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Date:         Mon, 22 Sep 2003 19:33:27 -0700
Reply-To:     Westyman <thewestyman@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Westyman <thewestyman@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject:      Amazing fridge success and another fun-filled road-trip!
Comments: To: Syncro list <syncro@yahoogroups.com>,
          VWVANFULLTIMERS <VWVANFULLTIMERS@yahoogroups.com>,
          Wetwesties <wetwesties@yahoogroups.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi all,

I've just returned from six weeks on the road, from east to west and back, through frigid (snow in Alberta!) and HOT (105 in northern UT and southern ID) weather. Overall, my Syncro Westfalia continues to astound me with it's reliability, quite the opposite from what one would think after reading these very lists on a regular basis. About two months ago, I wrote requesting help from the 'list fridge experts' in an attempt to get better hot-weather performance from my Dometic fridge. Some good ideas were offered, however the general consensus was that I should not expect much more than a 30~35 degree temp differential when operating it on propane. I was not to prepared to live with that, so here's what transpired since that time:

First, I pulled the fridge and cleaned the burner, even though it had just been cleaned a week earlier. All looked good as expected. This is where I wondered, "why not try MORE flame into the chamber?" I modified the little burner tube that has several slots, by carefully slicing one additional flame-slot at either side of the existing ones. Along with this mod, I also adjusted the regulator pressure upward to 13 W.C. I., from the recommended 11. While the fridge was out, I replaced the wimpy stock cooling fan motor with one of the $5 Radio Shack high-speed motors, utilizing the original fan blade. Noisier than stock, but runs less overall and really moves some air! I retained the stock temperature switch to activate this. Also, in the air vent at the side of the fridge cabinet, I bolted in a 3-inch computer case fan, wired to an additional switch, which I activated whenever the cabinet temps were above 90 degrees. I then put it all back together and reinstalled the unit in the cabinet, at the same time adding a Radio Shack indoor-outdoor digital thermometer, placed on the face of the stove panel, with the inside-temp probe zip-tied to the center fridge rack. Before installing the fridge door, I added a thin foam weather-strip of 1/8 x 3/8" around the perimeter of the fridge opening to help seal the door better, as the old door seal was rather hard. When I finally fired it up, I was disappointed, the temps didn't drop dramatically, UNTIL I added some food in the fridge! Strange. The result of all this was that the fridge temps never went above 45 degrees, this with ambient temps of up to 108 degrees around the fridge at times. That's a differential of 63 degrees, thank you! In not-so-crazy temps, the fridge always cooled to between 26 and 40 degrees, unless the indoor temps rose above 100 for longer than a few hours, so usually the temp differential was 40 to 50 degrees. I had frozen berries, frozen tofu, frozen veggie-burgers and the like nestled against the ice-tray area, which stayed frozen most of the time, and no spoiled food ever! I even turned the thermostat down a few times when the weather cooled, something I never needed to do before. The cooling fins at the left side have sustained a thick layer of frost for the entire six weeks, although that hasn't affected the cooling, or so it seems. One final note, adding a computer-chip fan in the fins of the cooling unit actually increases the measured temperature!

So, there you have it, success. Many thanks to all who offered advice and spurred me on to the quest for more. I plan to write a bit more about the trip, the people, and the scenery (not to forget the violation of my civil rights upon reentering the US from Canada!) in the next few weeks.

Karl Mullendore Westy Ventures 1987 Syncro Westy 1.9 turbodiesel, 441,000 kilometers and going strong! (original CV's AND Viscous coupler, all working fine!) Oh, and the TD conversion now has over 200,000 kilometers on the clock!


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