Squiffy
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Ok, while away in Switzerland and France about three weeks ago this current hot spell reached us on the French/Swiss border first before it hit the UK and what's more the temp outside in the sun topped 43°C (Horrendous) and for the first time our fridge a Dometic 8 series suffered from the extreme heat, we have travelled in the past in 35° tempretures but never as hot as it got while we were away this time.
All the ice creams melted and the butter was almost squiggy all in all the fridge tempreture was only about 5 or 6° lower then the internal temp of the van which constantly stayed at about 35° even with an electric fan blasting away (Which we bought in an Intermarche' ) luckily I've fitted two Lifepo4 batteries and 100 and a 200ah plus a 1500w pure sine inverter so even when not hooked up we could use the rotating fan all night without any qualms.
Having set the scene when we got back home last week I set about trying to compensate for any future incidents like we had just suffered over the fridge. So I ordered of Amazone a two fan kit with a 240v to 12volt speed controller, I then thought the 240v controller was not what I needed and so ordered a 12volt speed controller too, of course they are not speed controllers they are in fact voltage controllers.
I then set about fitting the two large computer fans into the bottom vent area.
(See photos) I had already fitted a single small fan at the top vent some years ago.
As can be seen the bottom fans where their mounting holes were, I drilled four holes in the lip of the inner vent mount then used the supplied set screws to screw the fans up against the inside vent.
Then the wiring which I had brought through the wall from the fuse box area to supply the top fan was cut into and put the bottom fans into parallel. Had used the external pump wire from the Sargents unit to power the fans and put the 12v controller in series wit this wire and so could controll the speed of all three fans simultaneously. The added bonus is that on the Sargents 328 control panel I can have either the internal pump going/External pump going or both at once and so just by touch I can turn the fridge fans on and off.
The 12v controller I will eventually box up and fit it nicely inside the electrics cupboard ( Sometime
).
I have put the fridge on gas and the external temp here in Barry was 32°C within 20mins the freezer side had ice on the vanes and the general fridge vanes were cold to touch so I'm hoping that it is actually going to improve the fridge efficiency by leaps and bounds, we shall see, we're of to Southern Ireland on Monday let me hope the weather stays hot and I can test the theory in practice.
.Phil
All the ice creams melted and the butter was almost squiggy all in all the fridge tempreture was only about 5 or 6° lower then the internal temp of the van which constantly stayed at about 35° even with an electric fan blasting away (Which we bought in an Intermarche' ) luckily I've fitted two Lifepo4 batteries and 100 and a 200ah plus a 1500w pure sine inverter so even when not hooked up we could use the rotating fan all night without any qualms.
Having set the scene when we got back home last week I set about trying to compensate for any future incidents like we had just suffered over the fridge. So I ordered of Amazone a two fan kit with a 240v to 12volt speed controller, I then thought the 240v controller was not what I needed and so ordered a 12volt speed controller too, of course they are not speed controllers they are in fact voltage controllers.
I then set about fitting the two large computer fans into the bottom vent area.
(See photos) I had already fitted a single small fan at the top vent some years ago.
As can be seen the bottom fans where their mounting holes were, I drilled four holes in the lip of the inner vent mount then used the supplied set screws to screw the fans up against the inside vent.
Then the wiring which I had brought through the wall from the fuse box area to supply the top fan was cut into and put the bottom fans into parallel. Had used the external pump wire from the Sargents unit to power the fans and put the 12v controller in series wit this wire and so could controll the speed of all three fans simultaneously. The added bonus is that on the Sargents 328 control panel I can have either the internal pump going/External pump going or both at once and so just by touch I can turn the fridge fans on and off.
The 12v controller I will eventually box up and fit it nicely inside the electrics cupboard ( Sometime
).I have put the fridge on gas and the external temp here in Barry was 32°C within 20mins the freezer side had ice on the vanes and the general fridge vanes were cold to touch so I'm hoping that it is actually going to improve the fridge efficiency by leaps and bounds, we shall see, we're of to Southern Ireland on Monday let me hope the weather stays hot and I can test the theory in practice.
.Phil
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