Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 16:38:46 -0500
Reply-To: Stan Wilder <wilden1-1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stan Wilder <wilden1-1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Re: Fridge....should it stay on...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
The refrigerator is one of the most laughable things about a Westy.
I always primed my fridge with a bucket of ice inside, a little computer CPU
fan moving the air and plugged into 120 v overnight before each road trip.
Without these Preps the fridge just never functioned in the 150 to 300 mile
trips I took.
I never ran the fridge on 12v but always kept it on LP operation while
camping without electricity.
If I had electric in a camp ground I'd switch it to 120v and use electric
that I was buying already.
On the best days it produced two of the munchkin trays of ice by sundown if
I hadn't had the door opened once than twice that day.
Each time the door was opened all the cold dropped out and the cool down
cycle needed to start all over again.
The Westy fridge is a good way to keep flies off your hot dogs and keep
stuff in a dark place but I'd never trust it to preserve food for more than
48 hours unless it was in a can, box or didn't even need refrigeration.
If however the fridge was laid on it's back and the cold didn't drop out
with each entry then you might have a useable appliance there.
The best refrigeration I ever found in ten years of Westy camping was the
styrofoam containers that you get Steaks in from Omaha Steaks or the same
containers from HoneyCured Hams. They are about 2" sidewalls with tops and
bottoms just as thick, they are the right size to fit under the rear seat.
They hold three 10 pound bags of ice if the ice is broken loose in the bags
and not solidified in the bag from the vendor.
Stan Wilder
Engine Ceramics
214-352-4931
www.engineceramics.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dusty Edwards" <dusty.edwards@MAC.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 3:39 PM
Subject: Re: Fridge....should it stay on...
> i just want to be clear - the point is NOT "don't use the fridge while
driving", the point IS (or was) to flip the fridge over to DC mode while
driving.......i (personally) don't consider using the LP while driving to be
safe or necessary considering the fact that DC is an option. i mean, why
waste your LP - DC is capable of maintaining the temp that the LP produced.
>
>
> On Wednesday, May 25, 2005, at 01:22PM, Roger Sisler
<rogersisler2000@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>
> >Why have a refrigerator if you cant use it while driving? Besides the
> >convenience, it takes so long to cool the thing down, camping ,or
whatever
> >will be over just as the frig gets cool. The rule of thumb that I've
heard
> >is : cant operate it off level-shut the frig off if you cant sleep on the
> >incline that you are parking on(3 degrees off level).Otherwise , it is ok
> >to operate while driving,and I do.I hate it when the frige pilot light
> >blows out. Just when I need something cold.In the archives, I have found
> >that the 2 reasons for this are .....1, the metal intake and exhausts are
> >not the exact same legnth.I never changed them , but the frige blows
> >out.Maybe this is not the reason for most extinguishings of the brewsky
> >useability preservation flame. 2..and more probable in my
> >experience...The exhaust ports are not perfectly perpendicular to the van
> >side and vent cover.Dont use the 2 regular or 2 phillips screws to draw
> >down on the vent flange,to make this alignment. Do it by
> >eyeball,bending ,and then pushing, and then tighten the screws.I dont
think
> >a weak pilot flame is the cause. The "low" setting on the frig is not
> >condusive to the flame blowing out when my vent when properly aligned.I
> >once stuffed baffes,against recomendations, down either, or both
> >tubes,experimenting.No positive effect whatsoever-no matter how much junk
I
> >stuffed,or how deap I stuffed it..
> >
> >
>
>
> --
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>
>
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