I think having big open holes in the side of our vans would cause more problems than it solved. Westfalia did a pretty good job designing things but I agree that they did not adequately vent behind the fridge for truly hot weather camping. I have camped often where temps inside the van are 90-100 degrees and my fridge works fine. The rear fans run constantly though when temps are in the 100 degree area. I have replaced the stock fan with a similar but more powerful Valterra FridgeMate. I also added an external vent with a small fan and a temp switch that turns on sooner than the main fan. This reduces the amount of time the louder main fan runs, as well as getting the heat outside. I am the one who described installing the extra exhaust fan in the city water port, ~6 years ago. I have installed a few of these for others but on mine I mounted a separate vent. The best time to install the city water exhaust fan is when you are replacing the Westy faucet. Replace it with the far superior Shurflo faucet with no city water hookup and convert the then unused city water connection to an exhaust fan as I described here way back when. Mark Frank Condelli wrote: >Piss poor design plain and simple. NO OTHER RV vents the fridge to the >interior of the vehicle. The fridge should have been sealed off to the vehicle >and vented to the exterior. I have installed a 3" ~ 4" pancake fan in the >city water port as previously described by someone on this list. This has been >the single most beneficial thing that has improved the Dometic operation in >warm weather. The amount of heat being blown out of that port will amaze you >when you think that all that heat was previously being contained in the van >and trying to exit through the skylight if you remembered to keep it open. >Once the interior temperature surpasses 80 degrees F the fridge ceases to work, >no more possibility of heat transfer ~ no more cooling ~ plain & simple ! > > > |
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