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MOD: Refrigerator Cooling Fan
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Eastern Pennsylvania
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August 30, 2010 - 6:00 pm
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I've heard of a mod with installing a computer fan in your refrigerator and its suppost to either cool it faster or make it cooler?  Has anyone heard of this trick?  Does it work?

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December 5, 2010 - 10:51 pm
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Yes it works. Moves the air in the frig , helping cool faster. This link is to a project page that  friends have followed. Hope this is okay to post.
http://www.rv.net/forum/Index......299625.cfm

sorry if I'm not to do it this way.

Roger

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December 5, 2010 - 11:08 pm
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Sorry forgot to add that the fan install is toward the bottom of the first post.
Roger

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131 Posts
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January 15, 2011 - 8:32 am
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[quote author=JoeCamper link=topic=95.msg414#msg414 date=1283205656]
I've heard of a mod with installing a computer fan in your refrigerator and its suppost to either cool it faster or make it cooler?  Has anyone heard of this trick?  Does it work?

Yes it works, I had two of them on our pup which had the small 1.2 cu ft fridge or whatever it was. Before the fans the coldest it would go on an 85 degree day was maybe 45 or so, after it would start freezing the stuff in the back. I am going to put some in our hybrid but the way it is, with the 6.0 fridge I either will have to pull the fridge out from the inside or remove the roof vent to get the fans in. That's a spring project.

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January 15, 2011 - 10:01 am
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Old_Geezer,

Do you really need that fan?
I picked my Hybrid in June and it did spectacularly during the summer.
The Hybrid have the advantage of a tall chimney which helps tremendously with cooling.
We had plenty of ice in the freezer and cold in the fridge on hot days.

Lou

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January 16, 2011 - 9:27 am
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I added a fan to my last year.  It made a big diffrence in keeping the fridge cooler on hot summer days.  It helps to push all of the hot air that builds up behind the frige out.

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January 16, 2011 - 10:47 am
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I have yet begun to procrastinate! I have the fan, wires, and connectors it's just that there all sitting in the garage and not in the camper!!!

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January 21, 2011 - 2:24 am
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[quote author=Ranger Smith link=topic=95.msg2240#msg2240 date=1295103691]
Old_Geezer,

Do you really need that fan?
I picked my Hybrid in June and it did spectacularly during the summer.
The Hybrid have the advantage of a tall chimney which helps tremendously with cooling.
We had plenty of ice in the freezer and cold in the fridge on hot days.

Lou

Lou, do you happen to know my wife? lol, sure sounds like it. She will ask the same question. Most likely I do not need it, but unfortunately I can not leave nothing alone. especially anything with wires or electronics. I have a bad case of terminal moditits.

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Eastern Pennsylvania
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January 24, 2011 - 11:20 pm
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OK, I'm hoping to look around the internet and buy two fans for a March mod.  I've heard from many that this work very well.

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Eastern Pennsylvania
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January 27, 2011 - 10:17 pm
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Question: where do you wire the fans to?  I assume you only want them running when the fridge is running.

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January 28, 2011 - 7:33 am
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Joe,

You can use 12 volt computer case fans. There is 12 v in the back of the fridge you can tap into, but I would install a switch inside or in the rear of the fridge box so you can turn them off.

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Eastern Pennsylvania
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February 27, 2011 - 7:41 pm
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OK, I opened up the camper today and tried to test a few things with the refrigerator.

1) I checked the temp in the fridge before starting - 52 degrees
2) I turned on the fridge to A/C for 2 hours - 52 (no change) 🙁  I checked the outlet and fuses to make sure there was power. Any thoughts?
3) I then changed it to propane for 2 hours - dropped to 32.2  🙂
4) I've now change it back to A/C for overnight and see what happens after 12 hours?  :-

After I make sure that the A/C, D/C and propane work properly, I'm going to install 2 fans with a switch.  I assuming on the exterior, upper baffles, blowing out, to remove the heat build up?

What does anyone know about adding a thermodisc?

[smg id=207]
[smg id=206]

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Eastern Pennsylvania
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February 28, 2011 - 8:04 am
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This morning, with the fridge on A/C it was 35.3 degrees.  🙂

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333 Posts
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February 28, 2011 - 11:17 am
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[quote author=JoeCamper link=topic=95.msg414#msg414 date=1283205656]
I've heard of a mod with installing a computer fan in your refrigerator and its suppost to either cool it faster or make it cooler?  Has anyone heard of this trick?  Does it work?

There seem to be two fridge fan mods I've read about, external and internal.  The internal fan will help stir up the air inside the fridge and avoid warmer/cooler pockets and get the warm air onto the cooling fins, yielding more even temps and faster cooling of items within the fridge.  The external fan blows on the fins in the external fridge compartment and helps the system shed heat by keeping air flowing past the coils, and I would imagine make the cooling system a lot more efficient, especially on hotter days.

I haven't attempted either mod myself, but i was starting to collect parts to do the external fan mod.  With the new HTT, I may not need to do that any longer, or I'll need to modify my design.  I was going to use a quiet 1200rpm, 120mm fan sitting between the upper and lower access door.

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1573 Posts
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February 28, 2011 - 12:27 pm
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Joe, I did the fans mod in the Seapine and it made the frig work so much better to the point where we used the fan all the time. It made for much faster cooling and less propane/electric use.

I used a single 12 V fan attached to the backside of the vent grill at the top of the frig stack. ran the wires down to the 12v ones on the fridge. 30 minutes and done. Worked very well.

I assume I will do the same mod on the Flagstaff HW when I pick it up this weekend as that has a much larger frig.

Martini Glass The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything that they have!
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450 Posts
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February 28, 2011 - 4:29 pm
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I did the mod as well last year and made diffrence in frige temp.

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Eastern Pennsylvania
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March 8, 2011 - 12:58 pm
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I ran the fridge for 3 days in all 3 modes.  Worked great.  It takes forever for the AC and DC to cool it down but works well once there.

I worked on the fan mod in the rain over this past weekend.  The fans and air deflector plate are installed, switch and wiring still to be completed.

upper access panel removed.  pre-fan mod work
[smg id=214]
pre-air deflector plate
[smg id=215]
I installed a thin piece of wood to force the air across the back of the fridge and over the baffles (metal would work well too)
[smg id=216]
Two fans attached to the remaining aluminum L channel leftover from fixing my bunkend cross bar.
[smg id=217]
Switch and wiring will be completed soon. I hope.

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450 Posts
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March 8, 2011 - 2:15 pm
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I installed the fan similar to your way.  One of the things I want to do this spring is make the baffle.  All the pictures I have seen of this mod have been done with relectix.  This is what I am probably going to use.

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33 Posts
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March 8, 2011 - 2:41 pm
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When I did mine, I ran the power wire to a lighted switch inside near the fridge. I didn't want to have to run around the back and open the access panel everytime I wanted to turn them on or off. I used a lighted switch to make it obvious when the fans were running.
[Image Can Not Be Found]

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Eastern Pennsylvania
3894 Posts
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March 8, 2011 - 3:14 pm
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RhinoDave ,
Where did you get the 12V meter?  I have installed an indoor and outdoor 12V plug and like it.

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