Are Fridge Fans Worth Fitting

[tufty]

We will be venturing south towards the med in June and having not tested the van in a hot climate we wondered how the fridge might perform - it's a dometic undercounter fridge with removable ice box (sorry don't know the model but was new last year). I'm a bit worried the wine won't be cold enough if truth be told! And that I might not have any ice! Thoughts on whether fitting a fridge fan would be a good idea would be welcome please. Also the likely costs and are they noisy? The fridge operates totally silently atm and I wouldn't like it if noisy as its right next to the bed. Many thanks for advice.

 

[makems]

I found with my fridge that it did not chill properly in very hot >30C temperatures and had a twin fan fitted which, together with a good clean of the burner and flue has sorted the problem.
Yes, I can hear the fan when it is running, but it isn't very intrusive and of course it doesn't run all the time. It has a sensor which means it only runs when the fridge is getting hot, and so it doesn't usually run at all at night.
Also the fan usually runs only when on gas. It doesn't seem to be needed when on EHU (but we are rarely on EHU). Somebody cleverer than me will probably be able to explain that!

 

[Neckender]

We had to fit a fan on our last motorhome An Auto Roller as 30 degrees it stopped working, fan cured this.
On our current van an Auto Sleeper Broadway I've fitted a twin fan with temperature sensor, our fan comes on with Gas and electric hook up too, We find that the fan noise is not intrusive.
If you look on the CAK tanks website they sell complete kits easy to install or you can make your own up with computer fans and bits off Ebay.

John.

 

[JJ]

YES.


JJ

 

[Reallyretired]

Made my own up with a 5" fan as I found the off the peg versions with those titchy fans didn't do much. I abandoned the auto thermostat switch as well and just put it on manually for a little while in the middle of the day when its extremely hot.

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[tufty]

Thanks everyone.... Found one on the CAK tank website? I like the sound of having some way of controlling it manually so we could turn it off at night if it wants to keep running when in auto mode. I couldn't bear even the mildest humming. This may seem a daft question (in fact I know it's a daft question!) Is it fitted by taking off the outside vent to get to the back of the fridge or does the fridge have to come out?

 

[Neckender]

Remove the fridge vents and you can fit the fan and switch and route your wiring. I wired mine to the leisure battery with a spade fuse in the wiring.

John.

 

[Sidney]

I noticed the other day that the manufacturer blurb said that there is no guarantee that the 12v system will maintain the correct temperature when driving and that a fan should be installed if temperatures of 35°c are likely.

But I had already fitted a twin fan with thermocoupler and auto/manual/off switch.

In truth I found that running on gas when driving keep the fridge cold and stops food from spoiling.

The fan runs when parked up on electricity or gas. At night it hardly ever operates. During the day it'll run 20-30% of the time.

The kits take about 15 minutes to fit and ten minutes to tidy up all the wires.

Cold fridge 3°C (max) and freezer is -18°C

Perfect!

 

[scotjimland]

YES

fit yourself or buy a kit .. can't hear mine running

 

[Jaws]

The Autotrail Chieftain has one fitted as standard but It never seems to work .. I suspect the thermocouple is not exactly in its best condition !!

One day I will sort it out but as it s extremely unlikely we will be seeing temperatures above 25 this year it is low on the to do list

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[jollyrodger]

Just made up top vent twin fans 12v from excisiting solar panels via dimmer switch to reduce power input
Fans from PC PSU

Broken Link Removed

Works very well and cost less than a tenner