Refrigerator Cabinet Cooling Fan

[jwintersteller]

Originally Posted by Viejo

Have you considered using computer case fans over those holes? They are 12v, come in 80, 120, and 200mm sizes and cost from $5 to $15 at Newegg.

Yes, if Larrie's mod helps bring down his amp usage, I will definitely going with a fan. The holes alone are not cutting it.

[taylorvon]

How do you like the TruckFridge? I am planning a small TruckFridge 49 ACDC for my remodel in progress.

Thanks,
Taylor

[larrie]

Taylor

The TF is great. Seems to keep a constant temp. On number 2 it actually seems colder than my home fridge set on 5.

[larrie]

It was 80 here today so I closed up the van with the top up and turned on the fridge. The interior of the van got up to 90. Before when this happened the fridge would draw up to 4 amps. Today with the secondary fan on it only only got up to 2.7 amps when the interior was at 90. This is a single data point and I will continue monitoring it and report back.

[stanw909]

Update?

[larrie]

Thanks for the reminder. Things have been very busy since the meet and greet. It is suppose to be in the 90's tomorrow so it should be a good test.

[larrie]

When I got home from work today I checked on the how well the secondary cooling fan was doing. What I found pleased and surprised me.

Setup - The penthouse was up and one window unzipped and there was also one of the van pop out windows open and the doors were closed. The van was partially shaded by the neighbors tree.

At 4:30 pm the inside van temp was 100F. The fridge run time was 10 minutes on and 3 minutes off. This was very different from the normal 2.5 minutes on and 2.5 minutes off. At start up the fridge drew 3.9 amps and then slowly dropped to 3.04 amps at the end of the 10 minutes. Normal amp draw starts at around 2.8 amps and drops rather rapidly to 2.4 amps.

The surprise was when I opened up the side doors and one rear door. After a short time the van temperature dropped to 90F. The fridge ran for about 6.5 minutes and was off for 3-1/4 minutes. At startup the amp draw was 3.7 and then rapidly dropped to 3.04 amps and then slowly dropped to 2.84 amps by the end of the run cycle.

What I think this is telling me is that the secondary cooling fan is doing its job in keeping the fridge cabinet cooler. In addition it shows how important it is to keep the inside of the van as cool as possible or at least to have good air flow through the van to keep the air from stagnating.

[86Scotty]

Larrie, I am about to build a permanent cabinet for my Truckfridge, which is behind the driver's seat exactly as yours is. I have a couple of computer fans laying around and am going to use one to do the same mod. My fridge is a little different than yours in that it has all the electronics and compressor in the rear right corner if you are facing the front of the unit instead of all the way across the back like yours, but I figure I can add a fan in the cabinet exactly where you did and still improve airflow. My fridge fan vents directly out of the rear of the fridge instead of the left side, but I will not be putting a rear panel on the cabinet I'm building and it should have plenty of room to breathe. Here's the question, would you recommend that the fan pull fresh air in or push warm air out? It probably doesn't really matter as long as I am increasing airflow but I'm curious which you did, sucking in or pushing out?

Thanks

[larrie]

I thought about this when I did mine and decided to suck the warm air out of the cabinet. I also added an air inlet to the top of the cabinet so the it has flow through ventilation across the top of the fridge and down to the fan. If the ventilation fan is just blowing into the cabinet there is no way to tell where the air is going. By drawing the air out at least you know air is being circulated.

[86Scotty]

Thanks Larrie, I'll go that route and post some pics too since obviously some Truckfridges are made differently than others.