Adding cooling fans to the back of the fridge

[radioman42001]

Exactly my point - in order for negative pressure ventilation to occur, there has to be a sealing of the area around the fan, meaning nothing can get by without going through the fan. Damned near impossible. In Positive Pressure, it's not required to have that sealing, thus it does not impede air flow, only improves..... Just wondering, because I've seen it both ways. I'm going to start at the bottom (I'm short ) and if I have to go to the top, I will... I bought 5 of them for $20.

Is there any concern about blowing out the propane flame with fans in the lower opening?

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[Sparky1]

Exactly my point - in order for negative pressure ventilation to occur, there has to be a sealing of the area around the fan, meaning nothing can get by without going through the fan. Damned near impossible. In Positive Pressure, it's not required to have that sealing, thus it does not impede air flow, only improves..... Just wondering, because I've seen it both ways. I'm going to start at the bottom (I'm short ) and if I have to go to the top, I will... I bought 5 of them for $20.

Especially when fridge is in a slideout the heat has to be removed from back of the unit. Sealing that space so the fans do that keeps the hot air out out of the rest of the camper too. I used a couple of 140mm computer case fans and wired them inline with the existing rear fan at the thermistor on the top rear of my fridge. I mounted them in a thin luan sheet cut just small enough to fit through the vent opening. That left about 2” opening that I sealed with foil tape.
I had to replace quite a lot of missing insulation on top of and along one side of my unit. Used rockwool.
Prior temps were all over the place, now they stat within 2-3 degrees on gas or electric. Very much worth the effort.
Have a pic but haven’t learned to attach one yet.

[lawdog1]

Well I decided to tackle refrigerator cooling issues, inside and out. I have a Reflection 285BHTS with a Dometic 2862 (8 cu.ft) refrigerator. I read a bunch on this thread and other threads on this site (thank you). I did some looking behind my refrigerator in the slide and then placed an amazon order. So I put two - 92mm IP55 (dust/waterproof fans) behind the refrigerator. I took out the single stock fan, disconnected the 135F thermoswitch and put a 105F switch underneath the disconnected old switch on the fins at the top of the refrigerator (...I figured why waste a ready made mounting spot). I had to cut the luon panel but I put it back in with a few zip ties and some metal A/C tape...worked surprising well. Inside I mounted the 3 fan kit on the interior fins using velcro and I bought some 2 inch spring clips as an extra mounting clamp. I routed the power wire down the condensation vent tube, exited and resealed the tube with silicone caulk and used posi-tap connectors to tap into 12 DC. ...it all works!!

On the rear fans, the original fan was mounted blowing down toward the coils. ...this did not make sense to me because: a. heat rises, b. the single fan was 18" - 24" above/higher than the condenser coils. It seemed to me this fan would be triggered when the cooling fins 12" above the fan hit 135F, and then it would try to blow air down at the condenser coils 18" to 24" lower...fighting the rising hot air the whole time. So I mounted the two new fans blowing the hot air up and out of the baffle/top hatch. I tested the fans by blowing a hair dryer on the thermoswitch, they both work well and it feels like the pull/suck air up as there was a feeling of moving air at the bottom of the chimney. I did go ahead and order a 140mm fan that I am likely going to mount either just inside the lower hatch or further inside at the base of the chimney (blowing in/up). I plan on using a second 105F thermoswitch up high on the fins to trigger the lower fan as well. All the three fans in the rear of the refrigerator will use .94 Amp, and 11.3 Watts. I think the refrigerator will be a cooling machine now!

I have attached photos, hope they work.

[lawdog1]

A few photos of the inside fan and wiring.



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[Mikec557]

That is an impressive job. Nothing like tackling the entire project at once. 👍👍👍

[shanes318]

A few photos of the inside fan and wiring.



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Would you please post a link to the inside fans that you installed? Nice mod on the fridge, mine never seems to keep up but I can see where this would be helpful.


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[lawdog1]

Here is a link to fans I used behind the refrigerator.

https://www.amazon.com/TITAN-Waterpr...rator+&sr=8-12


I cannot find the inside fan on Amazon. The amazon app shows it as out of stock. The description title is a RC Cooling Unit Warehouse 13” triple fan deluxe frost guard rv evaporator fan with led light and grill

[Mikec557]

Would you please post a link to the inside fans that you installed? Nice mod on the fridge, mine never seems to keep up but I can see where this would be helpful.


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I think this is the unit...

https://rvcoolingunit.com/Dometic-3-...-P5661663.aspx

[lawdog1]

Yep that is the one. If you read the description they have a 15 3/4 inch and 13 inch version, both have 3 fans.

[xrated]

I too mounted some fans to the rear of the Norcold 2118 compartment. I purchased this unit... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and mounted the assembly to the upper grill of that compartment, inside the grill of course. This one comes with a controller that I mounted inside the trailer on the wall beside the frig. It obviously needs a 12VDC power source, which was already in that rear compartment area down at the bottom, as well as a sensor to mount in the compartment itself. The sensor detects temperature in the compartment and turns on the fans when it senses 68 degrees. In auto mode, it will start the fans at the 68 degree setpoint, and keep ramping up the speed of the fans until it reaches it's max speed and CFM airflow...at around 145 degrees in the compartment. There is also a manual setting with 6 speeds, which I really don't plan to use....just the auto mode. I did have to drill a hole in the wall beside the fridge in order to run the wiring from the controller to the back compartment, but the wires from that controller can be placed to come out of the back of the controller, so once it's installed, it's a very clean install and no visible wiring.