Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 09:01:19 -0700
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Subject: Re: insulating hot side of Dometic refer
In-Reply-To: <4e7f489b.8ac4e00a.0216.ffff8728@mx.google.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Neil has done some work on the insulating topic, and so have I. I tried installing some sheet metal behind the fins, to make a more efficient chimney for the warm air to rise up. But it was a pain to get the metal lying just right, there is less room back there than you think when the fridge is out, especially if you add some insulation to the metal (as I did).
Neil insulated the exhaust pipe I think.
I was less than overwhelmed with the result. But the city water mod really does work. I recommend that, as well as insulating the body panel of the van adjacent (to reduce heat gain from the sun shining on the side of the van). I had a fan on the side vent that you mention putting in a 12 V outlet. When on, it really did push hot air out. But that was not as efficient (doh) as pushing the hot air out of the van via the city water mod.
alistair
On 2011-09-25, at 8:28 AM, Edward Maglott wrote:
> It's time for the periodic fridge removal and as usual I'm wondering
> what could be done to improve it's hot weather performance. Mine
> seems to work best on electric in hot weather. I theorize that the
> propane fire puts a lot of extra heat back there, making it harder
> for the refrigeration process to expel heat. So maybe making sure
> more of that heat stays away from the fins would help. And also
> keeping more heat away from the refrigerated box seems like a good
> idea. Would it help to put some thin insulation like reflectix
> between the heat radiating fins and the back of the unit? It seems
> to be made as one unit with the fins attached to the back in several
> places, so doing this would require a number of separate pieces but
> not too hard. How about adding insulation around the "hot column"
> and on the exposed exhaust pipe as it goes up from the column to the
> exit outside? That is just bare metal throwing off heat behind the
> cabinet. Any ideas or comments?
>
> While I'm in there I'm prepping for the classic exhaust fan in the
> former city water inlet door which should help, and putting in a 12V
> accessory outlet next to the vent grille on the back of the fridge
> cabinet. What is the best choice these days for a heat transfer
> compound to put between the cold-pipe and aluminum fins inside the fridge?
>
> Edward
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