I hope these tips help out. Here are the links to the fans I was talking about. Fan For Vent. amzn.to/3OJo0ah Hardwired with switch. amzn.to/43TA6St Fan inside Fridge. amzn.to/3rYyGc7 Fan on inside fins amzn.to/3rYXe4S
I have experimented for the past few years with this idea that I will share with you all , Dometic recommended that there only be a 1 inch clearance from the back wall (outer wall) to the bottom boiler, two things that I have found eorks great for me, I built a false wall raised two inches from the bottom and running up the back of the fridge and stopping just beneath the upper cooling fins, this creates a true chimney effect. This partition goes from the left wall (when looking from the back of the fridge to the cumustion chamer and flue), I tgen placed another partion along side the round flue, raised up a few inches for cumbuston air and to allow air from the bottom to go up the flue and around it, the partion goes right up past the cooling fins to the top of the fridge cabinet, I temperature tested the round chamber when fridge was under a load, from 450 F to just over 500 F, my upper side wall vent allows for me to have the hot combusted air and gases go out the vent and not mix with the air that has gone through the upper cooling fins, prior too splitting and using two chambers, the hot gass from combustion were mixing with the air and depending on the length of your round combustion chamber, some of that hot air was also being sucked through the upper fins, we can not expext our upper fins to cool if the air is allowed to mix, with my frige on 4 out of 5 and tge trailer totally closed up and ambient temperature outide of 100.4 and inside trailer temperature of 107.6, my fridge woukd freeze a watter bottle in the main fridge area, i had install a Beach Lane and have also used Titan fridge cooling fans, and both work great, hope this helps,
Thanks Jared! When I was camping in in VA at 100+ - I placed a large 2 sq foot blower fan facing toward my fridge inlet vent, and it really helped keep things cooler than they were, and was a cheap quick-fix. - Cheers!
my grand design fan is so loud on the fridge i actually pulled the fuse to shut it off. pretty sure it was broken from the factory. some day i'll pull the fridge and replace it since they're just computer fans.... (no side access panel at the top, my vent is on the roof.)
If you have one of those days where it is just plane hot outside, sit a fan outside of the bottom vent on a ladder. Angle the fan where it blows up through the vents. It will make a huge difference.
At the start of your video where you are standing in front of your fridge. There is a nice big Thermometer type dispatch up on top of the door way. Where did you get that? :)
Wild how poorly thought out this is by RV makers. A max air vent mounted on the roof or side of your slide would be so easy to install rather than relying on the chimney effect. Give customers the ability to select thermostat control auto, on or off via a switch on the main control panel. Done!
RV fridges are the bane of my existence. I’d love to know how many people actually monitor the internal temp vs just feeling food that’s cooler than the ambient temp and thinking it’s all good. Currently on a DC compressor after the LP fridge couldn’t keep internal temp below 50 and still we have issues. Packing coolers just in case the fridge can’t keep up to humid hot summer weather is a major pain. Seeing how that wood piece is directing air made me realize our issues are probably bad engineering of the fridge space itself and not all the fault of the fridges.
I’m so glad I converted my Norcold 1200 series fridge to a J C Refrigeration compressor unit. My fridge is set on three and it stays at 34° and the two different freezer compartments are at 7° and 8°. Thanks for the video.
We used the JC Refrigeration dual compressor DC cooling unit. No more propane worries. Takes about 3 hours to cool down from the time it turns on. Better than 3 days. No more ice on the fins. Excellent replacement.
Love your stuff and we have the same Rv. I wired 3 intake fans on bottom and 2 exhaust on top. Zip tied them to the black covers and they are wired into the thermostat. Exhausts a ton of heat and has kept the fridge cold even in 100 degree temps. Best mod we’ve done.
I don't have fans on the back. My fridge wasn't cooling because it also was getting full sun. I needed shade. I have a chair umbrella that can be mounted anywhere on a chair. I put the chair behind the camper and attached the umbrella to it shading the lower vent. Worked like a champ. Neighbors probably thought I was wacked...
We just bought our first camper and the fridge won't chill down past 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Freezer goes down to zero but that's it. We haven't even had our first trip as this problem is taking us back to the shop. 😢 How can we manage to put humans into space but can't make an RV fridge that works? So disappointed.
Absorption Refers just don’t cool well in the 90-95 range and worse 95 to 100, over a 100 don’t plan on eating ice cream. That’s it,… end of story. If you are a desert rat, then you need a compressor refer and the DC solar to drive it. I prefer high latitudes and a gas absorption serves me well.
Hubby says, "Any engineer that invents something, needs to install it, take it a part in hot sweltering or freezing conditions and put it back together again, then redesign it. !!"
Hi, this is Lou. What kind of fans do you recommend. I mean what is the brand that’s the one that you think is the best that has the best flow. Thanks a bunch.
In enjoyed seeing what to look for when buying. I think this important for the rookie Rv buyer. Something you may want make a video on. High Rise rear tail lights. I had a friend get rear ended by the 3rd vehicle back , because he did not see the low tail light on most trailer. Since I have added 17” led 3 wire tail lights to my 5th wheel . 4 other friends have done the same. And they cost much. I could send you a photo? Brian
Also when we took it to the dealer they took out the baffle & said try it. I told then they prob had it there for a reason then forest river told then what to but still not as good as our 2005 fridge. The stuff these days just is not as good
Our fridge vent's out the top of our RV. I installed the Titan dual 120mm fan kit on the top vent and mounted the controller inside just below the fridge. Just doing that made a MASSIVE difference. It used to take 24 hours for our fridge to do the initial cool down before a trip, now it takes about 8. I can park in the blazing sun and not worry about fridge temps. Always 0-10 F in the freezer and 33-36 F in the fridge. Opted not to use the thermostat feature on it, instead just run them full tilt until its cool, then at 3-4 setting to maintain. Very quiet, don't hear them. Worth every penny.
I have seen in the past from other video creators, on the inside of the refrigerator on the fins is a black tab. By changing the location of that black tab, changes your refrigerator temperature.
Best thing I did was switch to a residential fridge. 3 years later and 30,000 miles and 34° in the refrigerator and -2 in the freezer all the time no matter the outside temperature.
As others have already mentioned in the comments, be sure to check the specs called for by the fridge manufacture on spacing behind the fridge. I just replaced our RV fridge and it allowed me to get a good look at the wall and openings specs they call for. And they were NOT the right spacings needed. It's odd that the original install wasn't done properly when it's so clear in the manual, it told me exactly the spacing needed and where to put baffles, etc.
With the double door refrigerator - make sure the center flap is completely engaging. Check and clean the track it goes in and around all of the seal to make sure it is sealing tight. Just a small leak will make a significant impact. The same lubricant you use for your slide seals can be used to make sure the fridge seals are nice and supple, but you can also just wipe them with some Vaseline jelly.
We have two (2) fans in our smaller than yours refrigerator and it really helps. I did notice you don’t have any slide toppers and although ours is over our dinette, it helps out a lot on the ceiling. Thanks for all your hints and ideas. 🇺🇸
The previous owner of our RV added a fan from a computer to the inside of the refrigerator which helps circulate the cool air inside the refrigerator a whole lot.
Nice hack. I noticed that your top vent dead heads and doesn’t “steer” the airflow out of the cabinet. Our trailer has a curved tin piece to direct the air flow out.
The intake and exhaust from the side design is not as good as the exhaust on the roof working like a chimney. I see they couldn't make it that way because of the slide. We put fans like yours on the bottom cover to draw air in directly from the outside. Ray from "Love Your RV" has a video on that. We used the same setup and it works. With 90-100 degreee weather we noticed a big difference in temperature in both refrigerator and freezer. Like all things RV, you gotta do what you gotta do! Thanks Jared!
That board placement is making that fridge not work, and why you have to use the fans all the time. It should be back further so the only keeps the air from the fans to blow through the condenser, and allow the heat from the heater below to bypass it and keep the area cooler. Also, a lower temp fan switch would make that automatic.
Good question. I don’t like the direct fans on the lower vent just blowing air in for the reasons you mentioned but I do like the fans that blow up to get the heat moving up and out or a fan on the upper vent blowing out to do the same. The one additional fan I had in there was also blowing up not just straight in on the bottom. Thanks for watching! you’ve been around a while if you remember that from the older video.
@@AllAboutRVs ok so I bought the Titan fan that you mentioned that goes on the plastic vent cover I already have the two 5.5 inch beech lane fans on the black side vent on top of slide not roof I have a dometic LP refrigerator so with the ones on top should I not use the titan on the bottom intake side?
I'll give this a try! I'm skeptical because the thermostat should know it's warm. I've done a solid tarp with good results, though we prefer trees! Of course! I'm considering some added thermal barrier on the slideside. (Or rig is very similar) Our hack is to bring in the slide when we're outfor the day. That really insulates the fridge, especially if the AC is on. So perhaps a mylar film on the side or thin insulation will be enough. Got any ideas?
YUP, the frig's that don't vent out of the roof are a big problem. I added another fan and used sheet metal to guide the air towards the evaporator (like the board you have but mine angles towards the evap), and then another piece of sheet metal curved like a dome just above the top vent to guide the heat out, so it doesn't build up in the area above the vent. If you could look at what I did from a side view, the way I formed the sheet metal would look like a question mark. You can actually stand in front of my vents and feel the hot air blow out of the top one (my top vent is 8 ft off the ground). Did that 5 years ago and it's been kick'n cold ever since!
I have tried all of these things and at best absorption fridges are crap! your tips helped some but our next RV will have a residential fridge with an invertor and a few big lithium batteries on our next rig!!! Keep the excellent videos coming. WE enjoy all your tips in layman's terms and most are not to technical for all us dummies. LOL!
We actually cover the sun side of our trailer with sun shade bought a roll from home depot held by suction cups found on Amazon, we camp in Arizona so we know heat .
Good idea but I have heard that the circuit board can be bad as it does not keep the fans on long enough or turn the burner on. We had the dealer look at ours every year since we bought it. Forest river had them add 2 right at the top vent but it still does not stay on long enough. Like the temp will say 42 but nothing is running then when the come on they do not stay on for long. We did add fans that attach to the fins inside the fridge which helps circulate the cold air & does feel colder. I think this circuit board might need replaced as I saw another video about this. All the Domestic fridges are junk
Those fans are the same 4 inch fans used in personal computers to keep them cool. At work, we leave our computers on 24 hours a day full time! They can be wired up to run alk the time in your RV as well
Years ago we added a small fan inside. Works wonders. Just a couple of weeks ago we were in the mid 90’s and in the direct sun. For. Quick fix I just remove both vents during the heat of the day. Not the best solution but worked until I got home to add a couple fans
I usually have a long table setup along the side of my camper where we plug in our appliances. I have a Vornado fan that I use up against the vent to push air into the fridge. Works great and the speed is variable.
I did a trial and tried fans; my absorption refrigerator had no fans, to begin with. I found my best hack was to remove the upper and lower covers during the daytime. I did not need to use fans at all.
To regulate the fans coming on at a set temperature. I use an adjustable attic fan thermostat. I set my normally at 85. Seems to improved cooling a lot. Nice video. Thanks
Ive renamed ours to Nevercold because we had the same issues. I now have double fans inside the fridge and outside mounted on the back of the top vent cover. Ours does much better now
I put a switch in addition to the thermal switch on my external fans so I can turn time them on if needed. I also have two usb fans inside the fridge that run off power banks.
I have the same fridge and it works great but being in Florida all the black piping has surface rust on it. I did mount a extra fan on the bottom to help push air it. I did have to have 2 doors on my fridge because they did not seal. Wish they would add some insulation around the outside of the fridge and in the walls of the camper. We have a 2021 260 RD.
Yup, fans do help. I use a small cheap USB powered fan (I think from the Dollar store) and it circulates enough air inside the fridge to make a difference.
It’s just a clock we picked up from Walmart that has indoor and outdoor temp. We used Velcro command strips to attach it to the wall and it has the buttons on top to change time zones when we need to.
Cool idea. I need that. Might could add a dpst switch to toggle between the constant on and thermostat. Or add a second thermostat that will cut a third fan at a lower temp or higher temp.
Not dumb, good question. It’s just the thermostat for the fans and doesn’t effect the rest of the fridge. It functions as normal just running cooler now.
I think they would work best on the top to pull the air up and out. On our last RV that’s how we did it and it worked great. We ran the wires down to the bottom vent for the controls
The shutter on the camera makes it look like it is spinning slow but it’s operating normally. It was a different size because we had to replace it shortly after getting the RV.
So I came across a video stating you should not run your refrigerator while traveling, is this accurate? Makes no sense to me to pack a cooler with food to put in the fridge when I arrive at my destination..
We turn our propane off and run it off our inverter. There are many opinions on it but many places you have to turn off propane like tunnels and fueling stations so we turn it off to make it easy.
@@AllAboutRVs thank you, yeah, my refrigerator only runs off of electricity no propane, the video I saw made it sound like the refrigerator should be level. If not, it would ruin it in the long run.
My RV dealer said, "No problems" to run the propane while driving. After learning how the Fridge actually operates on propane, I would never operate it while driving. I'm running my fridge 2 days before I leave with all the stuff in it so everything is cooled down. In the freezer, I put reusable icepacks in it. That keeps everything cool until I get to my next stop. And yes, the fridge, because of chemical reaction, must be level so all the things flow thu the system properly. If it's not level, some of the chems start to pool up and clog the flow. The up side, by using it correctly, it allows me to boondock for up to a month on a tank of propane.
I hope these tips help out. Here are the links to the fans I was talking about.
Fan For Vent. amzn.to/3OJo0ah
Hardwired with switch. amzn.to/43TA6St
Fan inside Fridge. amzn.to/3rYyGc7
Fan on inside fins amzn.to/3rYXe4S
We had a 2110 changed it out to a120v refrigerator and a ice maker after we installed solar best upgrade ever
I have experimented for the past few years with this idea that I will share with you all , Dometic recommended that there only be a 1 inch clearance from the back wall (outer wall) to the bottom boiler, two things that I have found eorks great for me, I built a false wall raised two inches from the bottom and running up the back of the fridge and stopping just beneath the upper cooling fins, this creates a true chimney effect. This partition goes from the left wall (when looking from the back of the fridge to the cumustion chamer and flue), I tgen placed another partion along side the round flue, raised up a few inches for cumbuston air and to allow air from the bottom to go up the flue and around it, the partion goes right up past the cooling fins to the top of the fridge cabinet, I temperature tested the round chamber when fridge was under a load, from 450 F to just over 500 F, my upper side wall vent allows for me to have the hot combusted air and gases go out the vent and not mix with the air that has gone through the upper cooling fins, prior too splitting and using two chambers, the hot gass from combustion were mixing with the air and depending on the length of your round combustion chamber, some of that hot air was also being sucked through the upper fins, we can not expext our upper fins to cool if the air is allowed to mix, with my frige on 4 out of 5 and tge trailer totally closed up and ambient temperature outide of 100.4 and inside trailer temperature of 107.6, my fridge woukd freeze a watter bottle in the main fridge area, i had install a Beach Lane and have also used Titan fridge cooling fans, and both work great, hope this helps,
Really good information, thanks for sharing.
Thanks Jared!
When I was camping in in VA at 100+ - I placed a large 2 sq foot blower fan facing toward my fridge inlet vent, and it really helped keep things cooler than they were, and was a cheap quick-fix. -
Cheers!
Love the sun screen we live in Arizona
You sir are a genius and a valuable asset. Thanks for sharing this and showing us how to make our everyday RV living better.
Glad it was helpful!
I live full time in AZ. Bought a fan for inside fridge but not helping staying between 60-70 degrees. Freezer around 30.
I was getting too much sun on the back of my refrigerator I put reflective strips on the back seem to help
In the learning phase of RV life. Nice!!!! You get a sub!!! ❤❤😊😊 Jeannie in Lakeport California
You could put those on a toggle switch so you can switch between always on or temp controlled
Not a bad idea.
Need to have A Vent to Air flow on that wood have it flip open & close when needed.
my grand design fan is so loud on the fridge i actually pulled the fuse to shut it off. pretty sure it was broken from the factory. some day i'll pull the fridge and replace it since they're just computer fans.... (no side access panel at the top, my vent is on the roof.)
not a problem. my problem is can't get temp above 0 degrees after de-icing the fins.
Some good tips Jared, thanks!
Any time!
Hi Jared I installed a twin fan in the fridge also a fan on the outside vent and made a huge difference great video
Hey you ever thought of buying a hole in the water so that you sail away and work on it $$$ I am sure you'd do well with your improve and fix it :)
If you have one of those days where it is just plane hot outside, sit a fan outside of the bottom vent on a ladder. Angle the fan where it blows up through the vents. It will make a huge difference.
I considered that but this way I didn’t have to get another fan and set anything up.
Thank you for this info and links to the equipment. We’re having cooling issues. Do you have a link for the thermostat you’re using?
I searched on the channel, but can't find one. Do you have a vid on the fan board cover hack?
At the start of your video where you are standing in front of your fridge. There is a nice big Thermometer type dispatch up on top of the door way. Where did you get that? :)
12v compressor rv fridge with vent fans the best solution
Yes we almost swapped out to a 12v fridge last year.
Wild how poorly thought out this is by RV makers. A max air vent mounted on the roof or side of your slide would be so easy to install rather than relying on the chimney effect. Give customers the ability to select thermostat control auto, on or off via a switch on the main control panel. Done!
Great video. One thing you can do is move the top of the baffle in farther to force the airflow over the fins.
RV fridges are the bane of my existence. I’d love to know how many people actually monitor the internal temp vs just feeling food that’s cooler than the ambient temp and thinking it’s all good. Currently on a DC compressor after the LP fridge couldn’t keep internal temp below 50 and still we have issues. Packing coolers just in case the fridge can’t keep up to humid hot summer weather is a major pain. Seeing how that wood piece is directing air made me realize our issues are probably bad engineering of the fridge space itself and not all the fault of the fridges.
Yes I think I am going to push that baffle back and add one at the top to direct the air out.
I’m so glad I converted my Norcold 1200 series fridge to a J C Refrigeration compressor unit. My fridge is set on three and it stays at 34° and the two different freezer compartments are at 7° and 8°. Thanks for the video.
Yea the J.C. Refrigeration is a great conversion.
We used the JC Refrigeration dual compressor DC cooling unit. No more propane worries. Takes about 3 hours to cool down from the time it turns on. Better than 3 days. No more ice on the fins. Excellent replacement.
Love your stuff and we have the same Rv. I wired 3 intake fans on bottom and 2 exhaust on top. Zip tied them to the black covers and they are wired into the thermostat. Exhausts a ton of heat and has kept the fridge cold even in 100 degree temps. Best mod we’ve done.
Glad it’s working well for you!
I don't have fans on the back. My fridge wasn't cooling because it also was getting full sun. I needed shade. I have a chair umbrella that can be mounted anywhere on a chair. I put the chair behind the camper and attached the umbrella to it shading the lower vent. Worked like a champ. Neighbors probably thought I was wacked...
Haha, but it worked and your food was cold.
We just bought our first camper and the fridge won't chill down past 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Freezer goes down to zero but that's it.
We haven't even had our first trip as this problem is taking us back to the shop. 😢
How can we manage to put humans into space but can't make an RV fridge that works?
So disappointed.
Absorption Refers just don’t cool well in the 90-95 range and worse 95 to 100, over a 100 don’t plan on eating ice cream. That’s it,… end of story. If you are a desert rat, then you need a compressor refer and the DC solar to drive it. I prefer high latitudes and a gas absorption serves me well.
This is a perfect example of why we’ll never have a gas/electric fridge. Great information as always!
Hubby says, "Any engineer that invents something, needs to install it, take it a part in hot sweltering or freezing conditions and put it back together again, then redesign it. !!"
There is always something to learn on these tips. 👍👍
Thank you!
With all that air movement, would an air filter be needed? Could only imagine what gets sucked in there while running “continuously”…
I noticed that the upper exterior fins seemed dirty as well as the fan blades, cleaning them off would help!!
Hi, this is Lou. What kind of fans do you recommend. I mean what is the brand that’s the one that you think is the best that has the best flow. Thanks a bunch.
In enjoyed seeing what to look for when buying. I think this important for the rookie Rv buyer. Something you may want make a video on. High Rise rear tail lights. I had a friend get rear ended by the 3rd vehicle back , because he did not see the low tail light on most trailer. Since I have added 17” led 3 wire tail lights to my 5th wheel . 4 other friends have done the same. And they cost much. I could send you a photo?
Brian
Wouldn't it be better for those black vent panels to be white. Reflect the sun instead of absorbing heat?
Also when we took it to the dealer they took out the baffle & said try it. I told then they prob had it there for a reason then forest river told then what to but still not as good as our 2005 fridge. The stuff these days just is not as good
We have a 12V fridge. Have any hacks for one of those guys?
Does your refrigerator have issues because it is in a slide out?
Our fridge vent's out the top of our RV. I installed the Titan dual 120mm fan kit on the top vent and mounted the controller inside just below the fridge. Just doing that made a MASSIVE difference. It used to take 24 hours for our fridge to do the initial cool down before a trip, now it takes about 8. I can park in the blazing sun and not worry about fridge temps. Always 0-10 F in the freezer and 33-36 F in the fridge. Opted not to use the thermostat feature on it, instead just run them full tilt until its cool, then at 3-4 setting to maintain. Very quiet, don't hear them. Worth every penny.
Very nice!
Put A Cover on the outside of the RV for the Fridge.
My fridge was not cooling. Found that kitchen slide was a full bubble off front to back. Had to fiddle with nuts on ram to adjust. Works great now
The word “ hack” is way overused😂
I have seen in the past from other video creators, on the inside of the refrigerator on the fins is a black tab. By changing the location of that black tab, changes your refrigerator temperature.
Good point to mention. Yes on our last fridge that was the only way to change it but here we needed more airflow.
Great information Jared, thanks for sharing… a lot of folks will benefit from this.
Thanks Ross!
Best thing I did was switch to a residential fridge. 3 years later and 30,000 miles and 34° in the refrigerator and -2 in the freezer all the time no matter the outside temperature.
They are dependable.
As others have already mentioned in the comments, be sure to check the specs called for by the fridge manufacture on spacing behind the fridge. I just replaced our RV fridge and it allowed me to get a good look at the wall and openings specs they call for. And they were NOT the right spacings needed. It's odd that the original install wasn't done properly when it's so clear in the manual, it told me exactly the spacing needed and where to put baffles, etc.
With the double door refrigerator - make sure the center flap is completely engaging. Check and clean the track it goes in and around all of the seal to make sure it is sealing tight. Just a small leak will make a significant impact.
The same lubricant you use for your slide seals can be used to make sure the fridge seals are nice and supple, but you can also just wipe them with some Vaseline jelly.
We have two (2) fans in our smaller than yours refrigerator and it really helps. I did notice you don’t have any slide toppers and although ours is over our dinette, it helps out a lot on the ceiling. Thanks for all your hints and ideas. 🇺🇸
Yes we have thought about slide toppers. I imagine they would help with heat.
The previous owner of our RV added a fan from a computer to the inside of the refrigerator which helps circulate the cool air inside the refrigerator a whole lot.
Nice hack. I noticed that your top vent dead heads and doesn’t “steer” the airflow out of the cabinet. Our trailer has a curved tin piece to direct the air flow out.
Yes good idea. I think I’m going to add one.
Some of them have a very rudimentary thermostat in the form of a slider on the cooling fins inside also.
Yes good point, I should have mentioned the thermistor and settings were set as cold as it could go before I made the fans stay on.
The intake and exhaust from the side design is not as good as the exhaust on the roof working like a chimney. I see they couldn't make it that way because of the slide. We put fans like yours on the bottom cover to draw air in directly from the outside. Ray from "Love Your RV" has a video on that. We used the same setup and it works. With 90-100 degreee weather we noticed a big difference in temperature in both refrigerator and freezer. Like all things RV, you gotta do what you gotta do! Thanks Jared!
Thanks!
That board placement is making that fridge not work, and why you have to use the fans all the time. It should be back further so the only keeps the air from the fans to blow through the condenser, and allow the heat from the heater below to bypass it and keep the area cooler. Also, a lower temp fan switch would make that automatic.
Good ideas, I’m probably going to change up that baffle and change the top too to direct the air out better.
Just got back from Arizona. It was 116 in Needles. We lost all our food because the fridge couldn’t keep up. Thanks for the tip I’m putting in fans.
That’s a bummer, glad it helped.
outstanding TIPS again..... I have the same refrig but smaller only 1 door
Thanks!
I thought you said on another video not to use fans on the bottom because it would put the flame out so I am a little confused?
Good question. I don’t like the direct fans on the lower vent just blowing air in for the reasons you mentioned but I do like the fans that blow up to get the heat moving up and out or a fan on the upper vent blowing out to do the same. The one additional fan I had in there was also blowing up not just straight in on the bottom. Thanks for watching! you’ve been around a while if you remember that from the older video.
@@AllAboutRVs ok so I bought the Titan fan that you mentioned that goes on the plastic vent cover I already have the two 5.5 inch beech lane fans on the black side vent on top of slide not roof I have a dometic LP refrigerator so with the ones on top should I not use the titan on the bottom intake side?
Meanwhile, I've been in record breaking Texas heat for the last 2 summers and my fridge has been on Antarctica!!
Great info Thank You
Loving my 12v DC fridge 😂
Boondocking for 5 days.. propane is the only way.
I'll give this a try! I'm skeptical because the thermostat should know it's warm.
I've done a solid tarp with good results, though we prefer trees! Of course!
I'm considering some added thermal barrier on the slideside. (Or rig is very similar) Our hack is to bring in the slide when we're outfor the day. That really insulates the fridge, especially if the AC is on. So perhaps a mylar film on the side or thin insulation will be enough. Got any ideas?
First off ❤️ your content. Keep up the great work!
Quick question, what digital sensor are you using with Bluetooth?
YUP, the frig's that don't vent out of the roof are a big problem. I added another fan and used sheet metal to guide the air towards the evaporator (like the board you have but mine angles towards the evap), and then another piece of sheet metal curved like a dome just above the top vent to guide the heat out, so it doesn't build up in the area above the vent. If you could look at what I did from a side view, the way I formed the sheet metal would look like a question mark. You can actually stand in front of my vents and feel the hot air blow out of the top one (my top vent is 8 ft off the ground). Did that 5 years ago and it's been kick'n cold ever since!
I have tried all of these things and at best absorption fridges are crap! your tips helped some but our next RV will have a residential fridge with an invertor and a few big lithium batteries on our next rig!!! Keep the excellent videos coming. WE enjoy all your tips in layman's terms and most are not to technical for all us dummies. LOL!
We actually cover the sun side of our trailer with sun shade bought a roll from home depot held by suction cups found on Amazon, we camp in Arizona so we know heat .
Good idea but I have heard that the circuit board can be bad as it does not keep the fans on long enough or turn the burner on. We had the dealer look at ours every year since we bought it. Forest river had them add 2 right at the top vent but it still does not stay on long enough. Like the temp will say 42 but nothing is running then when the come on they do not stay on for long. We did add fans that attach to the fins inside the fridge which helps circulate the cold air & does feel colder. I think this circuit board might need replaced as I saw another video about this. All the Domestic fridges are junk
What amp fuse did you use to bypass the thermostat?
Any size will works, those fans use only tiny power.
Ya MikeMason746 is right, I just grabbed any fuse, they are a real low draw.
Those fans are the same 4 inch fans used in personal computers to keep them cool. At work, we leave our computers on 24 hours a day full time! They can be wired up to run alk the time in your RV as well
Years ago we added a small fan inside. Works wonders. Just a couple of weeks ago we were in the mid 90’s and in the direct sun. For. Quick fix I just remove both vents during the heat of the day. Not the best solution but worked until I got home to add a couple fans
I usually have a long table setup along the side of my camper where we plug in our appliances. I have a Vornado fan that I use up against the vent to push air into the fridge. Works great and the speed is variable.
I did a trial and tried fans; my absorption refrigerator had no fans, to begin with. I found my best hack was to remove the upper and lower covers during the daytime. I did not need to use fans at all.
To regulate the fans coming on at a set temperature. I use an adjustable attic fan thermostat. I set my normally at 85. Seems to improved cooling a lot. Nice video. Thanks
Ive renamed ours to Nevercold because we had the same issues. I now have double fans inside the fridge and outside mounted on the back of the top vent cover. Ours does much better now
Adding the fuse in there is a permanent solution? Would it not eventually burn out those fans and cause a fire?
I had to add some fans to my last RV as well. I actually mounted mine next to the fins though to pull the heat away.
I put a switch in addition to the thermal switch on my external fans so I can turn time them on if needed. I also have two usb fans inside the fridge that run off power banks.
I have the same fridge and it works great but being in Florida all the black piping has surface rust on it. I did mount a extra fan on the bottom to help push air it. I did have to have 2 doors on my fridge because they did not seal. Wish they would add some insulation around the outside of the fridge and in the walls of the camper. We have a 2021 260 RD.
Buy a 12 volt one
Not if you're boondocking.
If you are of the engineering mindset, you can mount the fans on onto the fins themselves.
Next rig will have a residential refer.
Great hack, thank you!
Great video as always.
Great idea. Thanks for showing how to do this!
Yup, fans do help.
I use a small cheap USB powered fan (I think from the Dollar store) and it circulates enough air inside the fridge to make a difference.
Nice!
As always, another great video! Love your stuff. Side questions. What weather station is that that you have above the bunk room door? Thanks
It’s just a clock we picked up from Walmart that has indoor and outdoor temp. We used Velcro command strips to attach it to the wall and it has the buttons on top to change time zones when we need to.
Our 12v compressor fridge fluctuates a bit but also gets down to 30F sometimes and freezes stuff in the corner of our fridge.
Refrig should be about 40F. 30 and 32 are WAY too cold!
Great video
Cool idea. I need that. Might could add a dpst switch to toggle between the constant on and thermostat. Or add a second thermostat that will cut a third fan at a lower temp or higher temp.
Good call!
I may sound dumb when I ask my question. Does the refrigerator shut off at all when the thermostat is bypassed?
Not dumb, good question. It’s just the thermostat for the fans and doesn’t effect the rest of the fridge. It functions as normal just running cooler now.
@@AllAboutRVs Thank you
On some RV models, like mine, the upper vent is on the roof not on the side.
How would you place the fans for that setup?
I think they would work best on the top to pull the air up and out. On our last RV that’s how we did it and it worked great. We ran the wires down to the bottom vent for the controls
I've seen another vid where someone installed fans under the top vent cover.
What is wrong with your left fan
The shutter on the camera makes it look like it is spinning slow but it’s operating normally. It was a different size because we had to replace it shortly after getting the RV.
So I came across a video stating you should not run your refrigerator while traveling, is this accurate? Makes no sense to me to pack a cooler with food to put in the fridge when I arrive at my destination..
We turn our propane off and run it off our inverter. There are many opinions on it but many places you have to turn off propane like tunnels and fueling stations so we turn it off to make it easy.
@@AllAboutRVs thank you, yeah, my refrigerator only runs off of electricity no propane, the video I saw made it sound like the refrigerator should be level. If not, it would ruin it in the long run.
My RV dealer said, "No problems" to run the propane while driving. After learning how the Fridge actually operates on propane, I would never operate it while driving. I'm running my fridge 2 days before I leave with all the stuff in it so everything is cooled down. In the freezer, I put reusable icepacks in it. That keeps everything cool until I get to my next stop.
And yes, the fridge, because of chemical reaction, must be level so all the things flow thu the system properly. If it's not level, some of the chems start to pool up and clog the flow.
The up side, by using it correctly, it allows me to boondock for up to a month on a tank of propane.
Good information thanks 😊
Thanks!
Thank you for the tip
You bet!
Thanks Jarod 👍🏻
You’re welcome.
Good stuff
Appreciate it, thanks!