A friend's fridge

JackieA

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Hope someone can help. A friend bought a new conversion on a VW T5 just before Covid hit. The fridge fitted is a compression unit and the cupboard above gets very warm with the fridge in use. We cannot find any vents below or above the fridge and the converters have only suggested that she open a drawer every so often!
Also they are arguing that the fridge should not be used from the leisure battery if wilding - they say that it is only intended to keep picnics cool as a day van.
 
if it's a compression fridge then it has to come off the leisure battery if no 240v available . is it definitely not a 2 or 3 way ?
 
Mine is a compressor running of a smart inverter, cool as ice cream and runs 100% of the batteries in summer as i have solar to keep them charged.
Some of the 12v fridges are burning 3 times the power mine does, are you sure his is not just a cool box which many call fridges, they only go down 20c below ambient temp, so if 35c inside van in summer they will be sitting at 15c and running all the time, 2c is correct for a fridge & minus 20c for freezer box.
 
JackieA said:
Hope someone can help. A friend bought a new conversion on a VW T5 just before Covid hit. The fridge fitted is a compression unit and the cupboard above gets very warm with the fridge in use. We cannot find any vents below or above the fridge and the converters have only suggested that she open a drawer every so often!
Also they are arguing that the fridge should not be used from the leisure battery if wilding - they say that it is only intended to keep picnics cool as a day van.
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It is not uncommon to have the fridges boxed it a bit too much and so get very warm. You need some kind of venting (not external for a Compression Fridge, but just to allow a little airflow).
The advice about not using from the Leisure Battery when wilding (I presume they mean off-grid) is a bit strange. I don't know if they mean literally that or if they are saying the battery won't last very long?
Either way, it sounds like a combination of the Owner not really understanding what she has bought and the converter either not explaining the system or worse, fitting different kit than described. Either way, a proper conversation between them is required!
 
Any chance of photos of the fridge in situ and of the controls? It doesn't sound like a compressor.
 
Needs cool air in the bottom, and let warm air out the top :unsure:

The freezer in may garage had a fan running behind it when in the summer it got to 40c in there with the door wide open :eek:
 
Probably a 12/240v fridge or coolbox and they advise against battery use due to amps it uses flattening habitation battery. Sounds like they haven't made enough provision to recharge maybe
 
Even though my fridge is a sealed unit I have a airflow under and out the top, also keeps things like space behind fresh.
fridge c.jpg
fridge a.jpg
 
All fridges require ventilation to expel the warm air produced, whilst compressor fridges can be vented inside the vehicle, and to a lessor extent than absorbsion fridges, there will still be a makers recommended figure, look up the installation instructions online. As for off grid use, it would not surprise me that a T5 (or any other) van conversion hasn't been fitted with enough capacity to last more than a few hours.
 
I have a thetford T1090 compressor fridge that gets through about 30aH of battery over 24hours.
It has a vent grill above it and and vents internally into the van. Not sure if that helps....
 
colinmd said:
All fridges require ventilation to expel the warm air produced, whilst compressor fridges can be vented inside the vehicle, and to a lessor extent than absorbsion fridges, there will still be a makers recommended figure, look up the installation instructions online. As for off grid use, it would not surprise me that a T5 (or any other) van conversion hasn't been fitted with enough capacity to last more than a few hours.
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Mine is completely sealed at the back, tested in the house, no heat coming off anywhere, had me baffled, fitted vents anyway.
 
Harryw said:
I have a thetford T1090 compressor fridge that gets through about 30aH of battery over 24hours.
It has a vent grill above it and and vents internally into the van. Not sure if that helps....
Click to expand...
Mine burns quarter amp an hr, must be the best fridge so far.
 
30Ah in 24 Hours is a very efficient fridge.

0.25A average draw? that is around 3W. The inverter overhead will be more than that, Trev, let alone the idea of a fridge using less power than an couple of LED bulbs. Great if it does it, but I cannot deny I am dubious.
 
The fridge is a Webasto compression fridge and I assumed it would need ventilation like my Ice Cube unit that lives on the floor of my self build unless in the awning. Was trying to gather information to aid my friend when confronting the converters on this and other build issues. Myvanwy your comment is not worth the keystrokes.
Thanks to those with positive comments but do I renew membership?
 
JackieA said:
The fridge is a Webasto compression fridge and I assumed it would need ventilation like my Ice Cube unit that lives on the floor of my self build unless in the awning. Was trying to gather information to aid my friend when confronting the converters on this and other build issues. Myvanwy your comment is not worth the keystrokes.
Thanks to those with positive comments but do I renew membership?
Click to expand...
A Webasto Compression Fridge is a quality product. If she has say a 100Ah battery (which is fairly par for the course on a typical T5 Conversion), she will be able to run the fridge as well as the usual lights, phone charging, etc for maybe 24 hours until the battery is down to around 50% charge. In the summertime, if she has Solar, that should more than keep up with the fridge demands for endless days.
A lot of T5 Camper Owners seem to turn the fridge off overnight to save power, but obviously that is something need to be careful of, especially if keeping meat products in it!
It really should be vented inside the van to a degree. The Weaco in my T5 used to reach 50C at the back in the summer and I was going to add a bit of forced ventilation with a little fan to help it but never got round to it. Having said that, even at those temps it never once had a problem.
You and your friend might also want to look at the VW T4 Forum (it is for T5 and T6 as well) - that has a lot of specific VW T5 info which could be good for a new owner.
 
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