Rewire T-stat fans

 

I'll likely head to Radio Shack or something tonight and buy a switch so that they aren't running full time in between trips but I'm happy with them being on and there is a nice drop in my fridge temp already.  I've even frozen a bottle of water!

 

Also doesn't hurt to have a multimeter probe to get more accurate temps, the little fridge thermometer I bought at Wally world was insanely inaccurate.

 

A quick question though, does anyone ever remove their top fridge cover while they are camping?  I noticed a pretty rapid near 2 degree drop in temps just by popping the cover off and laying it next to the Pod.

 

Maybe not necessary, but I like my milk and OJ to be cold in the mornings and I prefer not to have them stored in the icy cooler.  2 degree colder OJ makes me a happier Podder!!  

 

This is a cheap frig/freezer and the only thing I can rationalize is that the Freezer works as a slave off the refrigerator (single compressor/single temp setting in the REFRIGERATOR).  Since the refrigerator part is happy with the cold temps, the compressor does NOT run and so the freezer starts to give back it's cold ,,,  hence the few things like ice pops are melted then refrozen when I examine them in the spring.  Initially, I thought the unit was just defective  -  but it may be more of a design and/or location usage issue.

 

This may account for why the colder weather doesn't make for better freezing ...  in fact it does just the opposite!   Next time I buy a frig/freezer, I will get dual controls!

 

Fridge baffle:  Open the top and bottom vent covers and look at the airspace behind the fridge.  Usually the cooling fins are clustered up against the back of the fridge and there is a bunch of empty air space between them and the wall of the camper.  Warm air rises off of these fins and out of the top vent cover, sucking in cooler air through the lower cover, and the process continues.  If you cut a piece of cardboard to fit into that empty area, roughly half-way between the top and bottom cover, you will force more of that cool air to flow directly over those fins instead of mixing randomly around in the dead air space where it isn't doing any good.

 

It's weird though it still heats up in the evenings for some weird reason.    Not to any noticeable or disagreeable temp though.

 

We lined our fridge door this time with frozen water bottles and today when we got home some of them were still pretty icy.  That was a great way to help with the internal temps most the 3 days we were camping.  Even turned the temp down to lower settings at times.

 

Also I think I found the thermistor on the internal fins, hadn't noticed it before on our old fridge but I will be moving that up and down throughout the season to help adjust our temps and keep them steady during the season.

 

Probably will still end up doing a bit of baffling and attaching a stand alone 12v fan to the back cooling fins just for my own peace of mind.

 

Big change from the fridge we had in there last season though.  Glad we had the old one replaced!