Good Sam Community

There is a big difference in the Danfoss-style compressors and the less expensive dorm or household fridge compressors that do put out lots of heat and eat up a lot of power.

The RV / portable compressor fridges will not need outside venting. It seems better to put the heat into the cabin than to let hot air circulate over the back of the fridge, which will be hard to seal off. If it is a chest freezer then very impractical to seal off.

If you have an AirC running then you will not need to worry about the state of charge on batteries, and if you are running the fridge off batteries (likely not plugged into AC power), then the cabin air is cooler than outside, and will be vented out the roof vent and never really add heat to the cabin anyway. If it is cold outside then not issues at all.


If you are putting a giant house fridge in your camper, then you probably drive from electrical outlet to electrical outlet, or always on generator, so power consumption is much less of an issue than those boondocking.
It doesnt matter how you vent household fridges.

We had a compressorless dorm fridge in a 14’ cargo trailer and it put out a fair amount of heat over time. You could definitely feel it.
I would just leave the vents as they are.

stevemorris wrote:

neschultz wrote:

PNW_Steve wrote:

If you close off the outside vents you are going to come up with some sort of ventilation for the condenser.

Why, my residential fridge at home doesn’t vent to the outside?

In my case, the condenser is in the bottom and I figured that air would go in at the bottom and out the top and sides, just like in a house.

I have been thinking about closing the top vent though to prevent moisture and outside temps from leaking in. You think that’s a bad idea?

compressor fridges don't need ventilation they need circulation. all fridges give off heat, a fridge with no ventilation will heat up your trailer, big difference between a 100 sqft trailer vs 1000 sqft house!

I don’t think that heat from the refrigerator is a big concern. Our 10 cubic foot residential model only uses 140 watts when it’s running. And our 40’ 5th wheel is at least 400 sq. ft. with the 4 slides open.

Not to mention it's going to be less efficient with 90 degree air flowing over the condenser. And all the extra outside heat coming inside. Close it off from the inside. Then keep it simple and leave the outside vents alone.

neschultz wrote:

PNW_Steve wrote:

If you close off the outside vents you are going to come up with some sort of ventilation for the condenser.

Why, my residential fridge at home doesn’t vent to the outside?

In my case, the condenser is in the bottom and I figured that air would go in at the bottom and out the top and sides, just like in a house.

I have been thinking about closing the top vent though to prevent moisture and outside temps from leaking in. You think that’s a bad idea?

compressor fridges don't need ventilation they need circulation. all fridges give off heat, a fridge with no ventilation will heat up your trailer, big difference between a 100 sqft trailer vs 1000 sqft house!

PNW_Steve wrote:

If you close off the outside vents you are going to come up with some sort of ventilation for the condenser.

Why, my residential fridge at home doesn’t vent to the outside?

In my case, the condenser is in the bottom and I figured that air would go in at the bottom and out the top and sides, just like in a house.

I have been thinking about closing the top vent though to prevent moisture and outside temps from leaking in. You think that’s a bad idea?

I have a residential refrigerator with the condenser on the back in my 5er.

I have left the vents open to allow airflow over the condenser. I have done this, with good success, in two rigs and working on my third.

If you close off the outside vents you are going to come up with some sort of ventilation for the condenser.

Good luck.

Some RVers will get a chest unit and not use the old frig space, maybe turn it into storage.
The chest unit would sit somewhere else…

Electric refrigerators need ventilation too, depending on condenser location.

I put tape on the back side of our bottom one but left the top alone. If it rained hard from a certain direction, our back one would leak at the gap between the vent and it’s frame so I caulked it with Dap. I did have to open it once after caulking it but it was easy to do ...just used a knife to cut the caulking and then re-caulked later.

I just used foam board insulation to cover the wall holes and then used black Gorilla tape on the inside of the vent covers to cover up the vent holes so bugs couldn't get in.

AND...if ever need to work on the new fridge you will have some access to back without totally pulling fridge. Had to replace a control board on ours...hole was a big bonus!!!

Hopefully you kept the outside covers/vents. If so, close off the inside of the wall, make it water tight, then simply re-insert the original refrigerator vent covers on the outside. No one will notice anything different. But you will know the true story.