Easy refrigerator mod

[Lanarkwanderer]

I mounted two small fans I bought from Amazon.ca to the front of the heat sink inside my refrigerator. Many others have done this mod as well. The project only took about 40 minutes. Fishing the wires through the drain hose was the longest part of the job.

I mounted the fans on two of the tension rods sold to keep the groceries in the fridge. I just used some small wire ties through the fan mounting holes. Mounted a small switch in a fender washer to the side of one fan. Ran the power wires down the water drain hose and hooked it into the fridge power through a small fuse. Both fans running draw almost no current, are fairly quiet, seem to get the fridge temperature down more quickly. I assume will help to equalize the temperature gradients in the fridge.
Bob

[dbensen]

Very clever way to mount the fans. Well done.

[AlanKilian]

Awesome, thanks for sharing.

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by Lanarkwanderer

I mounted two small fans I bought from Amazon.ca to the front of the heat sink inside my refrigerator. Many others have done this mod as well. The project only took about 40 minutes. Fishing the wires through the drain hose was the longest part of the job. Bob

... have gotten HIGH priced. I'd like to do this. Do you have a link to the fans you used? Where did you connect to power? Mine is gas / 120 VAC, no DC, but there is DC near by.

TNX

[Lanarkwanderer]

I purchased the fans from Amazon.ca, assume similar are available from the US, probably much cheaper,
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I bought the 80 mm size.
My refrigerator runs on 12 V, propane, or 120. I ran the two small wires down the condensation drain hose to the back of the refrigerator and used a fuse to connect into the power supply available there. So didn’t need to drill any holes in the fridge cabinet.
Bob

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by Lanarkwanderer

I purchased the fans from Amazon.ca, assume similar are available from the US, probably much cheaper,
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I bought the 80 mm size.
Bob

I never thought about the need for Moisture-Proof fans.

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by Lanarkwanderer

I mounted two small fans I bought from Amazon.ca to the front of the heat sink inside my refrigerator. Many others have done this mod as well. The project only took about 40 minutes. Fishing the wires through the drain hose was the longest part of the job.

I mounted the fans on two of the tension rods sold to keep the groceries in the fridge. I just used some small wire ties through the fan mounting holes. Mounted a small switch in a fender washer to the side of one fan. Ran the power wires down the water drain hose and hooked it into the fridge power through a small fuse. Both fans running draw almost no current, are fairly quiet, seem to get the fridge temperature down more quickly. I assume will help to equalize the temperature gradients in the fridge.
Bob

Using the rods is a great idea. Wonder if they'd work for some fans in the back outside of the fridge to cool it. There's just no place to mount a fan in the back of the fridge with the coils, electric, burner, etc. Or do you have any other ideas. We have a 2007 Casita.

[gordon2]

This mod should help but to be honest I think that the benefit is getting air circulation and you can do that with a cheap battery operated fan on a shelf while packing the fridge so that air can flow. Whichever method you use to get the internal air to circulate inside should be about the same. It is nice if you can run the fan(s) on external power but I have used this with two D cells and it works OK and is easier. So loading the fridge so that air can move.. adding a fan to move air.. that is the objective IMHO.

The other common mod to increase the fridge performance is to add a fan on the external coils - to move more air from the intake vent to the exhaust vent. I suspect that the effectiveness of this depends on the fridge installation, and that roof exhaust vents benefit less from the mod than side exhaust vents.

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by gordon2

This mod should help but to be honest I think that the benefit is getting air circulation and you can do that with a cheap battery operated fan on a shelf while packing the fridge so that air can flow. Whichever method you use to get the internal air to circulate inside should be about the same. It is nice if you can run the fan(s) on external power but I have used this with two D cells and it works OK and is easier. So loading the fridge so that air can move.. adding a fan to move air.. that is the objective IMHO.

The other common mod to increase the fridge performance is to add a fan on the external coils - to move more air from the intake vent to the exhaust vent. I suspect that the effectiveness of this depends on the fridge installation, and that roof exhaust vents benefit less from the mod than side exhaust vents.

We use the little fans with 2 D cell batteries inside also. They work just fine and I can move them where ever I want. I do want to mount a fan on the outside coils and the rod idea is great for that. We mounted a fan in the back of our bigger RV fridge, ran a switch inside by the fridge so we can turn it on when we want. That works great but it had room to mount a fan in it. The Casita doesn't have anyplace to screw a fan in.

[Phil Ruffin]

What direction are your fans blowing?
Phil

[Bob & Jackie C]

Two fans in outside refrigerator compartment work well. Can be switched on and off or automatic by temperature control.
Works well.

[Lanarkwanderer]

Our Escape 17B came with the exterior refrigerator fan from the factory. It’s on a thermostat, has only turned on a few times when air temps were in the 90’s.

I have the two internal fans blowing toward the heat exchanger.

I have used a small battery powered rv fridge fan in the past. I does help a bit. I think this is much improved. I’m camping right now. We have had the fridge running for over a week and very pleased with the improvement. These fans move much more air than the small battery powered type.

Photo shows temp variation since fridge was loaded with frozen, cold food at beginning of trip.

Bob

[Bob & Jackie C]

Originally Posted by Phil Ruffin

What direction are your fans blowing?
Phil

Fans in outside compartment blow air out of vents

[David Tilston]

Originally Posted by Bob & Jackie C

Fans in outside compartment blow air out of vents

The top vents, I assume.