FRIDGES IN HOT WEATHER

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

FRIDGES IN HOT WEATHER

Tony Bev · Guru

Baz421 wrote:
Our Vitrifugo 12v van fridge overheated yesreday . Turned it on to go away today working fine (empty) at 2pm. Went to pack food in at 9PM NOT WORKING. COMPRESSOR kept trying to start and shut down. Aircon running in van fridge struggling 47 outside. Has worked ok at 42 deg before but 47 yesterday and parked in storage area was just too much. Much research on this model years ago indicated it was designed for European market with outside air temps up to 32 degrees. 11 years old so served us very well. So if your fridge is struggling i understand.

If I get 11 years out of mine, I will be very happy

My (smallish) 110 litre Evakool 12 volt fridge, is working OK in 42ºC outside temperature

It is a T+ rated and guaranteed to work up to 39ºC ambient temperature

What I find is that it cycles approximately 75% on, and 25% off, when the weatherman says 42ºC

This is OK for me, as I have 240 amp hour of batteries, and a total of 460 watt solar panels

It has the Secop (which I am led to believe purchased Danfoss) compressor

Baz421 · Guru

Whenarewethere wrote:
You can get the Noctua fans at Techbuy or Mwave
This is the one I used:
https://www.techbuy.com.au/p/319241/COOLING_FANS_120MM/Noctua/NF-F12-iPPC-2000.asp
https://www.mwave.com.au/product/noctua-120mm-nff12-industrial-ppc-ip67-2000rpm-pwm-fan-ab55451

Thanks for info,,,, it looks like the original Danfoss fan was 100cfm. Yours is 75% of that and so are the Jaycar ones I have elsewhere.

Just came across a guy who replaced his a with a 10cfm Noctua,,, says he's happy?????

Still investigating,,, the so called OEM fan supplied to me is less than the 67cfm Jaycar one ,,, at a guess I'd say 30-40cfm.

Back to Danfoss through an agent in Adelaide.

Lucky I have some time to sort this out,,, but again advice appreciated.

Cheers Baz

Baz421 · Guru

Danfoss don't want to know about this and said buy one somewhere else.

OK I found someone at Caravan show in Adelaide from 12V shop who is up with fans.

Tells me min 80cfm min up to 120cfm ideal, but 120 may be a bit noisy.

Have found a Sunon at 150 cfm but 4500 rpm so will try and let you know noise level,,,, but it's stated as 54dBA which is quite good.

Rated at IP68 so good rsistance for dirt, dust etc and water "proof" for 1.5m for up to 30 mins.

Other I looked at a computer shops etc not enough volume.

See how it goes.

T1 Terry · Guru

LUCKY LOZ wrote:
T1Terry regarding your post on 25.1.19 are you saying to just buy a 240 volt household fridge for a caravan. Just lost me there.
If so how would you run it when travelling?

Also would it be viable in your opinion to buy say a 75Ltr Waeco for travelling and have just a household fridge in van to fire up when in van parks when staying for 2 days or more.

Just learning.
Lucky Loz

We are in WA at the moment, travelled across the centre bit when the temps were extreme to say the least. Every stop we made people were throwing stuff out of their fridges and freezers, so pulling out an ice cold beer didn't always go down well, nor did my wife's digging icecream out of a tub for her iced coffee and complaining about having o leave it to warm to get the spoon into it, we did share ice cubes at happy hr though so all was forgiven smile

We have a rather old 240vac roughly 300ltr fridge/freezer and it still works fine, dents and all from the rough treatment it has received from a previous owner who did a very poor job of mounting it.

We will upgrade to an inverter style 240vac fridge/freezer when we do the refit, just so we have a nicer looking fridge, the lower power consumption over night will be a bonus. The latest model 240vac fridges complete with a dedicated inverter use less battery power than the equivalent 12v/24v compressor fridge and just work so much better it is without comparison, and they are auto defrost in both the fridge and the freezer. No need to add any extra insulation or added fans to get it to work in temperatures too high for the average person to work, they just need airflow up the sides and somewhere for the air to go after it reaches the top of the fridge. A vent outside as long as it is high enough to be above the top of the fridge, or leave the front top edge open and let the air flow inside the RV. Not that much extra heat involved that you'd notice it inside so no issues there, but I do like to add a fan in behind the compressor to move some air around it, it helps with the evaporator tray mounted above it to get the water out rather than drilling a hole and adding a drain tube outside. Each to their own I suppose, but I feel it kills 2 birds with the one stone

T1 Terry

-- Edited by T1 Terry on Tuesday 19th of February 2019 01:01:03 AM

Acres Greg · Newbie

Gday Hetho,

with your nova kool fridge how often do you have to defrost?

is it a dual compressor fridge?

what's power usage like?

I have a vitrofrigo dp2600 and Im over the constant defrosting. I have fitted a Karls kool fan for vents a small fan for inside, which has helped big time and doubled to tripled time to defrost, so from weekly in humid conditions to 3-4 weekly and when not humid from 3 weekly to two monthly.

greg

Acres Greg · Newbie

Gday Terry,

did you fit an inverter household fridge? Which brand/ model and how is it going?

Greg

woolman · Guru

Sounds like you might have too much voltage drop at the fridge. I found I was dropping almost 2v on startup on my waeco, turns out wiring was under size specified. Caravan ma ufacurer didn5want to know about it as they said it was ok when on 24p0 volt. Heavier wires and all was fixed.

Neil

yobarr · Guru

Acres Greg wrote:
Gday Terry,
did you fit an inverter household fridge? Which brand/ model and how is it going?
Greg

Hi Greg, Terry is unlikely to reply as he has not been a member here for over 4 years. I have an Evakool 175 litre fridge/freezer with no outside venting and no fan, but it works brilliantly after I doubled the size of the wiring. Cheers

-- Edited by yobarr on Tuesday 26th of December 2023 02:26:36 PM

Scubadoo · Veteran Member

Acres Greg wrote:
Gday Terry,
did you fit an inverter household fridge? Which brand/ model and how is it going?
Greg

As mentioned Terry has been absent for a while.

A few of us have installed mains powered domestic digital inverter fridges over the years.

Our $700 255l Samsung fridge and $100 300W PSW inverter have survived 9 years of full time travel with zero issues here in NZ.

The same fridge is still available here but I understand not in Australia.

I have seen various sized alternatives from LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic and Samsung.