Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2007 18:33:23 +0000
Reply-To: rubatoguy@COMCAST.NET
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Todd Last <rubatoguy@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: Refrigerator help-yes, I've already searched the achieves
I've thought about adding a second flue vent and making a "hood" over the back of the fridge and venting the hood to the second flue vent to exhaust the hot air. There is enough space to make a vent hood.
The only difference is I have a long compact squirell cage fan from a copier that I was going to mount at the botttom of the fridge to suck air in through the grill at the bottom of the fridge and out the top.
Its just been one of my many projects waiting for the time to be able to do it.
Todd
'88 Westy
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
> Has anyone considered adding an extra hole for such a vent?
>
> When I got my westy, the entire side panel over the sink, fridge and
> rear cabinet had been replaced. The body clip came from a non-westy,
> so I had to locate, cut, and reinforce the holes for all three of the
> utility connections. The whole thing took an hour or two, and you
> certainly couldn't tell by looking that it didn't come from the
> factory as it is now.
>
> So, rather than replacing the innards of one of those connections,
> why not simply install a new one with a computer fan it it, if it
> helps the fridge operation so much? It could be done by modifying an
> existing connection as others have done, or surely some listmember
> knows of an appropriately-styled vent head that would accept a four-
> inch computer fan?
>
> Jim
>
> On Jul 2, 2007, at 11:34 PM, Richard A Jones wrote:
>
> >> If the condensor however is so hot that the water vapor continues
> >> over to the evaporator side, the cycle is disrupted and your fridge
> >> will not be efficient.
> >
> > Kim:
> >
> > Thanks for the excellent post on the operation of the fridge!
> >
> > I can attest with experimental data. I posted 6/30 about testing
> > my fridge on 115V AC:
> > http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?
> > A2=ind0706e&L=vanagon&F=&S=&P=12202
> > So yesterday morning, I switched to propane. Another 95 degree day.
> > When the van interior temp reached 115+ or so, the fridge reached its
> > limit--the ice on the cooling fins melted, the interior fridge temps
> > started climbing. At 5 pm, I switched back to 115V. Shut the
> > propane off. It took *3 hours* before the blue LED light went off.
> > That shows how hot it was behind the fridge--with my Fridgemate fan
> > running all the time. Maybe the extra fan ventilation out the
> > water hookup door would make a difference.
> >
> > Propane and 115V should be equivalent, but, in fact, are not. When
> > you have a hot Colorado sun baking the driver side, 13% humidity
> > (which means lower thermal conductivity), and high temps, then
> > the fridge hits the wall. 115V operation heats the tube; propane
> > heats the burner box and the tube, so makes more heat in back.
> >
> > The Norcold DC0040 folks can be smug. The Dometic folks need to
> > park so the afternoon sun bakes another part of the Westy!
> >
> > Richard
> > Boulder
> >
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