Today I replaced the fridge fan on my 87 Syncro Camper. I first replaced it about 7-8 years ago and it has worked fine since until last month. My wife and I were on a camping trip for a couple weeks and one day the fridge just stopped keeping the food cold. It was 100 degrees outside at the time and I opened the fridge to get a cold one and there weren't any. The thermometer I have mounted inside said 75 degrees. Until that time the fins were always iced over and the food very cold. I noticed that the propane flame was still going but I could not hear the fan. At that air temp the fan usually runs nearly constantly when the flame is lit. Today I first tested the fan by jumpering the fin temp switch. This can be reached by removing the vent grill from the side of the fridge cabinet. The temp switch is screwed to the fins with 2 wires plugged into it. I jumpered the 2 wires together with a "U" shaped piece of wire. The fan did not come on with the switch bypassed so I knew it was time to pull the fridge. I have worked on numerous Westy fridges so pulling it was not a big deal. Just for fun, I started my stop watch and methodically worked at removing the fridge. About 8 minutes later it was out and I then removed the fan assembly from the back. Since it was already a replacement fan, the new one went right in. The first replacement was a FridgeMate and the second was a Valtera. They were identical fans since Valtera had bought out FridgeMate and relabeled the fans but kept them the same. I mounted the new fan to the modified bracket the old one was on. I soldered the 2 wires, insulated the splices with shrink wrap tubing, and tested the temp switch with a propane torch set very low. I have a set of long extension wires for the 3 DC wires the Westy fridge uses. This lets me test DC operation before I reinstall the unit. With a little heat on the fins, the fan temp switch turned the fan on so I was good to go. Mark |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.