Caravan fridges

I chuckled when I read your posting!
Years ago, I was issued with a work caravan for a few months, made by a well-known Vic caravan mfr (at the time). The fridge had been installed quite contrary to the fridge manual's recommendation, with virtually no ventilation, so I removed a metal cover off the top to help it along. I always wondered why it wouldn't work off 240v, when one day, I pulled the fridge out to fix a gas burner problem, and found the 240v cord just coiled up under the fridge, not connected to anything, coz there was no wiring to the fridge. Managed to rig an extension cord under the caravan (not really legal) and eventually had a fridge that worked off both gas and 240v.
How do they get away with it?
cheers,
Gerry

Had constant cooling problems in high ambient temp. Read all the advice on how the fridge should be setup (ventilation, etc). I fitted a couple of 12V fans a few years ago above the coils. The plan was to force the hot air, which rises.

Well I had a closer look at the pathetic attempt by Jayco to insulate and fit the hot air baffle. After careful study of the Dometic fitting instructions I decided that perhaps the Jayco job was less that satisfactory.


"9.2 VENTILATION
Ventilation is one of the requirements for proper cooling
unit operation. The coach vent system must be able to
provide a way to direct the hot air, produced by the action
of the cooling unit, out away from the installation of the
refrigerator. The refrigerator extracts heat from the interior
of the refrigerator cabinet and dissipates the heat out
through the vent system. In a proper installation there
should be zero (0”) clearance surrounding the sides and
top of the refrigerator to achieve proper air flow. All
potential dead air pockets should be blocked or baffled to
ensure that heat won’t be trapped in these spaces and
reduce efficiency. In addition, the cooling unit should be
at least one inch (1”) from the nearest surface made of
combustible material."

The space between the fridge and cabinet sides was less than 10mm on either side, no way I could get any insulation in there unless I used cigarette paper. But that seems to be appropriate according to Dometic.

The top baffle had a gap large enough to get my arm in and check for insulation, of which there was none.

So a bit of insulbat went on top and the baffle refitted so there was next to no gap to allow hot air to flow over the top.

We'll see how it goes.

inferior material installation is and are not warranty problems.....it is "not fit for purpose" and as such is much the same as recall on a car etc ...it needs fixing cos the manufacture of it has been stuffed up

ie if say the caravan was 3 yrs old or even 5 and i was original owner I'd be back there immediately asking...no no no Demanding it be corrected.....

I had a post a little while back about this subject. Quite a few answers of varying points of view.

Jayco Freedom pop top 2002 model.

Here is what I did !
Disconnected 12volt connection, gas connection and unplugged the 240v lead
Pulled the fridge out from the enclosure and tipped it upside down a couple of times then left it upside down for about and hour. Put it back in.( up the correct way of course !)
Made a baffle from a piece of colourbond to direct the hot air outwards and not into the space above the fridge. Screwed this in place. Sealed the remaining gaps at the top with foil duct tape.
Installed the fan I had previously in the bottom of the rear of the fridge at the top in the direction to suck the air from the baffle. I cable tied it to the outer grill and left enough wire to be able to remove it out of the way in the future.

The fridge has never performed better and had to keep turning it down (towards "1") to stop freezing things. Spent June -Aug between here (Darwin) and Perth so there were some pretty hot days.

I did a visiting friends van (Paramount Delta) on the weekend and his is performing great now. Did not have to do the upside down bit with his.

Hope this helps.

Hi Longtooth, with regards to the extra heavy wiring to the fridge, any advice on what size/brand of wire should be used.

I have the same issue with my fridge.

Thanks

Graeme