Need to vent my house type fridge;any Ideas??

[trailblazer2]

 I have a 10 cu ft Whirlpool house-type refrigerator that needs to be vented somehow. I know that these things add to the interior heat,and will operate more efficiently vented. So how has this been done sucessfully?
Bill

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Bill,

First, does it have a static condencer? [a coil on the back wall of the refrig]

or, a bottom condencer with a fan? [it blows the disapated heat out the bottom front]

Nick-

[TomC]

I have a Norcold marine type reefer with compressor that would be similar to a household type, only mine pulls only 5.5 amps at 12v when running.  I built it with a 2" gap in the floor in the back to pull up cool air from the floor, and have a gap at the top and in the top of the door of the cabinet above the reefer to make for convection cooling (where hot air rising is replaced by cool air coming up from the bottom).  Works well.  Good Luck, TomC

[trailblazer2]

 Nick;
This unit has the coil on the backside. Floridacliff has the same kind on his GM.

[boogiethecat]

As TomC did, I just let mine sit a few inches away from the wall and let the heat into the cabin.  There really isn't much  heat added- certainly not enough that I've ever noticed.
But if you need to vent it, Fast Fred suggested to me (years ago) to install a solar powered night 'n day style vent fan as is used on boats.  That way it's only a small hole in the wall instead of a monster.
I did that for my propane powered fridge prior to changing it to a household type.  It worked really well for me and again, saved me from cutting those massive holes in the walls of my bus.  I used one that I got from ebay... search "solar vent" and you'll find quite a range of them.

[gus]

You really don't need to vent a house type frig. It  isn't vented in a house. It will add heat in the summer but in colder weather it will help heat the bus.

Please don't anyone fail to vent a propane frig both top and bottom, especially the top. A propane frig uses a gas flame and boiler to operate. We're glad boogie is still here to tell his story but a propane frig vents carbon monoxide and can kill you. I had the same problem because the PO didn't vent mine and I was RV dumb so didn't know any better.

Luckily my 4104 leaks so much air I'm here to tell the story and evidently boogie's is the same.

[Blacksheep]

I also have a house type fridge and did not vent it to the outside. I DID install it on a 45 degree angle so there would be plenty of air behind it. As for heat? I haven't noticed anything different on or off but most of the time it stay's on as our coach is plugged in 24/7 at home! It also gives another place to keep my Corona's chilled! LOL

BS

[FloridaCliff]

Trailblazer,

Mine is built into a cabinet.

I put two lower vents, one one each side near the bottom, they are 4"X8".

Bought some fancy furnace vent covers, look nice.

I will also have a vent in the front center.

I did this to allow the cooler air on the bottom to rise over the coils and out the top.

That unit works great.

Best of Luck

Cliff

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Nick;
This unit has the coil on the backside. Floridacliff has the same kind on his GM.

Hi Bill,

I think the best way to vent it would be to have enough space above, below, and in the back of the refrig
to allow the static condencer to disapate the heat the way it was designed to. "convection style".
Trying to vent it outside will end up causing you to loose efficency within your bus heating/cooling systems.

If building in your refrig is your plan, just construct a vent above the refrig and allow the heat to come out.

Good Luck
Nick-

[boogiethecat]

Gus, don't worry about me!!! The fridge was vented both top and bottom in a SEALED compartment, and I have a CO detector mounted about 6" from my face when I sleep just because.
No way I'm gonna get caught dead with propane vapors!!  My point was that instead of having to cut nasty big holes in the bus for any kind of fridge, propane or otherwise- if you use a solar powered vent fan instead, you can do it with a 4" hole in the floor and a 4" hole in the roof instead of the 12x16 sized holes usually required.  Works well and keeps the bus looking nice too.

But all that said and done, my current fridge kicks ar$ over the propane unit.  It's a Summit, I installed a 1kw inverter dedicated to the fridge and hooked it's on-off switch to the fridge's thermal control.  That way, the inverter is off when the fridge isn't running thus no wasted "standby" power.  To top it off, three 85W solar panels on the roof and now I have a better fridge, keeps things colder in the desert than my propane rig ever could, doesn't need the bus to be levelled, and I don't have a single thing to mess with, ever.  No generator needed to recharge the house banks, no need to plug into shore, etc.
Best of all worlds as far as I can see...

[Sojourner]

I have a 10 cu ft Whirlpool house-type refrigerator that needs to be vented somehow. I know that these things add to the interior heat,and will operate more efficiently vented. So how has this been done sucessfully?
Bill

Bill.....your question is for condenser to gets coolest air to preform it best at the least power. So on warm days, if you vented to outside....you would only gain if outside is cooler than inside room air temperature. That is usually in cold climate (winter) season and your living room need as much so call free heat you can get. In other words, you are better off to let the A/C's room air to cool the condenser instead of warmer outside air to shorten running time. All in all...you come out even as far as power usage with air condition equipment and no holes added for vents to outside air.

So install it as per OEM manual to allow proper air flow and add blocking to top side by side so braking will not cause it to loosen or rip off from floor mounting.

Ammonia absorption type RV refrigerator require vents so that propane gas heat go outside as well inlet.

In the last few years, home type refrigerator are much more efficient than old home type.

FWIW

Sojourn for Christ, Jerry