Small Fridge Fan?

[MACHZER]

Hello, I asked this question on some else's thread and felt like I was hijacking it.

I know I have seen input regarding a small fan to help air movement in the outside of the fridge to help move air and heat up the wall.

What king of fan do I need to use? 12 or 120v ? Computer fan?

Thanks

[mikefos]

Go it, thanks. Went out and looked at the back of the fridge this past weekend. Ordered a fan w/ a thermostat that comes on @ 130 degrees.

[John_Wayne]

Mikefos the 12 volt is there to power the frig. That's why some of us put in an on/off switch for the fans. You should see a power block on the bottom plate of the frig this is where the 12 volts connects to power the refrig. And were you can get the power for the fans.

[CincyGus]

LarryJM wrote:

enblethen wrote:
Here is a link showing how to properly vent a refer. Most installations do not follow installation as recommended by manufacturers.
RV venting

IMO and experience one of the most common problems with almost all refer installs is that baffle at the top of the refer to close off the dead space is missing or inadequate. This causes a "air bubble" of warm air to reduce or prevent heat to properly escape thru the roof resulting in poor cooling. This issue can come and go depending on when/if/how severe this blockage forms.

Larry

I'll second what Larry is saying here. Factory baffling is generally somewhere between inadequate to missing completely. This takes the whole heat will rise through the air tunnel causing cool air to be pulled across the coils process to a crawl. Verifying and fixing or installing baffles is step one, adding a fan either at the top of the vent to pull warm air up or at the bottom to force cool air up over the cooling fins is step two if you want maximum refrig performance. I've done this on both a popup I had and my current TT. Both work wonderfully now, regardless of the temps outside and I never have to turn my frig up to max to keep my freezer stuff frozen and my frig stuff in the high 30's, low 40's.

[LarryJM]

enblethen wrote:
Here is a link showing how to properly vent a refer. Most installations do not follow installation as recommended by manufacturers.
RV venting

IMO and experience one of the most common problems with almost all refer installs is that baffle at the top of the refer to close off the dead space is missing or inadequate. This causes a "air bubble" of warm air to reduce or prevent heat to properly escape thru the roof resulting in poor cooling. This issue can come and go depending on when/if/how severe this blockage forms.

Larry

[mikefos]

If I add a 12v fan, and somehow tap into power in the rear of fridge compartment, does it only come on when running the fridge on electricity, or will it come on when running on propane, too?

Does anybody have any pics or pointers on where to tap into 12v in the rear compartment? Thanks.

[enblethen]

Here is a link showing how to properly vent a refer. Most installations do not follow installation as recommended by manufacturers.
RV venting

[mbopp]

Our fridge is on a slide and has external cooling fans on it from the factory. I'm told it's because convection cooling doesn't work well on side-vented fridges. It is an added drain when dry camping though.

[TNGW1500SE]

mikefos wrote:
How do you keep things cold while on the road?

We pack our residential fridge a day or two ahead. I put as much in there as I can. Even canned goods like corn. They absorb the cold and hold it while it's unplugged. "Bulk" is best. It can stay cold for at least 6 hours. I watch the temperature using a remote thermostat mounted on the dash. We can start the generator if needed but on most trips, we're running that anyway for the A/C so there's never an issue.

[mikefos]

How do you keep things cold while on the road?

[TNGW1500SE]

If you don't boondock, the best way to fix a propane refrigerator is:

Step 1: Take it out

Step 2: Sell it on Craiglist

Step 3: Replace it with a fridge from Home Depot

Step 4: Spend the cash you have left on ice cream

Step 5: Eat ice cream

You get more space inside the fridge without all the propane junk on the back and it really gets cold inside. You don't have to be level for it to work and it doesn't burn your rig to the ground.

[drgslayr]

austinjenna wrote:

I was looking at adding a fan as well. I have this on my amazon list but haven't pulled the trigger.

Dont waste your time on that POS. I picked up 2 of them dirt cheap brand new for like 10 bucks. That solar panel is garbage and will fail on you as it did on both of mine. They start getting water or whatever in them and start to come apart. Not even sure they were worth 10 bucks.

This reviews on them are not good and most folks say the same thing happened to them

Wow good to know. Thanks

[austinjenna]

I was looking at adding a fan as well. I have this on my amazon list but haven't pulled the trigger.

Dont waste your time on that POS. I picked up 2 of them dirt cheap brand new for like 10 bucks. That solar panel is garbage and will fail on you as it did on both of mine. They start getting water or whatever in them and start to come apart. Not even sure they were worth 10 bucks.

This reviews on them are not good and most folks say the same thing happened to them

[drgslayr]

I was looking at adding a fan as well. I have this on my amazon list but haven't pulled the trigger.


https://www.amazon.com/Camco-42165-Refrigerator-Solar-System/dp/B0012FEX5K

[nineoaks2004]

check out www.allelectronics.com for fans, a computer fan will work for what you want and also a switch inside to shut it off when not needed. I also installed a thermister on mine to shut both outside fans off when the outside temp get cooler.