Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 08:42:05 -0700
Reply-To: Davidson <wdavidson@THEGRID.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Davidson <wdavidson@THEGRID.NET>
Subject: Re: Dometic Cooling (gas)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Good information Mark!
I hope not to offend you, but there are a couple of things I see
differently:
(comments embedded in Mark's text below)
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Tuesday, April 27, 1999 8:01 AM
Subject: Dometic Cooling (gas)
>To all of the people who are questioning the cooling of the Dometic
>182B I would like to say one thing. If 30 degrees F was the expected
>drop in temp why on earth would they come with the ice cube trays? You
>would by this spec be unable to make ice unless the temp in the Westy
>was 60 degrees or less. Who would have much need or desire for ice if
>their home was this cold? Obviously, this proves nothing but I wanted to
>say it anyway.
** Well the ice is made in an ice cube tray that is in contact with the
cooling fins. The cooling fins go down to 20 degrees F or so. But it is the
air temp in the food area (not the temp of the cooling fins) that the
Dometic tech refers to when he says that the Dometic will cool to about 30
degrees below outside temperature. So you could be making ice and the food
area air temperature could be say 50 degrees. And that could be achieved at
an outside temperature of 80 degrees F. So I don't think your argument holds
up here.
>
> As to the performance issues of the Westy fridge I have much more to
>say. I have removed and serviced 6 or 7 of them. In every case the fan
>motor was either frozen, tuned slowly and loudly, had a broken blade, or
>had hair and string wound around the shaft. IMHO every single stock fan
>should be discarded and replaced with a new one. The fan is the most
>important single item that will improve the performance of the fridge. I
>buy replacements from Camping World for about $25. These fans move more
>air than the original.
*** I tested these fans and my experience was that they move less air than
the stock Westy fan. I estimate maybe 1/2 the amount of air movement.
See my article on adding fans to the fridge that I will post separately.
They come with a mounting bracket and I use it.
>Do not use the temp controlled switch that comes with them as they turn
>on at too low of a temperature. Test the stock switch with a lighter or
>some other heat source to make sure it turns on. Make sure it is tight
>and in good contact with the fin. When operating on propane, the fan
>MUST cycle on and off frequently, or the cooling will be reduced. When I
>camp in 120 degree heat the fan will run much of the time.
*** When camping in 120 degree weather the fan should be on all of the time.
It should not be shutting off at all since the stock temperature switch
turns the fan on at 126 degrees (It will be way hotter than that behind the
fridge since any of the three operational modes will have no trouble
elevating the temp behind the fridge 6 degrees) and turns the fan off at 108
degrees. When the outside air temp is 120 degrees the fan can not bring the
temp behind the fridge lower than 120 degrees. (Unless perhaps you run the
van A/C unit)
>
> The other important and simple rule is to keep ALL of the vents
>clear. The floor vent is critical, as the fan draws cooler air from
>there and blows it up through the fins and out the top. Make sure that
>the area inside of the floor vent is kept clean as dust bunnies and
>dropped food items tend to build up in there. The top vent must never be
>blocked. Do not place anything in this area. Even the curtains can
>reduce the airflow here, especially when the kitchen top is raised. The
>vent on the side is less important and is mostly provided to allow
>access to the wiring and the flue pipes.
*** Actually I think the side air vent by the table is the most important
air vent. When you have your fridge running on propane just stick you hand
over it. Per square inch the side vent gets way hotter than the average
temperature along the top air vent behind the fridge. That's why I chose to
enlarge the side air vent and even to install an addition fan right behind
it to blow that hot air out. (see my separate post on adding fans)
>
> Finally, keep the fridge side of the Westy shaded. I use a small
>silver colored tarp to shade this side. The sun can heat the area behind
>the fridge enough to cause the fan to cycle EVEN WHEN THE FRIDGE IS OFF.
>I believe that this is part of why the fans all seem to be worn out.
>Most of the Westy fridges have seen little use but the fans wear out
>anyway because they operate even if the fridge is off. Darker colored
>vanagons are more likely to have this occur. This is also why the
>batteries in parked Westys can sometimes seem to run down unexpectedly.
>When the sun shines on the left side of the Camper the fan will likely
>be triggered. We all know how hot it can get inside a Westy on a sunny
>day with the top down even when it is cool outside.
>
>To summarize:
>
>1. Replace the fan.
>2. Make sure the fan is cycling.
>3. Keep all of the vents clear.
>4. Keep the outside behind the fridge shaded.
>
>I have worked on Dometics with the usual lighting problems but I won't
>go into the various fixes here. If you have this problem and have tied
>everything else, GET a NEW regulator for the tank. If you have a tank
>with a bad Auto Stop Valve, don't despair. The o-ring rebuild kits fit
>even the ones that Manchester Tank claims they won't. $25 at RV shops.
>Let a pro do this repair though.
>
>
>Mark Drillock
>
>Joe L. wrote:
>>
>> I have heard of fridges with performance like yours but they are very
>> much the exception. Unless things have changed drastically since the
>> blossoming of the last Fridge Thread (last spring) the majority of
>Westies
>> here on the list have fridge performance closer to the "busted" one than
>to
>> yours. Up until you showed up I thought the owners of the "freezers" had
>> simply lucked out but if you know some way to increase performance I am
>sure
>> we would ALL like to find out what it is. I know I would.
>> I did get some improvement when I cleaned things out last year but
>> NOTHING like the performance your have. There seems to be nothing to
>"tweak"
>> or tune. What did you do?
>
