How not to upgrade your camper

[craig333]

I put an exhaust fan for my truckfridge down low a while back, didn't seem to do much. Then I decided to insulate it. Way overkill. I get in the camper and the counter over the fridge is hot to the touch. So, I decide to move the fan up high. This part isn't bad. I wired it into the existing fan on the compressor so it only runs when the compressor is running. Of course I had to cut a hole for the exhaust. Now I'd been doing other projects (can't go camping working six days a week), 303 the vinyl, repair the stove ignitor and such and its getting late.

I cut the hole. Install the fan. I'll worry about a cover for it tomorrow. Can't be hard to find a square louvered cover right? B&L didn't have but they're small. I try ebay, amazon and google. Nothing. Hmmm, camping world? Nope. Well after work I stop by Allied trailer supply. Not there either. Well its about time I visited RV Doctor George. I explain what I want. Can't be that unusual can it? They give me that look. You a fabricator? But, they do have a huge supply of used RV stuff. I find a door, what it was for originally I don't know but it'll work. Just needs a new latch. Clean it up a bit and enlarge the hole to fit and I'm done. Doesn't have the air flow I was hoping for and it doesn't match the rest of the camper but at least it'll keep rain out.

So the moral of the story is, plan your projects better than I do.



Completed

 

[takesiteasy]

I bet you could buy a floor heating register and cut it down to fit in that little door frame. Would give a little more air flow. Paint everything white and no one will notice.

 

[JaSAn]

Make friends with a street rod builder who has a louver punch (the kind that punches louvers into a car hood). Easy peasy to make a small aluminum plate with louvers in it.
JaSAn

 

[Alley-Kat]

I asked Marty & Jeff at All Terrain Campers to send me two of the double horizontal vents, like this...

I cut each double horizontal vent in half leaving a flat edge around for attachment. I knew I'd need two of the horizontal vents, as when I cut them up, I was going to have one usable vent and a piece of trash that didn't have a mounting edge, in other words I had to cut real close to the vent that was going to become a piece of trash. The space between the two louvered vents is not large enough to cut it right down the middle and use both pieces.

I then found in my aluminium scrap pile a piece of 1/8" thick flat stock that I cut and then painted white for a frame around each vent, like this...

It turned out like this...

I also have the fan wired into the compressor fridge controller so that it is only ON when the compressor is ON. The fan is blowing out on the top vent. Lots of air flow.

 

[alano]

Did you use screening to keep bugs out? When the fan runs it shouldn't be a problem but the fan doesn't run all the time.

I was thinking of tackling this project in my Hawk and I pulled out the fridge to check things out. I wondered if I couldn't put the hole through the floor of the back of the fridge cabinet since it is part of the overhang above the bed rails. This would be essentially invisible as well as rain proof. Depending on the size of the fan, I might need to mount it on the underside or cut the hole so the outside box of the fan sits flush with the inside floor surface. Does anyone see a problem with this idea?

Alan

 

[wuck]

Hey Alan,

I'm also thinking about a bottom (inlet) vent, my 2-way Norcold draws interior camper air under the bottom and exhausts it over the top of the fridge. Changing the venting will allow me to do a much better job insulating things. The Norcold has a built in fan the rarely runs - I haven't heard it run yet, but I did test it to make sure it was operable.

 

[alano]

Not to hijack the thread (here it comes...) but, maybe someone can straighten me out about something with the fridge compartments. Since the hot air pumped from the cold box is mostly sitting there surrounding the unit except for the feeble amount of air ventage, it would seem that the insulation in the compartment is actually keeping all that hot air next to the unit. I haven't used a thermometer but the exhaust air out the top is noticeably warmer than the interior temp of the camper as it needs to be to dump that heat. If said heat could leave the surroundings of the unit then there would be less heat transfer into the cold box and the pump wouldn't have to work so hard to dump its heat. This suggests that the cabinet shouldn't be insulated at all to maximize the heat transfer away from the outside of the fridge.

So either I am misunderstanding or FWC (and others presumably) are actually making things worse by insulating the box and could improve refrigerator performance by eliminating the insulation. Of course if the primary purpose of that insulation is to isolate the interior of the camper from the great outdoors then I need to really look into venting the fridge cabinet outside to get the best of both worlds. I think I just answered my own question. Thanks for listening.

Alan

 

[Alley-Kat]

Did you use screening to keep bugs out? When the fan runs it shouldn't be a problem but the fan doesn't run all the time.

Alan

Yes, I used some window screening that I "glue gunned" to the inside of the vent covers.