Club 80-90 Forums

Just to update and close this.

I fitted a new fan as described and (yellow wire is +ve).

Refitted the fridge to the van, reconnected the gas and checked for leaks.

Fired up the gas on the fridge and found that the small green gauge is to show that the fridge is lit and when you can release the gas primer - once the pointer is fully in the green.

Over all it's working super now, so I'm really happy. I will say that the flame viewing point is rubbish however!

Now to fit new smoke and CO alarms - safety first.

Thanks guys

Am I missing a trick here? whats the idea of the fan? My fridge is out at the moment and if there is a benefit I can fit one.

Thanks

Depends. Martin's van's a westy so does not have the external vents to allow outside air convection currents to dissipate heat from the fridge heat exchanger. Some conversions dissipate the heat inside the van. No idea what conversion the original poster's van is. Bottom line is the better the heat dissipation, the better the fridge internal cooling. If you have external vents, simple air convection current should be sufficient - the hotter the exchanger gets the stronger the current.

Cheers for that . I have an Auto Sleeper so big vent on the side and I have justed added a lower vent on the side and welded up the original hole in the floor. So I think I will give the fan a miss.

The Electrolux 184? that came in my van (89 Westfalia California) already had a small bracket mounted fan (about 60mm 4 blade affair) fixed below the lower cooling fins. This worked through a thermo switch and came on when warm. This fan was terribly noisey, especially in the summer months during our warm european trips.
The 120mm fan is a replacement, being both quieter and more powerful than the original.
As Bren says...with absorption fridges especially, it is important to keep the rear of the fridge as cool as possible as this directly effects how cold the fridge can cool internally. I have an overide switch to leave the fan on permenantly whist on hookup.
Like Bren said..Westies don't have the big external vents.

Martin

zed wrote:Cheers for that . I have an Auto Sleeper so big vent on the side and I have justed added a lower vent on the side and welded up the original hole in the floor. So I think I will give the fan a miss.

cue condense pooling where the hole was
Autosleeper put the hole there so condense drips straight out.

I'm happy to say where the hole was there was no rust discovered during the restoration.. side vents seem to fare less well.

Right, well this should throw the cat in amongst the pigeons......

I cannot see how, (or have witnessed), a fridge that gets hot at the back as an operational by product can possibly cause condensation on the adjacent bodywork. It does not give off any kind of moisture during operation (except in the exhaust gas and that is flued directly to the outside) and due to the heat produced would actively discourage the formation of condensation on adjacent metalwork by raising it's temperature. I think it's a (understandable) myth just because a fridge gets cold and someone thought cold equals condensation.

The finger of blame I believe should be pointed squarely at that lower vent. When I removed my furniture I drove down the A46 in a proper downpour; spray and puddling everywhere. When I arrived home I happened to glance in the back and there was a substantial amount of water in the floor 'gutter' which had obviously got there through the lower vent (the top vent was bone dry). I now keep the lower vent covered whilst driving unless the weather is bone dry, relying on the hole in the floor under the fridge to act in tandem with the upper vent to provide the necessary cool air convection.

The next most likely cause of rot down there I would postulate is leaking side window seals.

zed wrote:welded up the original hole in the floor.

I suggest you un-weld it then as it had a dual purpose. It's other purpose was to allow gas to escape should a leak occur behind your fridge......

I

zed wrote:welded up the original hole in the floor.

I suggest you un-weld it then as it had a dual purpose. It's other purpose was to allow gas to escape should a leak occur behind your fridge......[/quote]

Thought of that. I put drop out vents in and the new vent on the side is at floor level

Fairy Nuff

Fair points on the leaks on that side. I have found most of mine seemed to have come from around the window or the vent on the van wall, the water ran in to and rotted the seam of the bracer bar, and subsequently on to the floor and rotted the top off the inner sill.

As far as the condensation collecting on the floor behind the fridge, mine was the same. No real rot on the steel around the hole so water obviously dropping through the hole. The aluminium shrould was totally destroyed, and the wooden floor around the hole was completly rotted.

To combat any water behind the units, I now have a very well sealed wall to wall plywood floor (varinshed all over with matt varinsh as well as sealer round the edges), I am trying to figure out a catchment and channel system that will direct any water along the panel to a drain to the outside. Not finished figuring it out yet apart from the aluminium tray across the bottom of the back of the fridge and a dedicated external drain. I have thought of putting a plastic channel along the floor against the van wall so that if the seals on the windows or vents do start to leak at a later date. the water will not sit on the floor.

1664 wrote:Right, well this should throw the cat in amongst the pigeons......

I cannot see how, (or have witnessed), a fridge that gets hot at the back as an operational by product can possibly cause condensation on the adjacent bodywork. It does not give off any kind of moisture during operation (except in the exhaust gas and that is flued directly to the outside) and due to the heat produced would actively discourage the formation of condensation on adjacent metalwork by raising it's temperature. I think it's a (understandable) myth just because a fridge gets cold and someone thought cold equals condensation.

Have you looked at domestic fridges and freezers - they have condensate containers that catch drips formed during operation - They are usually mounted above the compressor so the heat generated there evaporates it. There are no side vents in my kitchen to let in water!

Yes I have....... and that's a very fair point. I'd still like to know how something that gets hot causes condensation - flies in the face of physics; well, the physics I was taught anyway

im no physicist but here goes,

although the act of getting hot doesnt create moisture it does warm the moisture that is already in the air , (there always being some, sometimes alot - yuk sweaty, sometimes not much - mmm dry heat).

in normal circumstances air gets cooler as it gets higher in the atmosphere and when the factors are all right, mainly temperature and air pressure and the actual humidity of the air, the gaseous vapour liquifies and forms droplets, ie clouds, this being the dewpoint. look up sometimes and you will see some really flat-bottomed clouds, a classic dewpoint. sometimes it happens at ground level - fog.

in the camper the niceley warmed up air caused by the fridge is suddenly met by the cold steel of the bodywork causing the same conditions and so it condensates and leaves a whole heap of trouble behind!

i guess in warmer climes it may not happen as much but here in the uk with its relatively high humidity and cold temperatures its an absolute certainty.

this could be utter balderdash but i think the basics are right.

ian