fridge coolig fan noisy

Devocamper wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
Depending on the make of fridge (in my case a Dometic), mine was also noisy for a couple reasons...

One.. I was a cheap fan. There are quite an array of fans available and Dometic uses the cheapest, sleeve bearing fan available. I would suggest replacing it (as I did) with a FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) fan with a computer designed blade. The FDB fans are silent in operation and a computer designed blade will reduce air flow noise. I picked up a couple on Flea-Bay for 10 bucks each, they make no noise whatsoever. But..

Two: You need to pay attention to how the fan(s) are mounted. Just like a FW pump thats mounted solidly to the substructure of the camper, the fan will transmit operational noise and the camper fram will amplify it. You need to isolate the fan from transmitting operational noise/vibration to the camper itself.

I did that by adding rubber grommets to the fan mounts. While it don't dampen everything. between the FDB fan itself and the rubber grommets in the mount, my fan noise is very minimal.

Personally, I prefer not to hear that noise when I'm sleeping at night. During the day not a big issue but at night, I want quiet. Before the modification (new fan(s) and mounts, I was turning off the fridge at night so I didn't have to listen to the fans.

Pretty cheap fix really, just takes some time on your part.

Hey Sidecar thanks and yes the fridge is a dometic with one cheap high rpm fan that runs a lot , the original fan is rated at 75 cfm so I was thinking of putting two 50 cfm lower speed fans in since the bracket is made to mount to 92 mm fans on it , lower speed and a bit more air. I am surprised at how much noise the original fan makes and your right it is a pain at night . I have been researching this since I posted this morning I did not know there were so many types and sizes of these case cooling fans I will defiantly go with the FDB fans , thanks
Mike

Mike:

If you look closely at the mounting bracket, you'll see it's actually 2 brackets, not one (at least in my case it was), so you aren't limited to just the OEM sized fan. I did a pair of 120mm muffin fans and made a second set of brackets from sheet metal (all the brackets are is bent sheet metal). The fans I bought were 2 wire (I cut the plug off the end) rated at 8-13 volts DC so 12 spins them pretty fast but the FDB design is noiseless (and laying on my bench right now, probably headed for the landfill). With the FDB bearings and the computer designed blades, they run quiet. I did do one thing. When I went to 2 fans, I upped the ATO inline fuse to a 2 amp. The stock fuse is 1 amp and both my fans pull a tad over 1 amp, actually 1.2 amps so I increased the fuse size to compensate. I changed nothing else.

My upper access vent isn't readily removable. It's a louvered aluminum grill set in butyl tape and screwed to the outside skin so removing and replacing it is a PITA. Why I upped the fuse rating. The inline fuse on mine is under the upper vent panel