Date: Wed, 8 May 1996 16:25:55 CST6CDT
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Dan Houg" <fairwind@northernnet.com>
Subject: Additional fridge fan & wiring
Rising to the bait Derek offered, i'll detail what i did :) after many
contemplative hours of cipherin' the wirin', i do think it is a good method.
all the wiring can be done thru the cabinet vent tho it does get
frustrating due to lack of space. pulling the fridge isn't that hard
and you get to do some maintenance besides. obviously, if a fan
needs to be replaced, the fridge comes out.
i highly recommend the addition of 2 fans:
- one being placed on the interior and blowing on the evaporator.
this pulls temps down nicely. see Derek's post on this but have this
on a separate switch as it will be used independently of the
condensor fans.
- the second one should be placed to supplement the condensor fan.
i placed one in the cabinet vent, leaving the grill off. i think
one mounted to blow on the condensor would do as well, if not
better. ideally, it would be ducted to pull cool outside air inside
the fridge cabinet and blow it on the condensor.
i wired the condensor fan (well, cabinet fan) so that i can activate it AND the OEM fan
together yet have the OEM fan operate thermostatically as needed. to
do this involves bypassing the thermostat, which is what may be
confused with as a 'green resistor'. i don't recall any resistor.
so.....
1. wire the negative of your additonal condensor fan to ground.
2. wire the positive of the additional fan to one side of a SPST
switch.
3. wire the 'hot' side of the thermostat (bolted to the cooling
fins) to the remaining terminal of the SPST switch.
4. wire the SPST terminal mentioned in step #2 to the 'fan' side of
the thermostat wiring.
you're done. now when you close the switch, both the OEM fan and
your fan come on, greatly increasing your cooling power (defined in
Dometic terms, mind you). do this during the day or when traveling
to keep fridge temps in line. i think the OEM fan thermostat comes
on too late.
be forwarned, that the additional condensor fan will also now come on
when the thermostat closes. this is okay but you need to watch for
little fingers if it is mounted in the cabinet vent.
with this setup, it pulls a draft of air from the vents at the bottom
front of the fridge. this is a good thing for maintaining a temp
differential on the condensor.
if you don't tell anyone, you *can* use those 3M splice connectors to
tie into the wiring but NEVER admit it on this list. solder and
shrink tubing is the way to go.
also, i really like the digital 'indoor/outdoor' thermometer i added.
i just mounted mine on the front of the fridge and ran the sensor
wire thru the door seal. i DID poke a hole into the interior of the
fridge for the evaporator fan wiring and simply sealed it with
silicone to prevent moisture from invading the insulation.
good luck.
-dan