Exaust fan for gas fridge

[Bryan]

Hello gentlemen and ladies. I have a 1988 T25, on stripping everything out I found a small fan unit at floor level adjacent to the rear of the 3 way fridge it sucks ( outwards) now I have got it working. Question; is this a normal fitting ? I assume it is to remove the gas fumes from the rear of the fridge, the fridge has the normal chimney venting to the outside, BUT ... it only runs on AC mains so will only work if the van is plugged into an AC outlet. The rest of the time I asume you live ( or the other thing) with the fumes ! surely this should be a 12v fan although it looks like a quality ( paps) German made original fitting.

[Oldiebut goodie]

Usually fans are fitted to assist the flow of air over the cooling fins - as to why it is directed out from the bottom and only runs on 230v who knows!!!! (mounted upside down perhaps?)
My fan is mounted at the upper vent so that cooler air from the bottom is pulled up over the fins. It is nothing to do with extraction of fumes.

[AdrianC]

The "ooh, innit warm in here?" fan on the Westy fridges is down the bottom. It's thermostatic, and only comes on if the temp around the fins gets to about 50degC. Our fridge doesn't auto-shut-off when you turn from gas to electric (the safety valve seems to work - it needs the button pressing to light), so if we forget to turn the gas off, then in the middle of the night we'll have the fan whirring away - but it does it on 12v, as well as mains.

What fridge, is it a three-way, etc?

[Oldiebut goodie]

Does yours blow out the bottom also? Seems odd if that is the way they fit them.

[California Dreamin]

Anything like this little blighter in the middle? taken off my Electrolux 184 and replaced with a bigger and much quieter 120mm fan.



As others have said....it is nothing to do with exhausting gas, rather, taking away heat from the back of the absorption fridge.

Mounted to blow upwards (natural convection) hot air rises.

Martin

[AdrianC]

Does yours blow out the bottom also? Seems odd if that is the way they fit them.

It blows coolth over the fins - I've not looked to see which way, but the warm definitely comes out of the top and side - and there's plenty of it when the gas is lit.

The actual combusted gases are definitely going out of the exhaust to outside - we get a noticable trail of condensation down the side of the van when it's lit.

Martin - yep, that's the same as ours. Never come on when it's running on only one power source - even when keeping the fridge actively cold on mains in 40deg.

[California Dreamin]

Ours comes on when plugged into the mains when it gets warm 25C plus..particularly when the sun falls on the N/S (fridge side) of the van.....Also fitted an overide so it can be turned on manually.

Martin

[Bryan]

Well thank you gentlemen that was great help ( I love this forum) I did not think of cooling air from outside to cool thefins on the back of the fridge clearly that is what it does, so I have ordered a 12v fan ( which can run regardless if the van is on mains or not) and will put a switch in the circuit and experiment with how hot it gets back there on a warm day. I suppose the efficiency of the fridge is really the benefit here. The heat will rise and exit out of some vents in the cabinet. On a winters night the heat may be beneficial.

[ninja.turtle007]

Replaced mine like Martin has. I had this fan kicking about so used it rather than buying another. Check out the bling lights. the lights can't be seen with the fridge back in its place.


I also added an overide switch to help chill a freshly stocked fridge.

[AdrianC]

On a winters night the heat may be beneficial.

Except, of course, on a winter's night - the fridge will be doing least, so will kick out least heat. It's the flip side of the solar shower dichotomy.

[California Dreamin]

Same fridge as above...only mine has a bigger 120mm (green one is an 80mm by the looks of it).
I did the same with the thermo switch and added a by-pass and switch on the front panel.




Martin