Fitting a Fridge Fan Hot weather can lead to poorly performing fridges. If everything else is OK then fitting a small fan might just make all the difference. Words by Terry Owen most photos by Alison Owen |
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Many of us will have experienced less than satisfactory performance from our caravan and motor home fridges during hot weather. Assuming the fridge has a good gas or electricity supply, and is not in need of servicing, the the answer could be to fit a small 12 volt fan to help remove the hot air from around the fridge’s condenser. This is the black finned assembly visible through the top fridge vent.
The easiest way to fit a fan is to buy a purpose made kit. These normally come with temperature sensors so the fan only runs when needed. Both single and double fan kits are available and usually attach to the back of the top vent making installation easy. All that is needed is a 12 volt supply. There is also a kit where the fan screws to the back of the fridge and pushes air through the condenser from below (see pic). This could be very effective but you would need to ensure that all the resulting warm air found its way out through the top vent.
The type of fans used in these kits is similar to those used in many desktop PC's. This type of fan is very efficient - typically each fan will take just 0.25 amps and yet move around 55 cubic feet of air each minute. This means they can be used in situations where no mains is available as long as an eye is kept on the battery level.
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The pic on the left shows the Fridgeflow kit after fitting. It simply attaches to the vents on the inside of the cover and then all that is needed is a 12 volt supply. It has an inbuilt thermostat that cuts in at about 30°C The pic on the right shows the Comet fan in place underneath the fridge's condenser. The associated thermostat can be see stuck onto the end fin of the condenser. |
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Fan kits can be found in many accessory shops and online stores. In case of difficulty I've put a couple of hyperlinks at the end of this article to get you started.
Many of the fans are the same as used in desktop PC's and this got me thinking I could easily buy my own bits and save some money. A trip to my local Maplins did the trick. One fan, one bracket, and one temperature controller kit later (code RR51F) and I was ready to go. The controller kit required assembly with a soldering iron but it really was very easy, taking just a few minutes. Of course you don't have to fit a temperature controller but it does mean the fan only operates when needed thereby saving power.
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Fan and bracket |
Assembled temperature controller |
Bracket in place ready to receive the fan |
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The picture on the right above shows the fan bracket screwed into place and ready to accept the fan. The bracket was actually fitted with the fridge in situ but it here it has been pulled forward to allow the photograph to be taken. With the bracket in place the fan can be mounted and wired to a nearby 12 volt supply via a suitable switch. In this case, as I had already had access to the wring on the top the fridge, I decided to ‘piggy back’ the 12 volt supply to the fridge itself. You can see the wires in the pic below left. Access to the top of the fridge also allowed me to mount a small on/off switch on the fridge’s control panel. You can see it below to the right of the thermostat knob.
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12 volt supply take off |
On/off switch |
Temperature controller |
Fan ready to go! |
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The temperature controller comes with a remote sensor that can be placed where needed. I put mine next to the fan but not in its airflow as this causes frequent switching on and off. Below you can see the controller minus cover ( I used the bubble pack it came in) mounted on the side of the fridge bay.
Finally a note of caution. Don't be tempted to fit a fan to the lower vent, albeit blowing inwards. This is the area where the fridge's 'boiler' is situated and it needs to be hot for the fridge to work.
As mentioned above, you don’t fancy the hassle of buying all the bits separately and assembling them it is possible to buy a fridge fan kit. These can be obtained from many accessory shops and online stores such as www.marcleleisure.co.uk and www.motorcaravanning.co.uk