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Date:         Tue, 11 May 1999 20:51:48 PDT
Reply-To:     Mike Finkbiner <mike_l_f@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mike Finkbiner <mike_l_f@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Refrigerator Fan Control
Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed;

Volks -

I had the Dometic refrigerator out of my '87 Westy to work on the gas, and decided that now was the time to take advantage of all of the good advice people have like Bill Davidson and Derek Drew have given about improving the fan system.

I replaced the noisy standard fan with two computer fans, and I picked up a tiny 12v fan from Radio Shack for $10, to use for an inside fan.

Various ideas had been discussed for controlling the inside fan, but I wanted something that was at least semi-automatic. Even though it's a very small current draw, I didn't want to accidentally leave it running for a week when I wasn't using the van.

The best method seemed to be a thermostat, and rather than trying to fit one inside the fridge, or figure out how to use the existing one, I bought a small snap disc fan control. It closes as the temperature goes up, and opens when it drops. This one is a disc about 3/4" in diameter and thickness mounted in an oval metal plate about 1 1/2" long. That's small enough so I could pop apart the metal housing that surrounds the heating elements on the back of the fridge and push it into the insulation.

Snap disc thermostats come in a variety of temperatures. My meat thermometer showed that the metal vent pipe inside the insulation got up to about 190 degrees F after half an hour on gas. I didn't have a powerful 12 volt supply to test the fridge on that power source, but I was sure the temp would be less, so I chose a thermostat that closed at 130 F and then re-opened when it cooled down to 115 F. Two of them cost me $16 with shipping from Johnstone Supply.

I ran power from the block on the top rear of the fridge. Be sure to use the fan circuit, not the heater circuit, if you do that because the heater circuit won't work if the ignition is off.

I used some hi-temperature wire for the part of the circuit that was close to the heat, and put a small switch in the front of the refrigerator, so I could turn the fan off manually when I didn't want it to run. The fan is rather noisy, so I mounted it inside a block of stiff foam, with appropriate sized holes for air flow, and wedged it in on top of the cooling fins at the back of the fridge.

So far so good. I'll have to see how it works this summer, but I think it will be a better performer than the one in my '83.

I didn't want to go into a lot of details, but if anyone has questions, drop me a note.

Mike Finkbiner

'87 Westy, with three new fans!

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