Dometic Refrigerator Cooling Fan

[surfintom]

We’ve had a fan that makes a lot of noise and had it checked under warranty. They found that the mounting bracket for the fan is broken, and will be replacing it next week.

I couldn’t figure out how to get into a position to see the fan. You mentioned pulling the fan out. How do you do that?

Thanks,

There are 6 screws - which I think is overkill. 4 in the front - 2 at the top and 2 at the bottom - and 2 in the back at the bottom. Remove those and the fridge can slide into the kitchen. Of course, you need to disconnect the fridge in the back. There's the gas line, power wires and the A/C plug. Use 2 wrenches for the gas line and a slotted screw driver for the wires. I'll tell the rest of my story in another post just now.

EDIT: Sorry, You asked how to pull the fan out. I told you how to pull the fridge out. I could see the fan from the top vent before I pulled the fridge out. Use a ladder to get up to the top vent, pull the vent and look down. I'm not sure if you can remove the fan, but you can see it and the bracket.

[surfintom]

Last post from me on this subject until we take the trailer on the road.
Getting the fans from Amazon was a curse and a blessing. I ordered 2 Arctic F9 fans. The F9 does not blow as much air, but I figured with 2 of them, it would be an improvement. They also have 3 wires. You only need 2. I planned to use the power and ground and clip the speed wire short. Amazon shipped me 2 F9-PWM-PST fans which have 4 wires. Unusable. Amazon told me to return the fans and they'd ship me the F9s. The next shipment came in two orders. One was an F9 - the other was another F9-PWM-PST. I complained to Amazon and they said I didn't need to return the wrong fan and they'd send me a replacement. They also issued me $30 in "Inconvenience credit". This was after they offered $5 and I demanded more. 3 days later, 2 more fans showed up - instead of just one. They were both the same wrong fan. I complained to Amazon again and demanded $100 in credit card refund. After explaining that the RV was in the street too long and I'd have to re-install the fridge, drive the RV 15 miles to storage and then reverse the process when the correct fans showed up, I finally got a higher-up to refund me $100.
Meanwhile, I had ordered two Sunon fans from Digikey. This is what GD had installed one of. I needed 2 because as you may recall, I fried the original one. DON'T TRY TO RUN THE FAN BACKWARD BY REVERSING THE WIRES! When the Sunons showed up, I installed them on the bracket and tested them. They ran strong and quiet. I tie wrapped the wires, pushed the fridge back in place, put in the screws and reconnected the gas and power. I powered up the fridge. It came to life and got cold quickly like it should. I don't think the new fans came on so I don't know if they're going to be quiet in their final resting place. It possible there's vibration when the fridge is pushed all the way in. Time will tell. We hope to get out this summer. We want to get down to Austin TX around July 1 so it should test the fridge and the fans. I'll let you know.

[tim-o-w4yn]

I played with the fan(s) in mine for quite some time. I installed 2 fans, one off original thermo switch and the second off another thermo switch that senses air temp.
I also went on Dometic site and found mounting requirements and fabricated some aluminum bits to help with air flow, increased insulation around frig using pink styrofoam.
All this helped, but then I installed a small 12v fan inside frig that circulates all the time, believe it was 80MM fan. Wow that was the best mod I did. Now air gets circulated around and temp is much better.
Tim in NC

I know this has been discussed before, but not with specific details that pertain to my situation. I've got a 2018 29RS and the fan in the back of the fridge is noisy and inadequate. I've had it in for a fix and they said "No Trouble Found". I pulled the fan today and it's a 92 x 92 mm, 12v Sunon ball bearing fan with specs of 75 CFM and 47 dB. Those seem like pretty good specs. I'm sure it's noisier than that. Maybe there's a vibration. Anyway, it's hard to find a 92mm fan with better specs.

Some have the same configuration of the bracket across back that has an unused second set of mounting holes. If I use that bracket, both fans need to be the same size as the original.

Any advice from someone that has had the same problem and fixed it? If not, I'm going to get 2 new 92mm fans with the best specs I can find and install them. I'll probably jam a piece of rubber between the bracket and the back of the fridge to dampen any vibration.

HELP!

[greenjeans]

Sorry the 1st 2 links didnt work, try this
https://
Per our community policy, please do not mention the other forum. If you would like to understand why, please read this discussion: https://www.mygrandrv.com/forum/showthread.php/23897-Announcement-about-our-name-change?p=237174&viewfull=1#post237174
.com/forum/operati...p-with-cooling
Both GD and Dometic said remove the baffle.

[Ngl9766]

Do yourself a favor. Buy the arp fridge defend with the fans. In total I have 7 outside fans and 2 inside. It sounds crazy but I live south of Houston and that’s what it took to get my temps where I feel I needed them. Btw I have a 29 rs and spent all last summer trouble shooting. My stabilized temps today are 3 and 32 right now. I was skeptical but the science is right with the boiler and the ability to set the temp the fans come on was awesome. Once that boiler overheats you never get your temps to line out in the summer. It gets compounded when you are on gas. The flue has gets trapped at the top of the fridge and the small fan in the middle can’t get the air out. I have 4 of the blower fans up top, two pancake fans in the original spot in the middle and one pancake on the blowing upward. Sounds like a lot of work but worth it. I also opted for the two small fans inside. They are the small blowers. Be careful with the fan size Inside the fridge I learned that too much airflow actually increase the internal temp. The size they include with their kit was perfect.

[Stephen/Kerri]

Absolutely. Our walk thru representative didn't address that. We just came back from a 4 day trip & the fridge cooled like a champ. In all fairness we had very mild weather. The warmest the fridge ever got was +37. We'll see how it does in the coming weeks as the weather warms up. I'll check back in with an update.

[dryfly]

Stephen:

I live about 250 miles north of you and know how brutal summers can be. It's a constant struggle to keep my fridge at 40 or below. They say food, especially meat above 40, becomes contaminated. I don't think that is true or we would have died many times.

You mentioned you use the Arp Fridge Defend. I looked at their webpage and lots of info there. I have not had time to study it yet. How many of your fans do you have actually controlled by this system?

I realize the Arp is a "temperature controlled" system but why not just use 12 volt fans on a switch and run continually in hot weather? I did this on my last trailer having 3 140mm fans at the top of the exhaust vent and it seemed to work pretty good. Are your 4 top fans drawing air out of the compartment vs. blowing down on the coils?

[WhittleBurner]

We find if you mount the fans using small bungy cords it takes almost all the vibration away. Started doing tht back in the Aliner days and have quiet fans since.

[Stephen/Kerri]

Ok I posted earlier about our Dometic fridge issue in our new 337RLS and discussed how I discovered the bottom left door wasn't 'clicking' shut. Our last outing to KS was in cool weather but it cooled like a champ. We just returned from a trip to Shreveport, LA so I knew it would be a true test. Sure enough it was a typical hotter than hades trip to Louisiana. +93 & seemingly 110% humidity everyday(isn't is always in La? Well our fridge did a wonderful job keeping up. It would range from +36 at night & during the day the warmest it ever got was +40. I did buy a small battery operated fan made by Valtera that helps move the air. It sits on the bottom shelf & helps keep the air slowly moving inside the fridge. All things considered I'm a happy camper and even more so now that we're back in less humid weather

[Ynot4me2]

Ok I posted earlier about our Dometic fridge issue in our new 337RLS and discussed how I discovered the bottom left door wasn't 'clicking' shut. Our last outing to KS was in cool weather but it cooled like a champ. We just returned from a trip to Shreveport, LA so I knew it would be a true test. Sure enough it was a typical hotter than hades trip to Louisiana. +93 & seemingly 110% humidity everyday(isn't is always in La? Well our fridge did a wonderful job keeping up. It would range from +36 at night & during the day the warmest it ever got was +40. I did buy a small battery operated fan made by Valtera that helps move the air. It sits on the bottom shelf & helps keep the air slowly moving inside the fridge. All things considered I'm a happy camper and even more so now that we're back in less humid weather

I'm curious, how long do the batteries last?