Last time I was dry camping it got warm, high 90's. I noticed that the RV freezer was not freezing water bottles overnight like it usually does. Its a Dometic double door fridge that usually works great. The sun was on the fridge side of the RV most of the day the way it was parked, which was a bonehead move on my part.
I read up on the electric/propane combo fridges and there were several posts about tight clearances around the back of the fridge not allowing enough air flow. The space in back of the fridge is tight on my RV, and my parents (they used to own it) complained a few times about it not cooling well in hot weather. Several posts on RV forums talk about using 12 volt computer fans to increase air flow over the coils. I decided to give it a shot, using 4, 50mm (about 2") square 12 volt computer fans. They are small and I can spread them out to maximize air flow. I spent a day pondering how to install them after they arrived. I ended up epoxying two old pieces of 2" wide faux wood blind slats together to make them thick enough so the fans would clear the coils. The blind slats are here, they are easy to work with, very light weight, and can stand up to hot conditions. You can cut them with a box cutter type blade. I used epoxy and wood screws to mount the fans to the fan mount. I mounted the slats / fan mounts to the top inside lip of the fridge access hatch frame. I am sure I spent way more time than I needed, but I wanted to make the mount as small as possible so it didn't interfere with air flow while the fans are not in use. The end result is a nice flow of air with all four fans and the switch light pulling .29 amps. I can run those fans 24 hours a day while dry camping when its hot and it should help the fridge cool. I located a screw type terminal that is a constant + so I didn't have to do any splicing of the original wiring. I have the fridge on propane with the fans running now and will check it in the morning. I went up on the roof and could feel the air being pushed out of the fridge vent.
I didn't get any pictures of this pre-installed, so here it is installed. The surface rust on everything is because the RV has been going to the beach since it was new and the manufactures don't really care. I thought about figuring out how to get the fans dead center in the middle of the coils, but then the mount would be blocking the vents. I could run individual mounts with some thin flat bar but I think this should work since I can feel the air being pushed out the vent. If this doesn't work as well as I hope, I will probably zip tie a little bit larger fans directly to the bottom of the coils.
I didn't plan this, but I can turn the fan switch off and on through the hatch's grate, and I can see the switch light as well. Fans are very quiet.
I read up on the electric/propane combo fridges and there were several posts about tight clearances around the back of the fridge not allowing enough air flow. The space in back of the fridge is tight on my RV, and my parents (they used to own it) complained a few times about it not cooling well in hot weather. Several posts on RV forums talk about using 12 volt computer fans to increase air flow over the coils. I decided to give it a shot, using 4, 50mm (about 2") square 12 volt computer fans. They are small and I can spread them out to maximize air flow. I spent a day pondering how to install them after they arrived. I ended up epoxying two old pieces of 2" wide faux wood blind slats together to make them thick enough so the fans would clear the coils. The blind slats are here, they are easy to work with, very light weight, and can stand up to hot conditions. You can cut them with a box cutter type blade. I used epoxy and wood screws to mount the fans to the fan mount. I mounted the slats / fan mounts to the top inside lip of the fridge access hatch frame. I am sure I spent way more time than I needed, but I wanted to make the mount as small as possible so it didn't interfere with air flow while the fans are not in use. The end result is a nice flow of air with all four fans and the switch light pulling .29 amps. I can run those fans 24 hours a day while dry camping when its hot and it should help the fridge cool. I located a screw type terminal that is a constant + so I didn't have to do any splicing of the original wiring. I have the fridge on propane with the fans running now and will check it in the morning. I went up on the roof and could feel the air being pushed out of the fridge vent.
I didn't get any pictures of this pre-installed, so here it is installed. The surface rust on everything is because the RV has been going to the beach since it was new and the manufactures don't really care. I thought about figuring out how to get the fans dead center in the middle of the coils, but then the mount would be blocking the vents. I could run individual mounts with some thin flat bar but I think this should work since I can feel the air being pushed out the vent. If this doesn't work as well as I hope, I will probably zip tie a little bit larger fans directly to the bottom of the coils.
I didn't plan this, but I can turn the fan switch off and on through the hatch's grate, and I can see the switch light as well. Fans are very quiet.