What does a refrigerator vent, vent

[travelingjw]

I am running a cable, as others have done, down the refrigerator vent. As I looked up into the space I noticed all kinds of wires and plumbing lines. Is there any heat coming from the refrigerator that might damage a cable?

[Stroked550]

If you mean the exterior refrigerator vent- then yes, it does vent hot air/exhaust when the refrigerator is running on propane

[ttavasc]

There will be heat generated regardless of whether the fridge is running on propane or electric. The boiler temps are the same regardless of energy source though it may be a little hotter in general while running on propane. I've routed a cable from our Cell Booster through the fridge vent and into the camper by running it down the side opposite of the burner/boiler stack. I think as long as you keep sufficient distance from the burner/boiler stack and are not impeding the flow of air over the coils there shouldn't be anything to worry about.

[ARoamer]

If your fridge can run on propane the vent gasses can get very hot. Older 5er had scorch marks on the panneling near the top of the flue when I pulled it for a new cooling unit.

[travelingjw]

Thanks to all of you. I ran it down the vent on the opposite side of the heater stack.

[16WhiteColly]

If you have the two side vents, the upper one has a metal deflector that routes the heat out and gets pretty hot, so stay away from it.

[ttavasc]

Originally Posted by travelingjw

Thanks to all of you. I ran it down the vent on the opposite side of the heater stack.

There were a couple of runs of Romex down the side opposite the boiler/burner stack including the run that powers the fridge on 120v so I figured bundling my coax cable with those would certainly be fine. As long as you are clear of the cooling assembly and boiler/burner stack it will be fine.

To give you an idea of the temps at the boiler tube - normal operating temp of the boiler is ~180C (~350F) +/- 10C. When I installed my ARP Fridge Defend I had to pack some extra fiberglass insulation around the temperature sensor that gets clipped to the boiler tube to prevent heat from the burner flue from influencing the sensor when operating on propane. If the boiler tube reaches ~250C (~480F) the Fridge Defend turns the fridge off before any damage is done.

There is also a temperature sensor on the bottom absorption coil that controls the fan mounted to the bottom vent cover. That sensor turns the fan on when the coils hit ~115F and turns it off when the coil temp drops below ~90F. So under normal operation the absorption coils can be a bit hot to the touch as well.