Ideas for keeping frig in outdoor kitchen cooler?

We have had an outside kitchen fridge for four years, 2 different trailers without issues. Fridge is on from May to Oct either at campground or in the yard, only time it is off is when towing. Have not had issues with it being too warm or too cold. When opening up it never seems overly hot inside the kitchen. Most trips the kitchen door stays open unless it is bear country or heavy rain. Love the kitchen and love the fridge. Most of our camping is in New England so maybe we do not see temps as high as others do.

Throw the fridge away and put a cooler in its place with a plastic tube from the drain. No need for fans or inverters. Just a bag or two of ice every day or so and your beers and pop are ice cold.

kevden wrote:

therink wrote:
I have the opposite problem here in the north during summer time. I will leave the OK door closed during the week (at seasonal site) with fridge on. If I don't turn thermostat down before we close up for the week, the heat build up inside the closed compartment causes the compressor to work overtime, which has caused some soda cans to freeze and explode. Nice mess.
I am considering cutting a vent hole on the wall behind the fridge and installing a grated vent into the bunk room. It would be easy to do, but would put some of the heat inside. I think this would be easier than running a vent pipe to the roof.

Why not vent to the outside? Vents could be put into the door or an outside wall if your kitchen has one. I need to do this to mine.
Our OK gets hot when closed up, too. The fridge is a Hamilton Beach, and it does struggle to keep things cold when it is really hot outside. The fridge is black and I noticed the outside surface of the fridge gets very hot when in direct sun, so I shut the OK door, propping it open a few inches at the bottom for ventilation.

I might try putting a block of ice in the fridge this year when it gets really hot out. Maybe partially fill the crisper drawer or a gallon zip lock bag with water, freeze at home or in the campers inside freezer.

Good suggestion, but really don't want to cut a hole in exterior wall or door. I woudl run a vent to the roof first.

therink wrote:
I have the opposite problem here in the north during summer time. I will leave the OK door closed during the week (at seasonal site) with fridge on. If I don't turn thermostat down before we close up for the week, the heat build up inside the closed compartment causes the compressor to work overtime, which has caused some soda cans to freeze and explode. Nice mess.
I am considering cutting a vent hole on the wall behind the fridge and installing a grated vent into the bunk room. It would be easy to do, but would put some of the heat inside. I think this would be easier than running a vent pipe to the roof.

Why not vent to the outside? Vents could be put into the door or an outside wall if your kitchen has one. I need to do this to mine.
Our OK gets hot when closed up, too. The fridge is a Hamilton Beach, and it does struggle to keep things cold when it is really hot outside. The fridge is black and I noticed the outside surface of the fridge gets very hot when in direct sun, so I shut the OK door, propping it open a few inches at the bottom for ventilation.

I might try putting a block of ice in the fridge this year when it gets really hot out. Maybe partially fill the crisper drawer or a gallon zip lock bag with water, freeze at home or in the campers inside freezer.

rjxj wrote:
Cant leave the kitchen open at night because the racoons will get the beer.

Dang those teenage raccoons! :B

I have the opposite problem here in the north during summer time. I will leave the OK door closed during the week (at seasonal site) with fridge on. If I don't turn thermostat down before we close up for the week, the heat build up inside the closed compartment causes the compressor to work overtime, which has caused some soda cans to freeze and explode. Nice mess.
I am considering cutting a vent hole on the wall behind the fridge and installing a grated vent into the bunk room. It would be easy to do, but would put some of the heat inside. I think this would be easier than running a vent pipe to the roof.

So they must intend for the frig to be operated only when the kitchen is open? I have paid attention to these posts as my son has considered an outdoor kitchen. It would seem that you could install a fan and a vent to move air through there but it also gets into the issue of even more energy use while dry camping if it's not solar. Cant power the fan at night with solar. Cant leave the kitchen open at night because the racoons will get the beer.

So cooking is probably the main benefit of outdoor kitchen.

I don't have a outside kitchen so I haven't had the problem. I'm going to take a guess at a solution.

It would be great if you could find a way to vent the compartment out to the roof of the camper. Even if it were smaller PVC pipe. Then you could add a fan to the pipe and suck the heat out the top.

They even sell Solar powered fans for vent pipes to keep your holding tanks vented better.

We've been looking at outside kitchen models and I've been wondering how well the fridge cools being cooped up in there.
Is there any chance some ducting and a computer fan could be added to draw air in from under the trailer?