Yes, installed fan in vent, and also one in fridge. Improved fridge to a noticeable degree. Vent fan wired to fridge circuit originally used to assist with condensation, wired in place of heater wires, allow to be turned on and off. Internal fan connected across door switch , only runs when door shut. Fridge is much improved in keeping stable temperature.
Roger
It's always worth installing a fan with an absorption fridge. A 2" or 3" one from e-bay for about $5 or $10 should do the trick. You can either wire in a manual switch (my preference) or use a simple temperature one. Probably the best place to fit the fan is near the higher vent so that it sucks hot air from the fridge cavity out of the vent.
__________________
"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
I used a mechanical temperature probe, as pic below. The one I purchased went from about 30º to 200º C I set it to about 50º C and had it controlling the earth wire, of the + and - wires from the house battery, to the 3 computer fans
I had installed the computer fans, on the upper vent grill of the fridge enclosure. I placed the probe in between the first and second fin of the condenser, as close to the pipe as I could. I made a sheet metal deflector, to ensure that when the fans were pulling air from the fridge area, to the atmosphere The incoming air from the lower grill, was going over the condenser and pipes.
I can confirm that with the fans working, hot air did come out of the top grill, and this air did start getting cooler
Unfortunately in my case, as the fridge was only N and not T rated, The fans did not help the fridge to stay cool in hot weather.
Hope that the info is useful to you
Hope you can get your problem sorted, I went to a 12 volt upright compressor fridge, T rated, and the wife swears by it, as it has never failed to keep the food cool
Some great suggestions posted so far, and here's my offering to go with them! My Dometic 3-way already had a place to wire in an optional fan - yours may have similar, so worth check out a wiring diagram online. I wired two fans into this, one at the bottom pulling air in and other at the top pushing air out, so they worked in conjunction with the natural air flow of hot air rising. Also installed a 3-way switch on the front of the fridge that allowed me to have the fans on, off, or controlled by a thermostatic switch so they came on automatically when the fridge was cooling. Oh and an LED to show me when they were running. Can't say how much difference just the fans by themselves made because I made a few other changes at the same time, but overall the fridge operated much better after my modifications. Did take a bit of time to tweak the position of the thermostatic switch so that the fans cycled on and off with the cooling mechanism, but once I got it right I left it on auto most of the time.
-- Edited by Mamil on Sunday 16th of August 2020 10:39:04 PM
Hi Wombat,
I haven't had to modify our current 3way fridge as yet but in our previous Jayco Eagle we had problems of that one not cooling during hot weather. I added two fans, one at the top (sucking) & one at the bottom (blowing) & both powered by a small 10w solar panel. I also shaded the side of the van over area of the fridge with shade cloth - had no further problems with cooling after that.
While we live in the tropics, all of the fridges sold there are "S" models. The "T" model (If you can find one) comes with a fan, I believe.
__________________
Warren
----------------
If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
I just put a simple battery operated fan from fleabay on one of the shelves inside the fridge and noticed a significant improvement in hot weather. I have a Thetford 184L T rated fridge. It comes standard with a switched fan. The shelf fan batteries last about a month continuously on. Does the job for me.
-- Edited by KM575 on Monday 17th of August 2020 07:17:59 PM
-- Edited by KM575 on Monday 17th of August 2020 07:29:38 PM
I just put a simple battery operated fan from fleabay on one of the shelves inside the fridge and noticed a significant improvement in hot weather. I have a Thetford 184L T rated fridge. It comes standard with a switched fan. The shelf fan batteries last about a month continuously on. Does the job for me.
-- Edited by KM575 on Monday 17th of August 2020 07:17:59 PM
-- Edited by KM575 on Monday 17th of August 2020 07:29:38 PM
We have the identical fridge. Often freezes the lettuce.
Has 2 x D cell batteries. I was sceptical of the advert it said would last for a month on 2 D cells. The fan spins slowly just enough to circulate the air inside the fridge. Seems to distribute the air so no cold or warm spots. I position it to blow over the internal fins, but it sometimes gets moved around a bit to fit items in better. On our last trip December to April from Perth to Tas and return the batteries did last almost exactly 1 month !! That includes 2 weeks stranded at Coolgardie WA (in 46c temperatures) due to bushfire road closures on the Nullabor. I was going to go the route of placing computer fans inside the external vents, but this works for me. I'll see if I can find the ad and share Edit - found the advert and have attached the blurb
-- Edited by KM575 on Tuesday 18th of August 2020 10:44:13 AM
