Date:         Thu, 12 Sep 2019 17:07:58 -0400
Reply-To:     Edward Maglott <emaglott3@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Edward Maglott <emaglott3@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: LED Panel Switches for Dometic Exhaust Fan
In-Reply-To:  <3236ab42-1359-9156-60dd-78caf46aa395@williamsitconsulting.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

Ryan I might have an appropriate switch in my box of switches you can
have.  let me check.  PM me if I forget.

in my own quest for better dometic fridge performance I looked at not only
getting the heat out of the space behind the fridge but also keeping it
from entering the cold part of the system where you want to put your food.
I experienced performance where the fridge would be cooling along OK and
when it got to a certain ambient temp, it would just be so hot in that
space behind it I started to think about how that heat would have to be
seeping into the cooled compartment.

One thing i did was to insulate the exhaust tube above the insulated
reaction chamber to where it goes out the side of the van.  Here's some
photos of that:  https://goo.gl/photos/8qyGDuCC73rj54Tu9  I think an
insulating material could be found for less $$ nowadays if you are on a
budget.  The exhaust coming out the side of the van is definitely hotter
than before I did this.  When it's running for a while you would not want
to put your finger on there for a whole second.

The other thing I did was to put thin insulation on about as much of the
back of the cooled compartment as I could.  behind all those hot fins and
tubes.  I used the "reflectix" type insulation which is like bubble wrap
with foil on both sides.  Testing showed about 10-15 degrees F improvement
after these improvements.

Edward

On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 12:24 AM Steve Williams <
steve@williamsitconsulting.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'd just run it in parallel with the fan on the back of the fridge. When
> one comes on, the fan in the city water hookup port would go on.  Nice
> and simple :)
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Williams
>
> On 11/09/2019 8:39 a.m., Ryan Perry wrote:
> > Hey everyone!
> > I've got my stock dometic fridge out after less than ideal performance
> this
> > summer. I have decided to install an exhaust fan in place of my NEVER
> used
> > city water hookup. (I live in the south so the van sees fairly high temps
> > during the day)
> >
> > I see that the 80mm fans look to fit. Was going to run a new wire from
> fuse
> > block and connect toggle over to the LED panel on the front. Want it to
> > look as stock as possible so was going to use the little micro toggle
> > switches. Problem is can't seem to find any switches that small or even
> > closely match the stock. Anybody know where to source these?
> >
> > Anybody have good resources for any of these mods? Or more particular
> > modifying the GoWesty city water hookup as an exhaust fan?
> >
> > Was also thinking about an internal fan for the fridge up top. Use the
> same
> > line and locate in the same place on the LED panel. Might be a good idea
> > while I have it out.
> >
> > Thanks as always!
> > Ryan Perry
>