I didn't say that the insulation recomdation by manufactures could or should be done by individuals, I know that this is not possibile.

My reference to the point is that failure to do so by caravan/motor home builders could be a contributing factor for so many people having the same problems with their fridges, nothing more nothing less.

As for you acusations of being an idiot with an attitude & ranting, you are way out of line with that.

I have assisted many of the members here with relevent info to problems that have helped them in their situation, I have also meet many of the people & even helped the on site with issues, & a lot of non members as well & all have been very greatfull.

I personally think that three way fridges are a non event in hot conditions, I've had the portable camping  fridge & a freezer years back & they were hopless in the northern hot temps to the point where I got rid of them & went to compressor types & have no problems even in the NT temps.

My van has 3way , dont like it & would never have one in a van again, I have fitted two comp fans to the top vent controlled by a on/off switch manually.

This does help but they seem to be very tempermental things.

Have a look in the top RH corner of the attachment. You will see the GN forum spell checker there.

Most browsers have their own spell checker that also can be used.

Just as importasnt is to go searching for the shift key and use it where appropriate.

From an English Professor -- short and to the point

In the world of hi-tech gadgetry, I've noticed that more and more people who send text messages and emails have long forgotten the art
of capital letters. For those of you who fall into this category, please take note of the following statement:

"Capitalization is the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse and helping your uncle jack off a horse."

Clear now?

-- Edited by PeterD on Saturday 15th of December 2012 11:40:41 PM

.. this is so far removed from topic now .. the discussion has now turned to ones literate capacity .. and I find that most disgusting !!

 

Jon

-- Edited by biggles on Sunday 16th of December 2012 07:07:11 AM

biggles wrote:

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.. this is so far removed from topic now .. the discussion has now turned to ones literate capacity .. and I find that most disgusting !!

 

Jon

-- Edited by biggles on Sunday 16th of December 2012 07:07:11 AM

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 HEAR! HEAR!

I have fitted a 80mm computer fan to the outlet vent of the fridge on my last two vans, both Millards. It has improved the fridge performance considerably in hot weather. I believed it was the air flow over the fins that made the difference, but after reading this subject, I now feel it is  extracting the heated air from around the exterior fridge that makes the difference. There has been no insulation around the sides of the fridge. I suppose that comes down to production costs. I think most people would pay a little more for a better product.

Pete

3 way fridges are so slow to do their thing, it is no good waiting until the fridge starts to warm up before turning the fan on. If you susspect a hot day turn the fan on in the morning. This is why I would prefer a manual switch to a thermostat controled one. I use a DURATECH 80mm fan from jacar. 28cfm air flow & .1 amp current draw  (10 hrs to pull 1 amp from the battery). I run a 35 lt waceo in the car & cool anything warm  in it before going into the van fridge. If you watch the temperature guage on the waceo after putting a six pack in it, it's amazing how hot the fridge gets & how long it actually takes to cool it.

Pete

Nomad246 wrote:

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After you have had your silly little rant ,,,

let's come up with options to fix what we have that may not be installed as per your advice as manufacturers of the fridge recommendations

as you now state even you do not have insulation, but your ealier comments focused on it.

(snip)

Love to comply with your quoted fridge manufacturers proceedures ,,, but can't,,,, so why quote something that cannot be done

---

 A quick look down this thread will, I think, reveal that most of the ranting has come from you.

Regarding the insulation piece in the link on the first page. This is the first Dometic document I have seen that has specified insulation at the sides of the fridge. The Australian models handbook I have seen or downloads have all specified the fridges are to be slotted into a close fitting cabinet. Fridges installed that way work efficiently here.

As for the bit "so why quote something that cannot be done," something can and has been done. Read back through the forum. You will see occasions fridges have been fitted into cabinets that have large gaps at the sides of the fridge fridges with large spaces at the top and cases of the heat deflector not being fitted. Members have fitted fans without correcting these problems with little improvement.

You can improve the installations by inserting some insulation in the gap up the sides of the fridge. You only need sufficient to prevent hot air ingress to the side cavities for it to be effective. You then proceed to block the top gap in a similar manner and fit the heat shield Members who have subsequently done that have had a better improvement in performance than fitting the fans, the fans then just became the icing on the cake.

Other problems encountered are the fridge too far from the vans side wall and the top vent too low. The first is very easily fixed by glueing material on the side wall. Timber is OK or foam insulation if you can obtain a suitable adhesive. Make sure it goes the full width of the cabinet and to within 5 - 10 mm of the fins. You get no cooling of the fins if the air bypasses those fins, no matter how many fans you have, air will travel around them rather than take the turbulent path through them.

The top vent is a little harder to fix. If you cab see the ends of the fins through that top vent then the airflow will bypass a lot of the fin area. You need to fix that up. A local repairer fixed one of mine by adding another vent above the existing one and blocking off a lot of the bottom one. By taking out the horizontal frame member that was between the two vents there was enough gap up the cavity in the wall to get the draft up to the top vent. That improved the fridge performance out of sight and I did not have to fit fans. Another way of getting air flow to an additional top vent would be to build your own "spice shelf" above the fridge cabinet. You need to cut sufficient from the top of the cabinet and the wall to fit the second vent and get airflow to it. Just remember to close up the bottom vent to a level higher than the top of the fins.

All of the above needs to be done before you consider fitting fans.

patrolst wrote:

---

 the "Dometic" fridge installation procedures that I posted where it shows that the fridge should be installed with insulation down the sidewalls and top of the cabinet.

I doubt very much if the caravan manufactures would bother to carry out this installation procedure, a lot of the time and the fridge installs I have seen they have difficulty installing the directional heat baffle at the top outlet properly.

 

---

 

HI

All fridges will benifit from extra insulation

The thicker & the better the insulation factor the less heat that CAN GET INTO THE FRIDGE

 I cover my Engel with an old doona,  leaving the compressor end uncovered of course

I actually packed Styrafoam around my 3way, easy to force in & little mess

 

But if the condenser is running TOO  HOT & HOT refrigerent is entering the evaporator all the insulation will be of little use

Remember, we do not realy want to cool the boiler section ,we are paying for it to be HOT!!

Peter

-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Sunday 16th of December 2012 11:45:30 PM

Oldtrak ,,, have taken note of your comments,,, thanks for your expertise

Cheers

 

Thanks for your input PeterD, but you are trying to be offensive. Good try, but ignored.

Keep trying ,,,, do hards can succeed but rarely achieve.

I'm all for a fun place without having to slap overbearing people nor disappear into the distance from being subjected to "guru" rule attitudes

Lets have some meaningful idea exchanges instead of pompous attitudes

Ive just read these posts my goodness im alarmed that the webmaster has. Actualy let it continue how rude
To out somebody down for there spelling mistakes,my husband is terrible at spelling but he has a brain and two
Hands that can virtualy build and fix anything .

I cannot believe it that someone can be so small minded and talk about attitude of others then come out with
Dribble about people using spell check ,if you cant figure it out there is something drastic wrong because i can
Always make out what people mean even if they have made mistakes !!! No wonder people leave forums due to ignorance

-- Edited by glassies on Monday 17th of December 2012 10:44:23 PM

Delta18 wrote:

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justcruisin01 wrote:

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patrolst wrote:

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As the post did not display the correct details I included please find them here./

http://www.dometicrvcentre.com.au/documentmanager/item/421

-- Edited by patrolst on Tuesday 4th of December 2012 10:50:03 AM

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 This site shows insulation wool between the fridge & cabinates, both top & sides.

How many have got this?

We have the heat deflector plate as original equipment.

JC.

---

 

Good link there JC, thanks for that.

My fridge, 2453T , the 'T' is very important, it is TROPICAL rated, 121L

I have pushed insulating wool into the small space above the fridge and there is virtually no space between the cabinet sides and the walls of the recess.

The fridge works perfectly to me, on 12v traveling the difficulty is a tendency to freeze lettuce etc.  On gas or 240 I set the dial to 3.5 and then LEAVE it.  Most mornings the temp is 0 - 1deg c and by 6pm it may get up to 4.5c.

The mistake a lot of ppl make is 'chasing' the temp, they turn it up overnight and down during the day if the temp climbs a bit.  LEAVE it.

I have fitted a fan blowing out the top vent via a temp sensor on the heat tube for extreme climate conditions and also have done the sail-track with shade cloth to keep the sun off the fridge back.

I couldn't be happier with my 3 way.

Cheers Neil

---

 Thanks Neil for this info, you are the first to admitt to fitting some insulation where possibile & happy with the result.

This is the reason in the first place for drawing attention to the manufactures recomendations that is not carried out by installers as being a contributing factor to ongoing problems for many people, for which I was deemed an idiot with an attitude.

Your achievment & results strenghthen the point made.

Prior to Blaze starting this topic & reading the installation requirments I was in the process of looking at a suitable material to do what is recomended in the link as I beleived that this was a problem area.

I have since looked at the possibility of fitting the insulation as stated , there will be no problem in doing this accross the top & down the sides, & dont have to dismantle the van as suggested previously.

Once again, thanks Neil.

JC.

biggles wrote:

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Just for your info JC .. I've been doing tests with this product and I think it may be a good consideration for its ease of use as a gap/insulation around the fridge ..

so far I'm impressed with it .. food for thought eh !

http://www.industrysearch.com.au/Fire-Resistant-Expanding-Foam-Fula-Foam/p/88846

 

Jon

 

 

---

 I have successfully used this product for reasons unrelated to fridge insulation and had thought about for the van's fridge. However I have been wondering whether it would make subsequent removal of the fridge difficult if for some reason it became neccessary to do so.

I'd be interested in your comments.

Jim

Hi Jon,

Thanks very much for that very useful information. Just as well this thread got back on track.

cheers,

Jim

PS: I now seem to recall the product I used went under the Ramset brand but essentially the same stuff.