KEEPING YOUR FRIDGE(S) COOL...

I noticed that my gas caravan fridge and my Waeco get very hot in hot weather.....so I came up with an idea which works well......(it may not be original so I won't take credit for being a genius).
I acquired a couple of fans from discarded computers......one I mounted on the inside of the caravan fridge vent panel
(near the top where the hot air rises to)....and I mounted it so it draws the hot air out thru' the vent.
I run it from a small 12 volt battery which I also use for my caravan burglar alarm system.
The second one I fitted to the mesh on the Waeco so it blows air in.... enough to disturb the build-up of hot air around the compressor.
The caravan fridge uses less gas because I was able to adjust the thermostat.
The fans only consume one quarter of an amp and are very quiet.....and best of all, the fans were free
(courtesy of the local computer guy)as will be all future ones.
I am considering fitting a second fan on the gas vent.

"Some men are born great, some achieve greatness whilst others have greatness thrust upon them".

great idea sandy Now i'll go scrounging through all my spare computer parts (old hobby of building computers... new hobby, making car fridges cool, lol)

thanks for the info

never had a problem with my Waco but did the same with the 3 way fridge in the van --works well!

Gday

I have been looking into the exact same thing of late and have come across a few items which will be of interest to you all, there is actually a set up that you can get on ebay that is purpose made for cooling fridges, its a small fan very much like the computer ones and it comes with a small solar panel that you mount outside somewhere, no power draw from you battery and runs when you need it the most.

Also there is another product called a Solar vent, which as the name suggests is solar powered, its a vent assembly that you can mount through windows, van roofs etc and it draws hot air out of your vehicle or van, you can also get one with a storge battery (still solar powered) and has a switch so you can switch it on at night if need be, also you can get reversable fans so that you can draw cool air in at night if you want.

I started out doing the same thing looking at how best to cool the fridge in the heat of the day and how to remove the hot air from the vehicle as well, but it would be preferable to be able to run it on solar as then you dont have to monitor it at all it will just do the job on its own, if you have your fridge mounted inside your vehicle then you not only have to increase the air flow in the fridge case but also have to be able to vent the hot air out of the vehicle.

Great idea though as even a small amount of air flow for the fridge will make a big difference on both its performance and its current draw, also as I have a stove inside the car I was thinking of using one of those computer fans for extracting cooking fumes and such.

cheers

stayyerAU

some nice little idears there might have a go with some of them

Hey Sandy. The only tweak I would have made is to mount the fan on the waeco to draw air out, not push air in. I'm not one to split hairs but a fan uses less energy when it draws air intead of pushing it. Another point would be that negative pressure creates lower temperature whereas positive pressure raises it (the same principle of which fridges are made). Good idea though, this years summer hasnt been as hot as years past but the humidity has been a killer.

-Trav

What I have found is that the transit covers are a dark colour so pull in a lot of heat, grab a front windscreen shade from a auto shop the silver reflective kind and place it over your fridge . A solar shade for $5 and keeps the fridge a lot cooler.

What happened to the Waeco refrigerant as a spare part? Over in WA we used to make up Fiberglas esky's with 2 inch sandwich foam & the ice would stay ice for at least a week in 40+ temps! Put the Waeco cell in one of these baby's! Home made versus manufactured, I know for sure which one will win.
Cheers~Chris.

nice one sandy i have 2 primus 3 way fridge/frezers and my mate told me about this about 2 years ago and the idea is so simple but works well when im camping out west
keep up the ideas
chears

Thanks great idea fellas. I have to tell the hubby to try it.
Franma ƒ