Has anyone fitted a fridge vent fan? I am particularly interested if they used the 12 volt feed from the fridge and whether they used an inline fuse, or is it protected by the existing 12 volt feed to the fridge itself?
Hi and welcome to the forum. I've fitted 2 sets, one on my van and one on my brother's. We wired a second in parallel on his recently as just the one struggled a bit in Spain last year.
Yes, I would always say fit an in-line fuse to protect other circuits where possible.
Dave.
------------- Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day,
Teach a man to fish and you can get rid of him for a whole weekend.
Not sure why in the UK we should be fitting ventilator kits. What do they do in Africa or Australia where they use the same brand of fridges, but the temperatures are even higher?
Yes, I fitted twin fans for when we are abroad. I created a new 12v supply with its own fuse - I forget the rating just now but its very low.
Because I wanted a few other 12v supplies(sockets for the tyres/lock n level; standby supply to Alde panel etc) I installed a separate fusebox supply directly from the battery. This means if any van faults develop, I can isolate all my mods in one go.
There are plenty of quality fuseboxes on ebay for a few quid. Likewise 12v control panels for the fridge fan, that you can set to come on/off at preset temeperatures
I can see your point of view iank01, most of the time we don't need them in the UK, however mine were done for use abroad.
This last few weeks have seen us with similar temps to France and as the absorbsion type fridges most of us have can't cool more that 20 to 25 degrees from ambient it is a small inconvenience and cost I'm willing to pay.
I don't buy the rediculously expensive kits from Dometic or Thetford, I make my own from bits available on t'interweb.
Also bought a compressor type cooler to keep important stuff like beer cool, looking forward to that.
Dave.
------------- Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day,
Teach a man to fish and you can get rid of him for a whole weekend.
Yes mine is home set up too. Twin high quality ultra quiet computer fans. The point is that in high ambient temps, as of now, the fridge and its electronics have to work flat out. Having had a modern fridge replaced under warranty at well over £1000, I'm not taking any chances for the sake of a few quid and an interesting project!
another vote for the computer fans with a cheap 12v thermostat from ebay (along with a master on off). I was lucky enough to have a spare 12v cable under the oven as I don't have electric hob ignition.