Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:01:25 -0700
Reply-To: neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: cognitive dissonance and refrigerators
In-Reply-To: <4A8441E6.2040809@cox.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 9:40 AM, mark drillock<mdrillock@cox.net> wrote:
> In spite of the problems you had with yours, many of us have had years
> of useful service from the stock Dometic 182 fridges. I have camped and
> traveled for weeks at a time with 3 different ones in 3 different vans
> in hot weather. All kept our food cold and properly managed they held
> most of what we needed them to. None had any special mods done other
> than a side exhaust fan on 2 of them to pull the heat to the outside in
> hot weather. All had Valterra Fridgemate behind fridge fans installed to
> replace the stock fan of the same design. All attempts to use muffin
> computer fans failed to work as well as the stock type .......
> Roger Sisler wrote:
>>
>> I know that the way that it cools, my Dometic is not worth keeping; many
>> others say similar, but certainly not everyone. I do not see how a
>> manufacturer can expect someone to buy a unit that cools like these do
>> now,
>> when new, and these 182's are being replaced today with absorption units
>> that work as people expect refrigeration to be-- Without unreasonable
>> compromise; keeps the food from going bad in summer when parked for a day,
>> including da beer. Ask Rocket. Mine was giving me about 55 degrees--this,
>> after attempting all the maintenance and modifications I could find or
>> invent. I did all kinds of testing. I won't list here all what I did to
>> help
>......
I have read with interest various in depth Dometic 182 work done by
Roger, Mark, Richard etc. Roger posted some great pics of his
mods/work fwiw.
Sorry if I posted this already but...
"Off the cuff" tests on various fans showed that the stock fan prop
pushes more air than a muffin type 30-50 CFM fan. Marks suggestion of
the Alltera fan makes total sense, but $50+ Cnd. on my Dometic? No. ~
$5 on a motor + Dometic prop? Yes. Heck. Maybe 2 Dometic fans back
there would be better? (one switched.... not connected to thermo
sensor)
AFAIK, if it gets hot enough behind fridge, the chemical process is
hampered and fridge warms up. And, the fridge box (rear) gets heated
up. The perfect storm! The extreme example being sun at side of Westy
w/o insulation between fridge and Westy sheet metal.
My gut tells me that if more than 1 person using Westy, (someone
mostly with vehicle) more air likely flows in/out interior of Westy.
So far, it's just me and my Westy. Closed up hours at a time, interior
temps rise. This makes a big difference. I know a skylight/fan would
help. Just haven't gotten around to it. (My Dometic lying face down on
my work bench is currently keeping me busy <grin>)
My hope is that the 2 layers of Reflectix *type* bubble Insulation +
Hardibacker + closed in sides will help. Closing in sides should
prevent heat coming in/drawn in by city fan from un-insulated areas
behind the Westy cabinet. And, it should provide a channel of sorts
for air flow up and out (hopefully mostly out city water fan)
Neil.
--
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"
http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines
