bar fridge air circulation

[smashcrofts]

Hello.

Looking for some advice here regarding a electric bar fridge for my 1979 13' boler.
My concern is airflow, I just picked up the cutest fridge that I ordered online, I absolutely love it and would love to make it work. The fridge calls for almost 8" on top and almost 4" on the sides :/ ....I've only got about 3 on the top, the sides should be ok. I thought I saw someone mention a fan in this kind of situation...Any advice on that?

I found this one on amazon...thinking it might work.

https://www.amazon.ca/Lasko-4006-Cli...gateway&sr=8-5

Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Thanks!

[Glenn Baglo]

Where are you going to plug it in?

[smashcrofts]

I usually camp at serviced sites, I'll just plug in when I get there. (If no electricity I'll use a cooler)

[Glenn Baglo]

Might not be as cute, but a quality cooler will serve you much better than an inexpensive, poorly insulated, electric fridge. It won't be cooling while you are driving and every time you open the door, the cold air will spill out.
Look for something like this:

[Jon in AZ]

Glenn has a valid point, and I agree. But I also understand your desire to make this work. If it’s just for short local trips to spots with electric, you’ll work around its drawbacks. Pre-frozen food and drink can keep things cold from home to camp. It won’t work well if you plan to move from campground to campground frequently.

Would you be installing this in the usual spot under the cooktop? Does the trailer have exterior fridge vents in that space? If so, I wouldn’t worry too much. And if not, it’s going to heat up the inside of your trailer, something you can add to the list of drawbacks.

Since heat rises, you might cut narrow slots along the back edge of the counter behind the cooktop and see if natural convection will move enough warm air out of the fridge compartment into the cabin. A more discreet solution might be a vent in the top back corner of the side of the galley cabinet near the shell, aided by a small 12V fan if temperatures inside the cabinet are high.

Cutting fiberglass is pretty drastic, though, so make sure you’ve thought this out thoroughly. The vents could also serve for a later 12V compressor fridge if you find you need off-grid capability.

Our solution is more like Glenn’s: a $45 Coleman Xtreme ice chest from Walmart. Lasts 3-5 days on a $2 bag of cubes from Costco depending on weather. We are four, and anything that fits in the undercounter space is too small, anyway. We use the OEM icebox for dry storage of bread and other things critters like to get into. The cooler lives outside in the shade, which is where we usually cook, anyway.

[Eddie Longest]

I just bought a small trailer with a dorm frig. The PO would plug in and pre-cool the frig. at home. They had installed a 1500 watt inverter in the trailer and prior to leaving they would switch to battery/ inverter power while traveling and plug into the CG power upon arrival. Of course you are limited to campground camping. The specs. on the dorm frig. show low current draw but I ordered a kill a watt meter to verify frig. current draw.
I would like to switch to an Engel combi 12 DC/115Vac chest freezer frig and do away with the inverter loss, but that will be after saving up a lot of $$$. Engel makes some frig/ freezer models that look like a dorm Frig in the $700 range. Those are real popular in class B's and real small campers. In those models they allow about a 2" air gap below and above the frig. for air circulation. The heat dumps back into the cabin with that set up.
Eddie

[mary and bob]

I removed the original icebox that was below the stove in our Uhaul CT13 and replaced it with a compressor type dorm fridge. Left a couple inches above the fridge at the cabinet face and an inch on the sides. There is a few inches behind it, no outside vents, and some space on the sides. I installed an outlet next to it to plug it in. Works great for our situations, and no noticeable heat from it. It is a Haier brand. We plug it in the night before a trip, and if a long day travel will put a frozen milk jug of water in and transport some items in a cooler until we reach our destination.

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by smashcrofts

..
Any advice would be greatly appreciated ...

Well, you did ask for ANY advice.. and thats what you got.

No reason you can't use the Bar Fridge at electric campsites and a Danfoss type portable or simple cooler as well for when on the road. I suspect your clearance will be enough as long as you deal with the rising heat on top one way or another. it might be fine most of the time and only need some help with a small fan when the ambient temperature is high. I think its more of an experimental situation than one that has ready answers... trying it and watching the temps, esp on top.

[Mike_L]

Although not an ideal solution if you have sufficient room on the sides and at least 3 inches above it should work. A bar fridge doesn't dissipate a lot of heat. Warm air from the back of the fridge will rise and vent from the top to be replaced by cooler air from the sides.
Most bar fridges don't have internal fans so they cool slowly which means they dissipate heat from the back slowly.
You may notice your trailer being slightly warmer.

[Glenn Baglo]

I'd recommend keeping the cute factor, using the bar fridge for dry goods storage and employ a quality cooler for cold drinks, meats etc. ( since you indicate you will have a cooler too ).

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by smashcrofts

Hello.

Looking for some advice here regarding a electric bar fridge for my 1979 13' boler.
My concern is airflow, I just picked up the cutest fridge that I ordered online, I absolutely love it and would love to make it work. The fridge calls for almost 8" on top and almost 4" on the sides :/ ....I've only got about 3 on the top, the sides should be ok. I thought I saw someone mention a fan in this kind of situation...Any advice on that?

I found this one on amazon...thinking it might work.

https://www.amazon.ca/Lasko-4006-Cli...gateway&sr=8-5

Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Thanks!

You can put a small 12V or 110V fan behind it at the bottom blowing up toward the top. That will vent it pretty well. I had a fridge in our garage and it got hot in the garage in the summer. Just wouldn't keep cool enough. Blew a small fan behind it and it stayed just fine. Cool it down before you leave and put frozen food and frozen bottles of water in it to keep it cold while traveling. Should stay cold for at least a day or more. You have a cute fridge. I'd use it also.

[smashcrofts]

Thanks so much everyone

[Eddie Longest]

I put a kill-a-watt meter on my dorm frig. Please check my numbers on power consumption. 2.75 amps at 120 VAC at start up, .65 amps running at 120 VAC drawing 78 watts. So at 12v / 78 watt you are drawing 6.5 amps then you can add about a 10% converter loss that brings you to about 7.15 amp draw to the battery. So with a 12v 100 amp battery (50% draw down) you could run your frig about 7 hours with a 100% duty cycle. If the frig was pre cooled and packed with cold items your duty cycle should be much less getting you a longer run time. If my figures are out of whack let me know.
Eddie

[Bill Will]

This is cute and all, but it is not going to get cold. These little "bar" fridges only cool - not ACTUALLY get cold. I had one in the rec room and was amazed at how poorly it worked. I even used the proper ventilation. These units are tiny and the technology to power it is way undersized to work even close to expectation. So when your out camping consider the ambient temperature is going to be warm to hot and will make that unit even less able to create a cool climate for your food. Get a proper fridge or go the ice/cooler route