I need better refrigerator venting

["007"]

ninos, the natural draft of air is from the bottom vent to top roof vent or side vent on slide without fans.
Placing fans in bottom vent will force all the more air up behind the fridge cooling it better. Some vent channels behind fridge maybe to large and if you look on some of installation specs you will see baffles behind the fridge to more directly force the air out. Also baffles up top vent should go across the open space so hot air does not get trapped up there causing heat to build up behind fridge.
Mark, didn't know Dometic didn't have locks for doors and relied only on seals to close. At least Norcold has locks on doors.

[Gary - K7GLD]

Originally Posted by ninos

I did an upgrade and installed 4 pc fans at the top with a thermostat the fans are about 4.5'' each and the thermostat is adjustable from 90 to 130, on the freezer part It fells like that It helped but on the refrigerator part I don't see much of a change, I can't get the temp to go lower then 39 40 degrees, what temperatures are you guys reaching out there in the refrigerator side, I have a 4 door norcold, thanks Joe.

At least on our older Norcold, the only temperature control is in the refrigerator section, and that setting determines what the freezer will cool to. If the refrigerator isn't coming down to a proper level, but the freezer is, one possibility is poor contact of the coils in the refrigeration unit to the backside of the refrigerator compartment fin assembly - either from installation screws being too loose, or else poor heat transfer due to reduced conductivity of the thermo-mastic used to provide that transfer.

Try CAREFULLY tightening the screws from the refrigerator interior at the fin assembly, to see if they are loose, and hopefully, improve heat transfer.

Only other primary issue, could be low refrigerant level that allows good freezer operation - but reduced lower box function. Prior to replacing the leaking and bad unit in our own Norcold, the freezer section was still operating relatively well in spite of significant refrigerant loss - but the refrigerator section wasn't working at all.

One thing that has helped temperature distribution and overall efficiency of our Norcold, was to also install an interior circulating fan inside our refrigerator section at the cooling fins - interior cooling is now far more even from top to bottom of the box, and the thermostat "sees" a far more accurate indication of box temperature than before.

[Gary - K7GLD]

OH - should have added the most basic reason for poor refrigerator section cooling, poor sealing of doors. These refrigerators operate at a rather low degree of tolerance for recovery from added warm foods - or the ability to cope with unusual loss of sealing of door seals - constantly opening and closing the doors can have the same effect.

Try the "dollar bill" test - close the door on a dollar bill, and see if there is noticeable resistance, or drag, on removing the bill - try all the way around the door. If there are gaps in the door seal, the door either needs realignment, or else new seals installed.

[VietVet]

My fire extinguisher deploys at 165 ,150 is to high.

[koda59]

I put a 6 inch 12volt fan bolted to the bottom of my vent area. Not sure if this will be to much air. Have not tried it yet.

[ninos]

Anybody as an idea what temperature they're box is reaching. Mine gets down to 39 40 around there but that's with the RV hot inside and out because I always live my refrigerator on and I don't have the AC on, but I have to say last time I used the RV we loaded the fridge and even loaded it got down to the same temperature but at the time the AC was on inside and the fridge was packed you couldn't fit anything else in it, maybe I'm looking for a problem that doesn't doesn't exist, if anybody knows the temperature of they're box please let me know. Thanks joe

[JC2]

Ninos:
A little info that may help. Pryor to our leaving for the IRV2 national rally in Williams, Az, our Norcold Model 842 would keep the freezer @ 0 to -5 and the box at 36-38 on a setting of 5 out of 9 when the outside temps were in the 80's. When the outside temps would get into the 90's or higher and stay there, the inside box temps would rise toward 40+- on a setting of 7-8. Since we would be leaving after the rally and going to Vegas and Zion NP, I was somewhat concerned about maintaining an acceptable box temp as we all know RV fridges are not generally known to be very efficient. While at Williams, I contacted a RV tech who was at the CG and had him install (2) 4 inch computer case fans right inside the exterior fridge compartment opening. The fans are controlled by an illuminated rocker switch, which I wanted and is also just inside the fridge exterior area. Granted the temps in Williams were not very hot,(80's), but the box temps dropped 2-3 degrees in about 1-2 hrs after installing the fans. While in Vegas, (112 degrees) and Zion,(106), the freezer temps stayed @ 0-5 and the box temps were at 35 degrees on a setting of 5. Since returning home, out MH has sat in the heat and the inside temps have been from 100-106. Freezer temps stayed at 0-5, box temps, 35-36. I am a FIRM believer in mounting (2) fans in the lower exterior dept of the fridge as they will help assuming all other functions of your fridge are functioning normally. I also prefer manual operation over thermostats as I want the fans to run the majority of the time. I also zip tied a smaller cpu fan on the bottom interior rack to circulate the inside box air. This info was obtained from the many helpful/informative posts on this site and was much appreciated. Hope it is of help to you.

[ninos]

Originally Posted by JC2

Ninos:
A little info that may help. Pryor to our leaving for the IRV2 national rally in Williams, Az, our Norcold Model 842 would keep the freezer @ 0 to -5 and the box at 36-38 on a setting of 5 out of 9 when the outside temps were in the 80's. When the outside temps would get into the 90's or higher and stay there, the inside box temps would rise toward 40+- on a setting of 7-8. Since we would be leaving after the rally and going to Vegas and Zion NP, I was somewhat concerned about maintaining an acceptable box temp as we all know RV fridges are not generally known to be very efficient. While at Williams, I contacted a RV tech who was at the CG and had him install (2) 4 inch computer case fans right inside the exterior fridge compartment opening. The fans are controlled by an illuminated rocker switch, which I wanted and is also just inside the fridge exterior area. Granted the temps in Williams were not very hot,(80's), but the box temps dropped 2-3 degrees in about 1-2 hrs after installing the fans. While in Vegas, (112 degrees) and Zion,(106), the freezer temps stayed @ 0-5 and the box temps were at 35 degrees on a setting of 5. Since returning home, out MH has sat in the heat and the inside temps have been from 100-106. Freezer temps stayed at 0-5, box temps, 35-36. I am a FIRM believer in mounting (2) fans in the lower exterior dept of the fridge as they will help assuming all other functions of your fridge are functioning normally. I also prefer manual operation over thermostats as I want the fans to run the majority of the time. I also zip tied a smaller cpu fan on the bottom interior rack to circulate the inside box air. This info was obtained from the many helpful/informative posts on this site and was much appreciated. Hope it is of help to you.

thanks a lot for time to answer back to my question, I do have four fans on the lower part of the top vent but maybe changing to the lower vent would work better, I can't get my box temp to drop more 40, maybe my coling unit is on its way out? Only time will tell, thanks again Joe.

[KIX]

Ninos.....on the right side of the fins INSIDE the refer you will see the thermister clipped onto probably the second fin......counting from the far right. If you slide the thermister up higher (I think it's higher) on the fin it will lower the temp inside the box. Try moving it about 1/4" and checking the box in a few hours.

[RVhauler]

Disagree with a expected fan solar panel life span of 1-2 years. Have had one on for nearly 5 years and is still chugging along. Do agree they are only good during the day and can leave something to be desired at times. Overall they are worth the price IMO

[ninos]

Originally Posted by KIX

Ninos.....on the right side of the fins INSIDE the refer you will see the thermister clipped onto probably the second fin......counting from the far right. If you slide the thermister up higher (I think it's higher) on the fin it will lower the temp inside the box. Try moving it about 1/4" and checking the box in a few hours.

Hey thanks I will give that a try, but I tought that the wire that you are talking about Is only for temperature adjustment on the small refrigerators that dont have a temp control on the outeside, but I will still give It a try, thanks again Joe.

[hogrider80]

I mounted two 175ma 12vdc muffin fans at the top of the refrig vent. Since the wires from my solar panel go down the refrig stack, it was an easy matter to tap into the line for power. I put a toggle switch above the fridge doors to shut the fans down when the coach isn't in use. Otherwise, I turn the switch on and leave it on. It moves plenty of air during the day, and when the sun goes down the fans stop (but you don't need them at night anyway).

[ninos]

Hey as anyone installed fans Inside the refrigerator box to move the cold air around? Maybe this will make It coller and more even in the all box, what do you guys think? Joe.

["007"]

ninos, as has been said before install your fans in lower vent at top of vent opening.
This was post before by Oemys and his add of fan in lower vent opening and addition of fans inside box. Just scroll down the page for instructions.
The sensor on fins is for your control board on front of fridge to tell it when to put on gas or AC heater coils to cool your refrigerator.
The sensor should be about 1 1/4" from top of fin.