Special shade for fridge vent area??

[profdant139]

Sometimes, we have to park the trailer so that the fridge vents are in the sun all day. If I deploy the awning, that shades the vents. But sometimes, in windy conditions, I can't.

Has anyone developed a separately-deployable shade for those vents, so that the fridge is not fighting an extra load of solar heat?

Thanks in advance for your ideas!

[robatthelake]

Those rigs with the fridges in the slides seem to all have issues! I have looked at several and the problems all seem to happen when they are facing the Sun.
The Top vent is identical to the bottom one which means that as the hot air rises in the space between the wall and the back of the Fridge it has to flow up then over and down in order to exit!

I’m no rocket scientist ,but that is just plain stupid engineering.

Even with the fans installed the design of that vent doesn’t work efficiently!

[Horizon170]

I have an idea ------not sure if it will help.
Use 2 inch wide Heating and Air stick on tape on the louvers where the sun hits. Clicky

[CincyGus]

Wiring a 12v computer fan in the bottom vent to push air up through the cooling stack seems like a easier solution with a much bigger chance of giving improved frig performance. I did this on a frig once to fix a frig that was struggling to stay cold on summer days. Another helpful mod is to make some baffling out if aluminum foil wrapped cardboard to eliminate dead air space and direct tree he airflow of the fan better. Just a couple ideas to consider. Good luck.

[doxiemom11]

There are many people with frig in slides having problems because of the sun shining on the side of the rv, especially when it's afternoon sun. One of the rvers here built a shade with pvc and suncloth. Because they live here, they have it fastened to the top of the slide - it goes out about 6" and drops to the ground where there is a pole holding the bottom of the suncloth. They did have to do some sewing of seams - kind of like curtains only with a pockets for the rod (pvc) both top and bottom. It has helped enough that their frig is now in acceptable temperature range for food storage - they said about 14 deg cooler.

[MrWizard]

profdant139 wrote:
enblethen, I have installed a deflector to channel the airflow -- it seems to work fine. And Mr. Wizard, the problem is that on my rig, there is a lower intake air vent, and the burner assembly is above that, and the coils are above that, and the upper vent is at the top of the stack.

So the problem is that the sun beats on the sidewall of the trailer, heating the coils.

Shade cloth could do the trick, if I could figure out how to suspend it so that it hangs down in the right place.

the sun beats on the sidewall of 'almost' all rv fridges
some part of the day, including mine

another reason awnings are important

like i said shading the vent won't help much
shading the wall will help

[profdant139]

Itinerant, that video was useful, especially because they used suction cups. I happen to have a couple of very powerful suction cups from Harbor Freight that will stick well to my fiberglass exterior. So this should be a fairly easy project. We'll see.

[Itinerant1]

Just to give a possible idea of attaching a shade cover, he used flexible panels over windows but same concept.

https://youtu.be/Al8rCydNiLs

[CA_Traveler]

The shade covered the entire refer outside area, top (roof area) to the bottom. Plenty of room for air movement for roof top or side vents. The owner said that it was a worthwhile improvement.

[profdant139]

enblethen, I have installed a deflector to channel the airflow -- it seems to work fine. And Mr. Wizard, the problem is that on my rig, there is a lower intake air vent, and the burner assembly is above that, and the coils are above that, and the upper vent is at the top of the stack.

So the problem is that the sun beats on the sidewall of the trailer, heating the coils.

Shade cloth could do the trick, if I could figure out how to suspend it so that it hangs down in the right place.

[MrWizard]

i don't shading the vent will do much

that area is where the burner is and the HEAT for Operation is created

its the sun on the area of the cooling coils, the wall, that affects operation of the fridge

hang a spare solar panel on the wall from roof line to top of the vent door
do not block the vent door

[enblethen]

Have you checked the distance between the cooling unit and the outside wall? It should be less then an inch.
I just looked at photo online of your rig. The upper vent should have some kind of deflector to aim air out of vent. If nothing is there a void at the top of the refer can cause poor air flow, reducing refer efficiency.

[CA_Traveler]

I saw one made from PVC that hung over the refer outside. It had canvas to block the sun and had 6" standoffs. PVC does not need to be glued and can be disassembled for storage.

Another idea is to install a fan and thermostat to move the air through the back.

[Itinerant1]

Something like Aluminet Shade Cloth they claim a 14 degrees cooler. Some sort of suction cup holder attachment when needed. As long as you don't stare at it you shouldn't go blind. 😉


Aluminet Shade Cloth

[Tiger4x4RV]

I once saw a shade on a frig vent that was on the side of a camper. The owner had attached two vertical holding strips of metal edging of some type to the camper. He then took a flat sheet of thin firm plastic that was wider than the distance between the strips, put one edge of it under each holding strip. This made an easily removable shade which bowed out from the side of the camper. It shaded the vents without harming air circulation. Sorry, no photos available.