I know what your saying Drover, I've had a few people recommend the two door three way fridge over single door. Got two display vans lined up to check out both the waeco and two door three way so see how we go.
Compressor fridges
- Thread starter GUlewis
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I know what your saying Drover, I've had a few people recommend the two door three way fridge over single door. Got two display vans lined up to check out both the waeco and two door three way so see how we go.
Totally agree. The smaller fridges with the freezer compartment in the fridge just don’t freeze properly. The two doors are the way to go.
I prefer the three way fridges as they are more flexible than compressor fridges even through they might not perform as well.
Chris
Hi @mikerezny , that is a lot of juice to recharge each day!! Are those figures based on a realistic "on" 60% and "off" 40% of the time?? I will look up a chart from one of the sites i found and send it to you.
lets not put the horse before the cart @Boots in Action
I still have not decided on what sort of portable panels I want (I know next to diddly squat)......... (and am a tightwad too boot....... Scottish you see.......)
all I know is.......
we spent 8 days at Logue Brook Dam (only using solar & 120a battery)was ok but the next 3 days at another place drained the battery
reason.....
while at Logue Brook, old 30L engel was in car and Van in the sun during the day
when we got to Brookton, I took it out and it was running off the Van 12V
woke up at 3.00am with alarm going off on the Battery on the 2nd night and had to borrow a genny to re-charge
I was also parked under a tree........... so it was not getting full sun on the roof panels
I look at portable solar panels, then all the info starts turning into either hieroglyphics or Latin....... so I loose interest very very quickly
especially as there is 120W / 150W / 160W / goodness knows what other sizes ranging from $100 to $800 - and thats 2nd hand.........................
one day I may master it, but not today or tomorrow
Hi @ChrisFatboySydney , I have only a Thetford 93 litre 3 way fridge single door and we have never had any problem keeping the ice cream rock hard in the freezer even in 35C temps. The fridge part struggles at that temp but generally able to keep temp down in fridge part around 7 or 8C even in the worst conditions of heat during the day. Maybe it is the way we use the freezer?? It is only opened at night to get my frozen bacon out for the next morning breakfast and for removing the frozen spag bog , steak or sausages in the afternoon for evening meal. Oh!! I nearly forgot , also opened for the daily happy hour so we can have ice in our Jim Beam and Coke. There is also no trouble making ice which is usually done last thing at night.
I know you play "dumb" @bigcol , but most of us can see through your supposed lack of knowledge. Yes, solar panels MUST have sun or bright atmosphere and do not perform well in shade. A simple volt meter connected across battery terminals and in a convenient viewing position is the way to go. That friend of yours from the bush @Drover has that simple set up and the cost is only 2 or 3 dollars. Surely your Scottish breeding can spare that?? I would be willing to donate one for you if you could get someone to connect it for you. However, I guess the big problem would be getting you to read the numbers and understand what they mean as far as available battery power was available. How well did you do at maths at school??? Only joking I can assure you!! If you can take apart an auto tranny and put it back together again in a going condition even if a long time ago, you will be fine with "the white man magic" - may not be able to see it, but it is there for your use. Lots of different types of panels now available including one I saw - a 250 watt thin and light weight folding type (five folds and very light too by Kick Ass). Only $1200.00!!! At that price I will be humping my 200w 14kg glass panels around for a while yet!! Do not forget, there is plenty of help here if you want it and there are good teachers for your education too. Cheers
point of actual fact @Boots in Action ..................
I have several Volt gauges and even a couple of Amp gauges - good quality ones (?) Baintech (prefer their products over Narva.........)
now
if I knew what to do with them I would be a happy man
I wanted to put one of each on the single battery I have, in such a position that I can read them - if required - when required
only one small problem
where and how................. (well, 2 problems)
but this is about compressor fridges, so I will have to find that Solar thread....... start reading it again all 50 pages ............................................
Hi @Boots in Action,
I only worked on the information off the Dometic website and manuals for the two fridges.
If you have some time, have a look at these references and see if you come up with different figures.
My only input was to double the 'laboratory' measurements to come up with a more realistic energy consumption.
But I did not take into account a possibly lower power draw between sunset and sunrise.
So my estimates are worse case scenarios over hot summer days.
cheers
Mike
I’ve found with the theford all I needed to do was follow the manufactures installation advise as laid out in the manual that Jayco provided and the fridge performs well. The added fan rarely comes on now since I sorted the chimney and vents. I’ve found the thetfords get down to temp quicker than the dometic 3 way we had but use more gas. So it’s possible it recovers better.
Hey Mike @mikerezny , just had a close look at the compliance plate for my 93L Thetford and I was very happy to see "T" in climate class section. Also did some digging on what the classes are on the following site. Very interesting reading regarding Thetford vs Dometic in Jayco vans. Although the postings are old, it may have some relevance on why some members' 3 way fridges perform better in the heat than others. Being rated as "T" it is supposed to be able to operate in temps up to 42C. And there are some good tips about PROPER INSTALLATION too, just as @Drover has been barking on about.
http://caravanersforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=47109
http://www.candm.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4842
Here is another site that is worth reading where a proper test was done by an educated operator .
http://caravanersforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=33270
Pretty well what I've been saying all along, so not bad for a Year 10 edumacated fella..................................................looking forward to pulling mine out when I get back from this trip and insulating the box it lives in better, means I will have to go away on another trip to test it out but thats just one of the sacrifices one has to make to do a decent job....
Other thing why does everyone go into a panic if their fridge isn't at 0 deg ????? Fridge temp is supposed to be around the 3 deg mark, household and van I thought ???
Since my temp monitor drowned I've not missed it one little bit, haven't cared about it, sort of like dumping Faceache, life is better without it.
Woof.
Other thing why does everyone go into a panic if their fridge isn't at 0 deg ????? Fridge temp is supposed to be around the 3 deg mark, household and van I thought ???
Since my temp monitor drowned I've not missed it one little bit, haven't cared about it, sort of like dumping Faceache, life is better without it.
Woof.
Hi @Drover , I don't know about being uneducated at year 10 level. Being a "self taught" person with experience is worth more than a uni degree when it comes to practical hands on things. But how come with all the "good oil" you have been espousing about proper installation of fridges in vans, yours is not done absolutely perfect. I would have thought it would have been "an expert" job!!
Hi @mikerezny and @Drover , here is some more very important info about installation of 3 way fridges in vans. It seems some of the most important points are that the bottom vent should be at the least the same level as bottom of fridge or lower (it is also an access point) and the top vent must be higher than the top of cooling fins to enable free flow of air to cool back of fridge. It is well covered in the attached note from one of the sites mentioned earlier.
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 7:29 pmTow Vehicle: Nissan Navara RX (pensioner pack)Caravan/Motorhome Type: Spaceland - Tourer 18' pop-topFirst Name: PeterPartner's Name: YGeneral Location: Chain Valley Bay
Re: Thetford N304.3 90L fridge performance
Postby NomadicNavara » Fri Apr 25, 2014 4:52 pm
Tony, if you install a T rated fridge properly you should not need any fans. There is three things to watch when installing:
1. there should be no space at the sides or top where air from the reaf can get around the sides and top.
2. The fins on the back of the fridge are close to the wall so the rising air is forced through them.
3. The bottom of the top vent is above the top of the fins at the top.
If you can't achieve those three points then fans will not be particularly helpful either.
Also the fridges have to be tested in a correctly installed situation. That's why they fail in Oz, we have slap tick builders cutting corners. I would not order a van and insist that a fridge be installed properly, I would look at a fridge installation and use that as an indication that there will be plenty of other problems.
After several days of testing in sub-30 degree conditions with the thermostat on maximum (5), it was obvious the cabinet wasn't going to drop below about 2 degrees even when ambient was down to 20 deg C. This didn't bode well given this is no better than my old fridge got. However I subsequently turned the thermostat down to 3.5 and got a nice triangular wave between 2 and 4 degrees so it may be the fins ice up below that and it doesn't cool any further.
I have seen the same sort of thing with Dometic fridges being reported in forums. Things being said like "don't turn them all the way up, they cool better at normal running settings."The important thing in getting your fridge to work properly is to correct the installation before even thinking of installing fans. You need to block the gaps between the cabinet and the fridge at the top and sides, add material between the fins and the wall of the van to be within specification to force the air through the fins and shift the top vent up if necessary. I got an early 90s fridge working OK. All that was out of kilter was the top vent was too low, you could see the top fins through the vent. This allowed the air to bypass travelling evenly through the fins. I got the local repair place to do the work. They added a new vent above the other, provided an air passage to it and blocked off sufficient of the bottom vent to force the air through the whole of the fins. It then worked in hot weather despite the pundits saying saying they would not work properly in temperatures over 30 deg.
Copied from other forums I have found. Interesting how they compare with posts on our forum.
Everything you need to know to make the fridges work properly is in the manual Jayco supply. If one had the patience you could return the van to the Jayco dealer with their supplied manual and insist they fix it ! Of course life’s too short.
Critical things imo are
Making sure the air goes past the fins (simple block of foam or wood glued to the wall allowing 10mm clearance off fins )
Making sure the hot air exits the top vent and cannot get on top of the fridge (like photo below )
And I enlarged the low vent for two reasons. To give proper access to the jet and allow more air. (Jayco installed the vent in wrong place so you can not service the fridge in place !)
Only thing I researched online. Was the auxiliary fan as my earlier post it hardly switches on now the above steps were taken.
Strangely in our 2011 Expandas Jayco had installed the dometic properly as per above , so why 2yrs later did they do it wrong?
Critical things imo are
Making sure the air goes past the fins (simple block of foam or wood glued to the wall allowing 10mm clearance off fins )
Making sure the hot air exits the top vent and cannot get on top of the fridge (like photo below )
And I enlarged the low vent for two reasons. To give proper access to the jet and allow more air. (Jayco installed the vent in wrong place so you can not service the fridge in place !)
Only thing I researched online. Was the auxiliary fan as my earlier post it hardly switches on now the above steps were taken.
Strangely in our 2011 Expandas Jayco had installed the dometic properly as per above , so why 2yrs later did they do it wrong?
When I bought my last van 2016 20.64-1 I opted for the Waeco 180 Litre or whatever size it was (BIG). Also added a extra solar panel (total 300W) and a 2nd battery so (200 amp hr total). Also opted the Drifta to manage it and in short ITS GREAT.
Have free camped for over a week with no issues. I would never go back to a 3 way again and gets cold the minute you turn it on, doesnt need to be dead level, uses less 12v power.
Have free camped for over a week with no issues. I would never go back to a 3 way again and gets cold the minute you turn it on, doesnt need to be dead level, uses less 12v power.
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Im very interested in a comp fridge, I would love to swap ours out for one but Im concerned about my capacity to produce enough energy to keep up to it. Based on specs, at around 3 amp/hr your fridge is drawing 72amps/24hr. A 300w panel produces around 15amps in perfect conditions, and over a very generous 5 hours produces at best around 75amps, matching your fridge at a conservative average. In a more likely less then perfect environment the fridge would drawer 4amp/hr and the solar produce less. A 200amp of battery storage would easily mask a constant negative misbalance in energy used over energy produced over a weeks usage. Did you test any of the performances. My pea size brain would suggest, throwing in a 50% contingency for crap weather, hot days or both, I would need a 1000w of solar for a large comp fridge (plus some for my very power hungry family). Thoughts?? Anyone??
So we have the Waeco RPD-218, 300W solar, 200 amp/hr batteries all being managed by the Drifta.
Yes on paper you paint a dim picture, but in reality the fridge will use less at night as cooler and not being opened. Say drawing 1 amp/hour. Will make a note to check it for people. So our longest free camp in the one spot was 9 days. First 4 days was overcast and parked under a tree. Lowest the batteries got was about 50%. I was checking as the van was a 2 months old and first real test. If I was really worried I would add a 3rd panel, but don’t think it would ever be an issue.
To be honest we normally move camp every 2-3 days so doubt it would ever get that low again. We are free camping again in Oct for 7 days, so will take some more notes.