fridge vents in side

[Luke]

anyone know if its possable to have a fridge running on gas without cutting holes in the side

the fridges i'm looking at say they need vent holes - as shown in the pic below

is it possable to vent through the floor and through the roof where they will be less obvious

pic of what van will look like with fridge vents

[dachre]

Hey Luke, plenty of older motorhomes have fridges without cooling vents.

The main reason you'd want a vent is that its usually colder outside the camper and this helps the fridge condensor.

But I think all gas fridges require an external burnt gas flue. If you buy an older smaller type fridge they dont have large cooling vents to the outside but they still have little flue vents. I dont think ive ever seen a gas fridge that doesnt have some sort of external vent.

Perhaps the best fridge to get are the gas boat fridges cos you cant have a big vent in the hull of a boat... .. and they use similar fridges to motorhomes but with little mods like internal vents on the very top or very bottom of the fridge. Altho most boat fridges these days are just 12v/24v.

Perhaps a vent in the floor and then a vent in the top of the roof where you cant see them will work. Its just i remember seeing a rule that the exhaust gases must vent outside within a specified distance.

[Luke]

Perhaps the best fridge to get are the gas boat fridges cos you cant have a big vent in the hull of a boat...

thats a good point

[lost.biker]

Hi Luke you need to have the vent at the right height as the heat travels up so you cant fit it in the floor but the one that im fitting in mine is a standard Electrolux 3 way fridge and it only has a small vent pipe of about 1.75 inches dia but the cover is about 3.5 x 2.5 inches but also if you are fitting it in the rear of your van there are standard fit vents in the rear posts allready

[pippin]

The most essential item if you are fitting a gas fridge in a van?

A carbon monoxide detector/alarm.

Our properly constructed Hymer motorhome fridge developed a fault this week due to clogged burners.

Without the CO alarm I would not be here typing this. That serious.

Quite how the CO managed to get into the cupboards by the fridge is a mystery as everything seems to be sealed so well.

You must use vents top and bottom exactly as shown in that picture.

You must seal the entire rear area of the fridge off from the interior of your vehicle.

And don't forget that CO alarm - it might save your life, as it saved ours this week.

[Luke]

Hi Luke you need to have the vent at the right height as the heat travels up so you cant fit it in the floor but the one that im fitting in mine is a standard Electrolux 3 way fridge and it only has a small vent pipe of about 1.75 inches dia but the cover is about 3.5 x 2.5 inches but also if you are fitting it in the rear of your van there are standard fit vents in the rear posts allready

cheers mine's a mk1 so it only has 1 vent and it's on the wrong side
i wouldn't mind as much putting a vent in the roof

what model no. is your fridge

[Luke]

Without the CO alarm I would not be here typing this. That serious.

what happend to you

[lost.biker]

The most essential item if you are fitting a gas fridge in a van?

A carbon monoxide detector/alarm.

Our properly constructed Hymer motorhome fridge developed a fault this week due to clogged burners.

Without the CO alarm I would not be here typing this. That serious.

Quite how the CO managed to get into the cupboards by the fridge is a mystery as everything seems to be sealed so well.

You must use vents top and bottom exactly as shown in that picture.

You must seal the entire rear area of the fridge off from the interior of your vehicle.

And don't forget that CO alarm - it might save your life, as it saved ours this week.

I just removed a fridge from a caravan and it wasnt fully sealed in just fitted into unit with vent,but i agree you should have a C.O alarm of some sort

[pippin]

We were OK luckily.

The CO detector is very sensitive and the alarm alerted us before we suffered any ill effects.

CO poisoning is insidious. It makes you sleepy and before long you are dead.

I take your point about just having removed a fridge that was not sealed around the edges.

Modern practice has now changed and they should be sealed off from the fume-producing area at the rear.

It also prevents cold draughts from entering the van!

[Luke]

what about a flue with an extractor fan linked to a normally closed solnoid on the gas line to the fridge so if it looses power to the extractor the supply to the fridge shuts off

only problem i dont really want a drain on the battery like a constant running fan

[dachre]

I've been looking at loads of new and older 3-way campervan fridges over the last few days and they all need a flue or vents and a flue.



The only 3-way ones ive seen that dont need a vent to outside are the portable camping fridges like this one.

http://www.mobilegas.co.uk/mobilecoolbo ... cool55.htm

but if you download the instructions it says only use gas outdoors, so you cant really fit it in a van anyway.




If you get a fridge then i think its best to stick to its build plans.

Electrolux own Dometic and i bought a little second hand dometic fridge with a built in freezer.

Here are its build plans (in pdf).

http://www.electrolux-ui.com:8080/1998/821/264802en.pdf



All instructions on Dometic fridges are available on this site.

http://www.electrolux-ui.com:8080/maste ... enFrameSet



But i didnt want ugly fridge vents on the side of my van and i remember ways of trying to get around it and the best solution i found was to just paint the vents silver to match the colour of my camper.



But this is a good fridge instalation guide from the Obriens campervan site that i followed when building my fridge framework.

http://www.obrienscamping.co.uk/article ... nstall.htm



So, you may need a vent (or vents) in the side of your nice red shiny van if you want a fridge..... ....

[Luke]

thanks some usefull info in there too

and a fridge IS a necessity so looks like i'll be getting the shears out

[Luke]

i still havent cut the vents but i was browsing and i came across this

http://www.alljapanesemotors.com/details.php?id=55

appears to have a fridge rear passangers side



yet doesnt appear to have any vents in the side



dont know if they are painted green and very well discuised or it doesnt have any

[barabas]

i still havent cut the vents but i was browsing and i came across this

http://www.alljapanesemotors.com/details.php?id=55

appears to have a fridge rear passangers side



yet doesnt appear to have any vents in the side



dont know if they are painted green and very well discuised or it doesnt have any

Looks like internal vent mounted in the end of the cabinet, probably struggles to cool on a hot day...

[madmark]

luke vent it and colour code the vent