Club 80-90 Forums

Hi everyone,

I removed the gas heater in our van as we didn't use it - I want to fit a fridge in its place. There is a gas 'splitter' that runs from the bottle to our gas cooker and has a pipe that used to connect to the heater. There is also the 12V leisure battery and an 240 hook up.

I want to fit a 3 way fridge (not bought yet) but not sure I can do it myself - mainly as I'm a little nervous of fitting the gas parts, also not sure where to get them from (the pipes are solid metal, not rubber). Also uncertain how to fit the electrics together (there's a relay there too) or make the flue safe (is it enough to just pipe the Fridge flue out of the hole in the side of the Van that's left from the heater? What type of pipe?).

My nervousness comes from the fact that I use the van with my 19month old and don't want to risk gassing her!

I was wondering if I bought a second hand fridge (or a new one but that's expensive) anyone might either be able to help me (I can pay in cash/cake/beer/all of the above) or recommend somewhere to take the van to get the fridge fitted.

I live in N. London, near turnpike lane (N22).

Any help appreciated.

Cheers, Ant

Start by reading.......
http://www.club80-90.co.uk/pages/downlo ... xRM122.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and
https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Ca ... dge_safety" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mike

You should be able to do it but check that you have a vent/flue for the gas function that can link to the fridge flue. A three way Absorption Fridge Needs a air to circulate around the back so either fit a vent grill (involves cutting the side panel of the bodywork) or better still, raise the fridge so that air can circulate under and over it by having a gap at the top (no need for chopping the van body work that way). The only other thing is wiring it and securing it . No need to go mad on the 'securing' bit - most just have a couple of self tappers screwed throught the adjacent wood panels or a couple of small brackets! Having said all that, I wouldn't bother with a 3-way Absorption Fridge, get a good 12V-240V compressor fridge - they 'freeze' within minutes and easy to install!

I've got a vent cut in the side of the van already, from the heater - its got a grill and had two silver tubes running to it (about 4 inch diametre - one air in, one venting out I guess)

The thing I'm most worried about to be honest is connecting the gas to the fridge and wiring up the electrics properly. More because the existing gas pipes will need to be removed (they're not flexible and will get in the way of a fridge) and I'm not sure what to replace them with - I kind of wish I was friends with someone corgi registered!

I'm willing to turn everything off when we're asleep/driving etc, but it still worries me tbh.

You can use flexible pipe instead of the rigid, technicaly a fixed appliance should use rigid but the flexible pipe and crimped fittings available today are excellent. If you aren't sure that you can do it probably best to get someone to do it for you. When mine is fitted in place of the compressor fridge it connects via flexible pipes.