I defrosted our fridge/freezer yesterday. It is a Norcold 821. The drain tube that goes from inside to out side was plugged up. From the outside the vent was plugged up with the neighbors tree debris. Little tiny seed pods that get into everything, just not the fridge/freezer compartment in RV but about everything we have at our house. Gutters, sliding glass door tracks etc. Neighbors trees and neighbor as been a pain for many years. But not much I can do about it. I'm thinking about putting screen material in the vent door so those tiny seed pods don't get into the fridge/freezer compartment. If I do put in screen material will it block off to much air and prevent enough air circulation for proper cooling?

Move, or shoot neighbor and cut down trees while waiting for body to be discovered. Yes, screen will help but the screen will eventually clog, also. Curious: What type of tree is this that drops seeds so fine and aerodynamic that they fly into your vent openings?

Copper nails work great. Fixes the problem in 1-2 months. Wear black with gloves and a ski mask...We have tons of Mango pollen down here. Rub minrral oil across the screen and it'll trap twice or three times the amount of debris. Wash with dishwashing liquid.The again you can always plant HOPS on your side of the fence. Miserable little plant that shortly will be on his side exploding with growth. Almost impossible to kill. It'll eat his shrubs chaff his children and molest anyone that goes near it.

westend wrote:Move, or shoot neighbor and cut down trees while waiting for body to be discovered. Yes, screen will help but the screen will eventually clog, also. Curious: What type of tree is this that drops seeds so fine and aerodynamic that they fly into your vent openings?I was thinking I could blow off screen every now and then.Weeping birch. Little tiny helicopter seed things by the millions that get everywhere.

I was thinking I could blow off screen every now and then.Weeping birch. Little tiny helicopter seed things by the millions that get everywhere. Thanks for the ID on the tree. We have many trees in this area that can be noxious, primarily Cottonwood because of the floating "cotton". I've made many $$$$ by replacing or cleaning household screens because of this tree, lol. Your maintenance idea about cleaning the screen is a good one. I do know that some of those fridge drains are located with exit down through the floor panel and that might prove to be a good location to keep it from clogging.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:Copper nails work great. Fixes the problem in 1-2 months. Wear black with gloves and a ski mask...We have tons of Mango pollen down here. Rub minrral oil across the screen and it'll trap twice or three times the amount of debris. Wash with dishwashing liquid.The again you can always plant HOPS on your side of the fence. Miserable little plant that shortly will be on his side exploding with growth. Almost impossible to kill. It'll eat his shrubs chaff his children and molest anyone that goes near it.Life expectancy is 40-60 years by most tree experts. I keep hoping they'll die soon. They were planted in 1947 by first owners. Makes the trees over 60 years old. Over the years we have had a lots of damage by those trees. One side of my roof hasn't seen daylight in 10 years. Of course the current owner is going to make his million with his latest law suite and then will sell. Atleast that's what he tells my wife. Myself and him haven't talked since I offered to pay to have them cut down and was I willing to pay for it. Got 3 estimates and tree cutters moved all their equipment to his place and then he backed out. "My trees are to valuable, how much to replace a 60 foot tree, It's not replaceable"? I still paid to $200.00 for tree guys to move their equipment. We haven't talked since.

Fridge/freezer Good Idea or not about vent access door?

17 Replies

fj12ryder
Explorer III
Apr 20, 2016
The fact is that the fridge will work with screen in there, maybe not at 100 percent but certainly well enough. And better than it works now. And maybe, with any luck anyway, he'll not venture into Texas.

And if he has trouble keeping the temps low enough, he knows what to do to fix the issue. Until then it will keep the neighbors seeds out of places they are not wanted.
j-d
Explorer II
Apr 20, 2016
The RV "industry" like the boating "industry" excels in marketing solutions to problems we don't have.

Doug can verify this, but I heard the drain tube from the condensate tray under the fridge compartment fins, should have a slight upward bend before turning down to drain outside. Or in some cases (like our Norcold N811), into a condensate catcher in the lower outside fridge access compartment. Trapping a little water was supposed to keep the heavy cool air from escaping down that drain tube.

True?
dougrainer
Nomad
Apr 20, 2016
fj12ryder wrote:
dougrainer wrote:
fj12ryder wrote:
I've put screens on my refrigerator access panel with no ill effects. I have two fans instead of one pulling air across the coils so that may help, and I don't use it during the hottest days of the year so that may help too.

You confuse "ill effects" with operational efficiency. There will be no damage to the refer with screens, but it WILL affect how well it cools and how FAST it returns to set cold after door openings. Doug
You confuse "operational efficiency" with the OP's original question: "If I do put in screen material will it block off to much air and prevent enough air circulation for proper cooling?" :) And I've noticed no lack of cooling or lengthening of cool down time. But perhaps you have to use a stopwatch? :)

You stated you added 2 fans. I am a PROFESSIONAL RV technician. What I posted is dead on(37 years of working on RV refers). I don't need a stopwatch. I work in DFW Texas, one of the hottest areas of the USA in summer. I remove those screens all the time when customers come in in 90 plus heat and cannot seem to get their refers to get cold enough or stay cold enough. The screens sold by aftermarket suppliers also have another design flaw I just found last summer. The metal edge of the screens sticks out about 1/8 inch. THAT 1/8 inch will allow rainwater running down the side to funnel into the access door and flood the back area of the refer and then run inside the RV. Especially worse if the refer is in a slide room and has 2 such access doors. As to a stop watch. I run performance tests with the screens on place, with temp measurements of water(24 hours). I then remove the screens and redo to test. The temps usually drop 3 to 6 degrees in the test water. So, NO, I don't need a stopwatch, just common sense tests. Doug
fj12ryder
Explorer III
Apr 20, 2016
dougrainer wrote:
fj12ryder wrote:
I've put screens on my refrigerator access panel with no ill effects. I have two fans instead of one pulling air across the coils so that may help, and I don't use it during the hottest days of the year so that may help too.

You confuse "ill effects" with operational efficiency. There will be no damage to the refer with screens, but it WILL affect how well it cools and how FAST it returns to set cold after door openings. Doug
You confuse "operational efficiency" with the OP's original question: "If I do put in screen material will it block off to much air and prevent enough air circulation for proper cooling?" :) And I've noticed no lack of cooling or lengthening of cool down time. But perhaps you have to use a stopwatch? :)
Dave_H_M
Explorer II
Apr 20, 2016
I have a screen installed on the inside of mine, mainly to keep the mud daubers out. Nary a prob.
jjrbus
Explorer
Apr 20, 2016
They sell "insect screens" for refrigerator vents, my little Toy came with a set. Do they affect anything, I don't know.
Harvey51
Explorer
Apr 19, 2016
Maybe a screen on a frame you could lean against the fridge vent only while parked near the trees would work better - easier to clean.
dougrainer
Nomad
Apr 13, 2016
fj12ryder wrote:
I've put screens on my refrigerator access panel with no ill effects. I have two fans instead of one pulling air across the coils so that may help, and I don't use it during the hottest days of the year so that may help too.

You confuse "ill effects" with operational efficiency. There will be no damage to the refer with screens, but it WILL affect how well it cools and how FAST it returns to set cold after door openings. Doug
fj12ryder
Explorer III
Apr 13, 2016
I've put screens on my refrigerator access panel with no ill effects. I have two fans instead of one pulling air across the coils so that may help, and I don't use it during the hottest days of the year so that may help too.
dougrainer
Nomad
Apr 13, 2016
Putting screens on the REFER access door will restrict air flow by 50 percent. When it is hot outside(over 80 degrees), the refer will NOT cool as expected. To answer your question, YES, adding screen material will affect the cooling ability of the refer. Doug