cold draft coming from the cupboard that houses the gas-electric fridge.

As the fridge also works on gas (LPG, a mixture of butane and propane) the cupboard housing the fridge needs a good ventilation because of the heat it generates when in operation on gas.

To keep the air flowing and the heat generated by the gas flame cooling the fridge not heating up the inside of the cupboard too much, there are two holes through the wall.

The problem and flaw is that there is no way of closing these ventilation holes when not using the fridge on gas. – This again causes cold air flow in freely. Not an issue when outside temperatures are above +0 decree Celsius. But when the temperature outside drops below about -5 decree Celsius the temperature inside of the cupboard housing the fridge will also drop below zero decrees Celsius.

When looking into another cupboard to the left of the fridge, one can see that the water pipes run through and under the fridge cupboard to the right, as the water tank and water pump and water heater (Truma) are located in a next cupboard to right from the fridge. – And as there are open holes from this cupboard to the one in right where the fridge is and there are open holes from the fridge cupboard to the outside, it will get very cold in here also.

But the main problem was that as the ventilation holes were open and there was no way of closing those holes, my food started to freeze in the fridge even when the fridge was not turned on and the water pipes to the sink and hose above froze over.

Using the fridge on electricity won’t generate enough heat to counter the amount of cold air flowing in from the ventilation holes to prevent the freezing to happen. – And one can also feel the draft coming from the cupboards when standing near of the sink and fridge or sitting on the floor staring into the flames of the wooden stove opposite of the sink and fridge.

So for this winter, as I know that I will not be using the gas to cool down my fridge, I stuffed the ventilation holes with mineral wool to prevent the cold getting in from there and freezing up my water pipes and foodstuff again.

In the future I need to consult the maker of this tiny house if they have any tips about how to use this in the winter time when it gets really cold outside and one needs gas to run the fridge, maybe in a some off-grid location, etc. Or if there is an easy solution to install some mechanism that can be opened and closed from the inside for the ventilation holes.

I think this will be enough to prevent the cupboard dropping below zero temps and things freezing over in the inside. 🙂