Electrical Fridge Fan

brookes2622

brookes2622

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Crusty181

Crusty181

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I love number one, the twin fans mounted to the wall vent .... but the price scares me. I made a similar unit in the last van by cable tying a single $10 eBay computer fan to the rear of the upper factory vent ... that had a bonus, it also glowed blue when it was on. Fan was still working after 5 years when I sold the van

Jaycar Electronics stock the thermo switches if you want to automate it
 
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jandl

jandl

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I have just installed two computer fans as the bench top was heating up. Copied the idea from others here. At the moment they are cable tied to the vent. I installed a switch inside and a 50deg thermo switch from Jaycar, $20 for 4 fans from ebay and $6 for thermo switch. Installed last Wednesday and using it now, is working very well.
image.jpg image.jpg
 
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Drover

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My thread has how I did my set up, just need one or two old computer fans (out of old power supplies or $10 each), a thermo switch ($4.95) some cable and clips, not all that hard to do at all and certainly not as overpriced as those units you tagged. Parts readily available at Jaycar .
If your bench top is heating up then you need to get in from behind the fridge, thru the vent and stuff the gap between top of fridge and bench with insulation then make a baffle so the air comes in the bottom vent, thru the cooling fins and is directed straight out the upper vent, this is where the fans help, if the back of fridge is open then the fridge wasn't fitted correctly in the first place and all gaps need to be sealed, the fins should be no more than 25mm from the wall and the air flow should be directly passing thru the fins to the outside, this is where the fans help if you have gaps everywhere it's not going to work to max effeciency.
 
mfexpanda

mfexpanda

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brookes2622 said:
Been looking to get a fridge fan and found these:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/CARAVAN-...87?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item2c97364a3b

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Fridge-F...AU_Boat_Parts_Accessories&hash=item51c3504d7b

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Solar-Fr...Caravan_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a3e7c7e0c

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Fridge-F...79?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item2a39fed9ef

I'm not sure which one to buy. Can people relate there experiences with these?
Click to expand...
i just fitted number 1 . expensive but it is both frames the outside louver and the inside frame that screws to the van with the 2 fans mounted to that.
seems to work great but you'll still need to get a thermostat to suit
 
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Crusty181

Crusty181

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@mfexpanda I was tempted to get your fan vent ...... but the cost poo poo'ed that idea. But with work etc Im starting waiver a little back toward it. It looks like a very neat unit
 
Moto Moto

Moto Moto

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I have been wanting to do this to my latest van, so will watch this thread a bit. I am after the cheap but effective option.
 
Crusty181

Crusty181

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ShaneT said:
I ran 2 of theses http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ARTIC-F1...28?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item567128f2ac mounted to a bit of perspex and one of theses http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2pcs-Tem...17?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item45ff0ac8fd screwed and glued (with thermal paste) to the fins at the top.
Worked perfect I did take pics, will try and find them.
Click to expand...
Where did you mount the perspex. @mfexpanda's factory fan was mounted horizontal half way up the back of the fridge. Do the thermo switches need to be in contact with a heat source, or will they activate on ambient temperature. (I think Ive typed the word "ambient" about 350 times in the last few weeks)

Would the evaporator fins be higher than 40oC most of the time?
 
Drover

Drover

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My thermo switch is a 70c unit and the fins spend most of the time at or above that temp, if you mount it like I did it is just so easy but if you want to have it to be on just air temp then you would need to mount it where it gets the airflow after passing thru the fins, sounds like a lot of unneccessary work to me. Jaycar for $4 same day purchase not a 3 week wait for china post.

Mine is mounted on the ammonia pipe as it's very bloody hot, fins would be cooler by a small bit I suppose

switch02-jpg.jpg
 
Drover

Drover

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and with using a spring clip it will hang off the pipe or the fins..
 
mfexpanda

mfexpanda

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Crusty181 said:
Where did you mount the perspex. @mfexpanda's factory fan was mounted horizontal half way up the back of the fridge. Do the thermo switches need to be in contact with a heat source, or will they activate on ambient temperature. (I think Ive typed the word "ambient" about 350 times in the last few weeks)

Would the evaporator fins be higher than 40oC most of the time?
Click to expand...
@Crusty181 the factory thermo switch is on the the bottom tube just near the heat source on ours
 
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ShaneT

ShaneT

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Crusty181 said:
Where did you mount the perspex. @mfexpanda's factory fan was mounted horizontal half way up the back of the fridge. Do the thermo switches need to be in contact with a heat source, or will they activate on ambient temperature. (I think Ive typed the word "ambient" about 350 times in the last few weeks)

Would the evaporator fins be higher than 40oC most of the time?
Click to expand...
I cant find my pics, they must be on my old phone. Using this random pic of the web.
I pulled the fridge out and glued the peice of perspex to the back of the vent surround, sealing it. this prevents the fans from just sucking air back in from around it self through the top vent like the below pic would. I used a hole saw and cut 2 holes (100mm I think) and mounted the fans on the inside. see the row of fins in the pic, I mounted my thermo switch on the far right fin. On a 30c day I think it would cut in for 15-20 min every hour, I think I heard it cut in twice at night, this was 2 years ago so I could be wrong but they would run well less than 50% of the time
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad336/farm59/HeatDeflecter.jpg
 
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