cooking with the roof down

Andrew Southall · Dec 15, 2012

Hello,

My wife and I are seriously considering a new or nearly new California and trying to learn as much as possible before signing up. On a visit to the VW showroom my wife noticed that the cooker has a sticker on it saying that it can only be used with the roof up. The salesman gave us the party line on it and I do understand why they would say that ( heat / fire risk / liability etc) but does anyone use the cooker with the roof down? To have to raise the roof (!) for every cup of tea would effect the way we used the van quite a lot I think.

Thanks for this

Andrew

calikev · Dec 15, 2012

Hi Andrew and welcome along
The answer is no you do not have to put the roof up every time you cook or make tea.
The only warning I would give is make sure the pot or pan on the ring nearest the sink is not to big as mine melted the washing up bowl. Apart from that no problems :thumb

Andresz · Dec 15, 2012

Go for a Polyroof

, no dilemma then

CaliforniaDAN · Dec 15, 2012

If you cook with the roof down you can get splashes onto the roof fabric particularly when frying!

Learnt the lesson about the plastic bowl the hard way

Andrew Southall · Dec 15, 2012

Thanks all, that's reassuring and good tip about the washing up bowl. I can see how easy it would be to do that.

We will continue with the exhaustive research (a dubious habit leaned early, so no inevitable)

Andrew

choplee · Dec 15, 2012

Crack open that side window, so the steam and fumes can escape

viking · Dec 15, 2012

I agree with Calikev but if you're cooking a 'meal' for two or more and definitely if your frying we always have the roof up. For a start it's easier cooking standing up and the gases can exit via the two small vents in the top corners. It's also a good idea to open one or both of the canvas windows. But for brew ups and even hot snacks like beans on toast etc you don't need to raise the roof and like Choplee says crack open the window near the sink.

ChrisandPenney52 · Dec 16, 2012

Our '08 says 'The ventilaions (windows, roof hatch etc.) must be open'. I've always read this as either/or.

I had a habitation check done last year, and the guy who did it said that strictly speaking the Cali should have some permanent ventilation for cooking. As Viking says, when the roof is up there are the vents at the top of the front corners of the canvas , so the requirement is met.

Practically speaking, we cook with the roof down when we have to, but then always open a window - normally the sliding door window so there are no strong drafts around the cooker

Meoncoast · Dec 16, 2012

We also use the cooker with roof down, nothing that spits fat and always open at least one of the slidding windows

Andrew Southall · Dec 18, 2012

Thanks again for all the input... I keep thinking of new questions but in most cases, someone has already asked what I want to know and there is a thread on it here, so thanks for all those answers too... and since I am on greetings etc: Happy Christmas & New Year!

Andrew