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Old 07-17-2012, 01:27 PM   #1
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condenser fan on refrigerator for better cooling

After camping this last weekend in upper 90 degree temps again, I decided to order a 12 volt fridge exhaust fan to remove heat from the condenser area behind the fridge on our 184BH. Our refrigerator had a hard time staying cool on AC power and did better on propane, but I have read elsewhere that these fans can help the refrigerator cool more efficiently. I was just wondering if anyone has installed one of these? I ordered a Valterra A10 FridgeCool 12 volt exhaust fan kit from Amazon, has anyone used this specific fan kit? If anyone has installed one, was it fairly simple? I am just wondering if anyone has experience with these?
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Old 07-17-2012, 02:04 PM   #2
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I don't have one installed but have been interested. We just returned from a week in an AR state park where the temperatures were in the mid 90's and our fridge seemed to do just fine (we were on AC while parked also). I do have one of the little fin fans (12v) inside and I think it helps with the distribution of the cool air.
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Old 07-17-2012, 04:54 PM   #3
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I have found much better results with a fan inside the fridge. I have a hard wired fan that I installed that clips to the fins. Huge improvement in cooling and temp consistency from top to bottom.



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Old 07-20-2012, 10:18 PM   #4
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I have a fan on the inside of the fridge that runs on D size batteries and that does work well. I received the condenser fan that installs on the back of the fridge today and it really seems to work well so far. It comes with very good directions and took me about one hour to install. It seems like it was cooling much faster than normal and hot air was pouring out of the upper vent like never before. I am going to get a thermometer for the inside of the fridge tomorrow and see how low the temp gets. It is supposed to be over 100 degrees tomorrow again so I should be able to tell if the fan makes much of a difference. Last week with temps near 100 our food was not staying cool enough for me.
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Old 07-21-2012, 04:39 AM   #5
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I installed a pair of 110V muffin fans above the condenser coils and it made a big difference.
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Old 07-23-2012, 05:56 PM   #6
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I installed a pair of 110V muffin fans above the condenser coils and it made a big difference.

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Old 07-24-2012, 12:50 AM   #7
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I installed a pair of 110V muffin fans above the condenser coils and it made a big difference.
Is this very hard to do? I too went camping this past week-end with our "new" tt, and it took forever to get the fridge to get going. I thought that it was broke, but after a short bit, the freezer got really cold and worked awesome, but the fridge just took forever to get cool. Is there a "how to" section in the forum? I have no idea how to remove the fridge and install those fans.
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Old 07-24-2012, 06:10 AM   #8
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I dont think your suppost to remove the fridge, just place it above the coils so its pulling air over them and up the roof vent. May want to try putting a small fan inside the fridge to circulate air. I believe its common for a warm fridge to take 4-6 hrs to get cool enough to use.
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Old 07-24-2012, 11:39 AM   #9
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I watched the temps for a few days. With only a circulating fan INSIDE the refrigerator, the temperature was around 50 degrees inside the refrigerator. With the fan installed above the coils BEHIND the refrigerator the tempertures stayed about 10 degrees cooler. The small battery operated fan that stays inside the refregerator helps with more even cooling throughout the box, but, the condensor fan on the back helps you to get much cooler temperatures. I am very glad that I put this fan on the back. It was very easy and only cost around $30 with free shipping. This is the same concept as the muffin fans, I just chose to buy it as a kit with instructions included. If you have some basic wiring knowledge it installs very easily.
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Old 07-24-2012, 08:00 PM   #10
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Isnip..........With the fan installed above the coils BEHIND the refrigerator the tempertures stayed about 10 degrees cooler.....
Just curious, what made you decide to place the fan above the coils, rather than below the coils (moving air over coils)?

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Old 07-25-2012, 06:22 AM   #11
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There are 3 possible mounting areas for the fan according to the directions. On the floor blowing up over the coils, in the middle back of the refrigerator blowing up, or near the top vent drawing the air up and helping with the natural hot air flow. I had to mount it above the coils as there is no room anywhere else. The 184BH is a small trailer and there is no wasted space anywhere it appears.
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Old 07-25-2012, 06:56 AM   #12
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Ditto. The only available space for the fans on my 23B was above the condenser coils. I removed the hood on the roof of the trailer, cut the aluminum expanded metal screen on three sides, bent it up and installed the fans. I had to make a sheet metal bracket with a big hole for each fan then run the cord down to the recep that the fridge plugs into.
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Old 07-25-2012, 07:11 AM   #13
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dindsay,

Thanks for the follow-up.

Guess I better check and see how much room I have in my frig's rear access area..., do you recall the diameter of the fan housing you installed? Like you stated, I have seen the "depth" of the space within the frig rear access area below the coils can vary from model to model.

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Old 07-25-2012, 07:37 AM   #14
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I tried to find the specs for the fan on the manufacturers page, but it does not give the size. If I remember correctly, the diameter of the fan was between 5 and 6 inches, as I measured it while I was putting it in. My camper is stored elsewhere or I would measure it for you.
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Old 07-25-2012, 12:28 PM   #15
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dindsay,

I have the dual fan assembly ordered for the inside of the frig, but since I plan on doing some desert camping next year I thought it wouldn't hurt to add the back vent/coil fan as well. From what I recall, my access depth may not accommodate the fan below the coils (which I preferred), may have to consider what you did. My TT is in storage as well, plan to check today or tomorrow.

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Old 07-25-2012, 01:35 PM   #16
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Ditto. The only available space for the fans on my 23B was above the condenser coils. I removed the hood on the roof of the trailer, cut the aluminum expanded metal screen on three sides, bent it up and installed the fans. I had to make a sheet metal bracket with a big hole for each fan then run the cord down to the recep that the fridge plugs into.
Mcfarmall,
I saw that metal screen and put the hood back on. How did you get the expanded metal screen to go back down, and stay down?
Also being that you plugged the fans into the 120 AC, how does it turn on and off, or is it on all the time?
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Old 07-26-2012, 07:32 PM   #17
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dindsay,

I went and checked the available space behind my TT frig today, and unless the outside diameter of the fan is less than 4 1/4", I will have to go to top mount installation as well.

Basically I have 4 1/2" between the outer access cover and the lower tube assembly:



The following pic (not mine) reflects the lower fan installation when adequate space (depth) is available:



Bob
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Old 07-27-2012, 08:14 AM   #18
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Our 154BH is in the shop right now because our fridge was working great but then on our last trip the milk went bad and nothing was cold.....we shall see.
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Old 08-04-2020, 06:33 AM   #19
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I too had the warm fridge issue. What I found on my 32RL was there was 1 fan about half way up the wall behind the fridge. It is very small, and I am thinking that it is too small. Since my fridge is in the slide, I have an upper and lower vent door. I installed 2 fans at the top vent, and, 2 at the bottom. I also sealed up gaps between the fridge walls, and the side walls. Before I did all of this, the fridge struggled to get the freezer down to +15, and refridge down to 51 on a 90 degree day. Now, with the extra fans, I have 1 degree in the freezer, and 35 in the refridge. It was not really that hard to install, and I will find out this weekend just how well it works. But, so far, much better than before. What I have been told is that the back of the fridge is really a chimney, and you have to keep the air moving. Seems to make sense to me, but we will see. Living in Texas, we know about how hard it is to keep cool.
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Old 08-04-2020, 07:05 AM   #20
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I'm happy to report that our worked great for the 2 week trip we just finished this weekend. The addition of the fans kept the freezer nicely cold around -10F to -15F and the fridge stayed around 28-34F depending on how long my kids left the door open. The only time it warmed up was when I went to get something and I realized my youngest had gone to grab a yogurt and didn't latch the door all the way shut. It had been cracked open for a few hours, so it got up into the upper 40s inside the fridge and the freezer up to just at freezing, so it took a few hours to cool it back off. Without the fans, it would have been days to cool it back off.
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