Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2004 20:05:21 -0500
Reply-To: Jason Willenbrock <pooncerelli@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jason Willenbrock <pooncerelli@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: fridge upgrade test and question kind of long
Content-Type: text/html
<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV class=RTE>hey all,</DIV>
<DIV class=RTE>i did some research last night on our dometic fridges. i read at great length derek drews wonderfully informative articles on these at the vanagon.com website. so what conclusion i drew (no pun intended) were to instal a thermometer to observe cool air temp so i know what is going on in there without having to open the door. in his article he also expressed the need for fan on the inside of the fridge to blow the cold air around coming from the cold fins. that makes total sense.</DIV>
<DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
<DIV class=RTE>so i went to radio shack today and for under $30 bucks i came out with a nice digital thermometer that has a probe for the inside and the reading is on the outside of the fidge itself. i snaked the probe between the wood frame under a seal and into the fridge without disturbiung the seals too much. (Speaking of the seals, these seals are pretty pathetic which may also lead to poor fridge cooling, i will improve these at a later time) i then allow the probe to hang on one of the wire racks towards the top of the inside of the fridge since cold air falls i want to know the true temp of the fridge. i then attached the digital read out portion of the thermometer on the outside door of the fridge itself, handy spot.</DIV>
<DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
<DIV class=RTE>the conditions: i have the fridge in my house running off 110v with nothing inside of it to alter the temp. the thermometer reads 74 room temp (i forgot to mention it is an inside/outside thermometer) and after 1 hour the fridge is reading 44.4 and very slowly falling. now the cooling fins are extremly cold, so cold that my ice trays are making ice, so everything is good there. but what i find is like derek says nothing is blowing the air around from the fins so the cold air mostly just collects around the bottom of the fridge and not properely circulating. incidentally, i have another thermometer(meat probe) resting at the bottom of the fridge and it reads 34 degrees.</DIV>
<DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
<DIV class=RTE>so, i bought this 12v fan from radio shack, no bigger then a match book, like derek recommended. it is rated at 6500 rpm and mostly used to cool stereo racks in cars i suppose. anyways, i want to test this unit out in my house without installing everything in my van. how do i go about that. the leads on the fan have a red+ and black- and that's it. what can i use for a power source and what is a good way to hook it up. i am going to mount the fan just above the inside cooling fins causing to blow the air down and eventually blow the air around the whole inside of the fridge. i want to then meassure the temp where my digital probe is roughly towards the top and near the door, a relatively warm spot in the frdge. any input here? i will gladly post my results for anyone interested in performing these same tests. i just need to know how to power this little fan in my house. once in the car no problem goes to a toggle switch and then to the fuse box. BTW i am making a hole in the wall to the right of fridge to house the toggle switch. you will only see it when you open that cabinet. this fan draws .13 amps so i imagine i could leave it running all day without running down the battery.</DIV>
<DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
<DIV class=RTE>my hypothesis here is that once this fan is properly installed and the fridge is operating under normal conditions, meaning outside air ambient temperature being in the 70's (i live in montana and in the mountains in the summer that is normal for me), the temp in the fridge with already prechilled food and malted beverages, should hang around 35-38 degrees. that is my target temp!</DIV>
<DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
<DIV class=RTE>ley me know if anyone has any input here on this and if anyone can help me figure out how to power this fan</DIV>
<DIV class=RTE>Thanks fo reading</DIV>
<DIV class=RTE>jason </DIV>
<DIV class=RTE>87 syncro westy project</DIV></div><br clear=all><hr> <a href="http://g.msn.com/8HMAENUS/2746??PS=">Plan your next US getaway to one of the super destinations here.</a> </html>
| 
