Interior Frig Fans

skipro3 wrote:

mike-s wrote:

skipro3 wrote:
Outside air temp between 65 and 95 low to high. After 24 hours;
Freezer is 0 and fridge is +23 at 65 outside 7am
Freezer is +12 and fridge is +50 at 95 outside 3pm

Any fans? An inside fan, as discussed here, may help lower the fridge temp. An exterior (behind the fridge, to move air upward through the hot parts) fan may help the overall cooling.

That is with an interior fan just like in the photo except not blue.
Also, I have a fan behind the fridge with a thermo switch to turn on at 80F.

I don't see how a inside fan is going to aid the freezer though.

The sensor is on the cooling fins in the fridge. Without air movement they may be cold enough to turn of the cooling unit. A fan will move the air around making the cooling unit run longer as it's now trying to cool the entire fridge instead of just the cooling fins.

As I mentioned, we had frozen eggs on the top shelf, warm beer on the bottom and mushy ice cream in the freezer. With just the cheap little fan everything in the fridge was nice and cold and the freezer items were frozen solid.

The arctic F12 fan consumes 0.24 amps at 12v and moves 74 CFM.

I can say my 6.7 cfm 40MM Sunon fan is very effective in a 1.8 cubic foot fridge and consumes only 0.03amps

Part of those amps gets turned to heat which the fridge must then remove.

I'd seek the lowest amp draw fan one can find for interior fridge use.

The Noctua NF-f12 is 120MM consumes only 0.05 amps @12v, for ~53 CFM

That is the fan on my condenser. 7 year warranty, Been on there for 4 years now.

mike-s wrote:

skipro3 wrote:
Outside air temp between 65 and 95 low to high. After 24 hours;
Freezer is 0 and fridge is +23 at 65 outside 7am
Freezer is +12 and fridge is +50 at 95 outside 3pm

Any fans? An inside fan, as discussed here, may help lower the fridge temp. An exterior (behind the fridge, to move air upward through the hot parts) fan may help the overall cooling.

That is with an interior fan just like in the photo except not blue.
Also, I have a fan behind the fridge with a thermo switch to turn on at 80F.

I don't see how a inside fan is going to aid the freezer though.

PUCampin wrote:
I wired a standard computer case fan rated for 0.125A into the always hot terminal of the light in my fridge and zip tied it to the bottom of one of the racks.. When I turn the fridge on the fan comes on and runs 24/7. It most definitely keeps the temperature more even throughout the box, cools the box down more quickly, and helps return the box to proper temperature more quickly than convection alone. It allows me to use it more like a traditional fridge opening and closing when I want not trying to plan for each time I open the door.

That is what I did, also. I tried the double fan pictured in previous posts, had 2 of them fail. There was no way to secure them to the fins other than the alligator clip/ground connector. In our dometic fridge there is not enough space between the fins and the fridge ceiling, so it had to be mounted to the front where it would rattle and vibrate loudly. This spring I installed a 120mm computer fan with a blade guard fastened to the shelf with zip ties. I re-used the alligator clip for the ground so it can easily be turned off if I need to conserve battery. I bought a 5 pack of the fans from amazon. Mounted one inside, and the other 4 in the roof vent powered thru a switch. We are in a cooler climate most of the time, but we have had some melting ice cream, etc on hot days when the fridge side of the camper is in direct sun(proir to the fan install).
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00NTUJRHK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1475026843&sr=8-1π=SY200_QL40&keywords=arctic+f12+fan&dpPl=1&dpID=51JrNy4vFkL&ref=plSrch this fan is very quiet, the one inside the fridge is barely audible and the 4 in the roof vent cannot be heard at all.

skipro3 wrote:
Outside air temp between 65 and 95 low to high. After 24 hours;
Freezer is 0 and fridge is +23 at 65 outside 7am
Freezer is +12 and fridge is +50 at 95 outside 3pm

Any fans? An inside fan, as discussed here, may help lower the fridge temp. An exterior (behind the fridge, to move air upward through the hot parts) fan may help the overall cooling.

Wow! Wish my fridge would get that cold, that the fins would frost up like that. Turned on mine in prep for this weekend;

Outside air temp between 65 and 95 low to high. After 24 hours;
Freezer is 0 and fridge is +23 at 65 outside 7am
Freezer is +12 and fridge is +50 at 95 outside 3pm

otrfun wrote:
Is this one of those devices that are hit or miss, or do they really work?

Our frig works well, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to make it even more efficient.

Looking at a fan on eBay that has two small, 12vdc computer fans that mount on the aluminum fins on the back, interior of the frig.

If they truly worked then they would come standard. If you're a weekend warrior then yes they do move the air around. If you spend any length of time in your rig where it is hot and humid this is what you'll see:

mike-s wrote:

CJW8 wrote:
No interior fan is going to make a fridge cooler. It is going to cool to the thermostat setting, fan or no fan.

No, and yes. The thermostat sensor (on my Dometic, anyway) is mounted to the cooling fins, so that's the temperature it senses. That's about the coldest spot in the fridge, because that's where the "cool" comes from. It's warmer at the bottom if there's no fan to move the air.

With a fan circulating the air, the temperature is very consistent throughout, and most of the fridge is colder than it would be without a fan.

Agree, you need to move the cold air from the cooling fins to the rest of the inside of the fridge. Compressor type fridges have fans to circulate the air, absorption fridges need the same.

I wired a standard computer case fan rated for 0.125A into the always hot terminal of the light in my fridge and zip tied it to the bottom of one of the racks.. When I turn the fridge on the fan comes on and runs 24/7. It most definitely keeps the temperature more even throughout the box, cools the box down more quickly, and helps return the box to proper temperature more quickly than convection alone. It allows me to use it more like a traditional fridge opening and closing when I want not trying to plan for each time I open the door.

CJW8 wrote:
No interior fan is going to make a fridge cooler. It is going to cool to the thermostat setting, fan or no fan.

No, and yes. The thermostat sensor (on my Dometic, anyway) is mounted to the cooling fins, so that's the temperature it senses. That's about the coldest spot in the fridge, because that's where the "cool" comes from. It's warmer at the bottom if there's no fan to move the air.

With a fan circulating the air, the temperature is very consistent throughout, and most of the fridge is colder than it would be without a fan.