Refrigerator cooling question

They will get dirty in many cases and fail.
Have you looked into the ventilation? Most rigs do not have refer installed with clearances as specified in the installation manual.

Running the fan all the time uses electricity. But if you have lots of power, that's not a problem.

Here is another idea -- this should increase the efficiency of the airflow. It's a flue deflector:

Flue deflector -- DIY

It should reduce (or in my case eliminate) the need for fans to improve airflow.

Good luck!

I installed 2x Scythe DFS123812H-3000 Ultra Kaze 120mm x 38mm Case Fan - 3000RPM outside to exaust with a switch inside. I could add thermisters for temperature and over temperature control.

I use a small 3” computer fan inside the fridge and a larger 6” computer fan outside blowing up past the fridge components. Both switched by one switch inside. The amount of power used by both fans is minimal and does a great job of circulating cold air in the fridge and pushing hot air up and out the top vent.
Both fans and switch cost less than $25.

The flue deflector is shown in some installation instructions.
I made mine from 6 or 8 inch piece of metal duct.

profdant139 wrote:
Running the fan all the time uses electricity. But if you have lots of power, that's not a problem.

Here is another idea -- this should increase the efficiency of the airflow. It's a flue deflector:

Flue deflector -- DIY

It should reduce (or in my case eliminate) the need for fans to improve airflow.

Good luck!

This Deflector is great. BUT, that post is when you have an upper door access. Most RV refers have no upper door but a roof top vent. It is hard to see the roof top vent type install without pulling the refer out of the cabinet. Almost ALL RV refers need one similiar to that deflector. The problem with rear Hot air is that open area above the refer. This allows some of the hot exhaust air to stagnate in that open air and causes lack of free flow of air. If you refer did NOT come with a outside rear cooling fan, it was not needed for correct factory installs and regular Hot temp operation. IF you have NO roof vent but 2 side access doors(upper and lower) you NEED a fan above the rear back condensing fins blowing air OUT the upper door. This is what that link for the deflector the guy should have added. Just having a fan blowing from the bottom below the Fins thru the fins will not adequately exhaust the hot air out the upper side access door. Adding a fan for roof top exhaust(blowing up thru the bottom of the fins also helps if your refer did not come with a OEM fan. One problem people have with RV refers is, they may have a slight blockage in the cooling unit caused by years of those short times the refer was run off level. NOTHING you do will restore complete cooling. You can make it better but will never respond like a unpartial blocked CU.

Thanks for the good information. I'm aware of correct installation procedures and venting. As per the OP I'd really like to hear about running fans continuously or intermittent.

My previous trailer had 3 X 140mm computer fans pulling air out of the exhaust continuous and it worked pretty good. I'm interested if "only" using fans during the cooling cycle would be better.

I removed the roof top vent to secure the metal duct. It wasn't that hard.
I installed high density foam board just above the lower access vent door to force more air through the cooling unit. Attached to out structure with Liquid Nails.
The void above the refer without the deflector is a big problem.

I've got my fridge in the slide, so it has the top side vent. When I first fired up the fridge, it didn't cool that well, and that top vent area was really HOT running on gas or electric.

I got this dual fan setup and hacked it in. It has wired control unit to adjust the fan speed, set it on a timed run, or on all the time or auto which uses a temp sensor. Works great and I just put the control unit in the lower vent access as I didn't want to mess with cutting holes in the wall and once I set it on auto and the fridge is on, I just want it running anyway.

It does turn the fans off when the fridge cycles off, so that's 'cool'..



It runs on 12v and I just tapped into the 12v leads from the wiring to the fridge in the lower access.

I don't have an internal fan. Have not felt the need for that. Keeps the fridge and BEER nice and cold. In the 36-38* range, even on hot days.

Keeping the inside of the rig cool (running the A/C) helps a lot too.

Good luck! Mitch

I have 2 fans installed in my roof vent to pull out hot air from the fridge. They have a 145 degree bimetal thermostat that turns them on and off. Newmar installed the fridge correctly so they only come on when it is 90+ degrees and sunny outside. If I turn the fridge all the way up, it freezes things on the top shelf.