Refrig fan noise FIXED...really

[dkottum]

I'm skeptical, and concerned about compartment overheating in some scenario. We'll stay he course because our compartment cools well without the blocking, and usually without the amperage needed to keep the fan running.

[SilverGate]

Originally Posted by dkottum

I'm skeptical, and concerned about compartment overheating in some scenario. We'll stay he course because our compartment cools well without the blocking, and usually without the amperage needed to keep the fan running.

Ditto!

[CruizinDux]

Thinking about this, as nice is the fab work by Switz, I think I Agree with Doug and Silvergate and will be going shroudless and a solo fan for now. (love the engineering on the door opener ) If I do add anther, I'll slide the one over and install side by side. Still not convinced of the optimal wiring hookup (parallel or series) which if I understand it is 2 @ 1/2 speed and thus quieter or 2 @ full speed and having to live with 18 DB...more the half of OEM #

I'm jumping into the install next week...time's a wastn'.


Bob

[CruizinDux]

Originally Posted by dkottum

...We also replaced the noisy factory fan with a much quieter model.

Doug, did you relocate the thermostat from the refer fins to the corner of the fan (if that's what I'm seeing) or was your OEM installed that way?

bob

[OTRA15]

Bob, I recall that the wire supplying the OEM cooling fan is a large enough wire gauge to handle two new low-wattage fans in series, and that the inline glass fuse will also. Using the next size larger wire to jump from the first fan to the second (in series) should therefore be OK overall IMO.

I agree that the installation of the 3-fan shroud, as nicely done as it was, will require more frequent use of the ventilation fans, which is an electrical draw I can live without. Compromises to be sure. I keep recalling my old 25' which had a real flue for the exhaust gases to leave via the very simple process of convection. "Doh!" to our FC20's design, as the television above the fridge could certainly have been moved inboard to permit a flue in that wall next to the door.

A false economy Jackson Center!

PS -- intend to leave the stat as-is.

[switz]

The less that one amp power draw for the three fans is not an issue for us with our 300 amp-hour lithium battery and 500 watts of solar panels These fans are inaudible to my hearing when inside the trailer.

http://www.amazon.com/Anti-Stall-Bea...ilpage_o07_s00

[dkottum]

Originally Posted by CruizinDux

Doug, did you relocate the thermostat from the refer fins to the corner of the fan (if that's what I'm seeing) or was your OEM installed that way?

bob

My thermostat was crudely stuck to a fin with some gumpucky which was slipping, so fastened it nearby a little less crudely to see how it would work; it works fine so that will do.

I'm not so sure the natural venting out a roof vent is all that much better than the side hatch. Nonetheless the present configuration allows us to have a convection/microwave over the fridge at eye level and we like it very much.

If the hatch is mostly blocked dependent on fans to remove the heat, and the fans ever quit, the heat may build up more than I would be comfortable with.

[wanderingduo]

This is a very helpful thread. I was wondering if someone with experience could please chime in here.
We returned from a 5 day trip spent in 95F weather. The fridge did not go below 42F at any given time even when ambient temps dropped to lower 60's at night. The fridge temps went up as high as low 50's at times.
I tried propping the vent cover open all day, with the awning covering the vent area but nothing helped.
I have contacted our dealership and they suggest that adding a fan to the vent will help us. I am just wondering why the factory doesn't have one installed on our rig already. Is it because we have a FC 25 FB and not a RB?
Thanks for your input!

[SilverGate]

Originally Posted by wanderingduo

This is a very helpful thread. I was wondering if someone with experience could please chime in here.
We returned from a 5 day trip spent in 95F weather. The fridge did not go below 42F at any given time even when ambient temps dropped to lower 60's at night. The fridge temps went up as high as low 50's at times.
I tried propping the vent cover open all day, with the awning covering the vent area but nothing helped.
I have contacted our dealership and they suggest that adding a fan to the vent will help us. I am just wondering why the factory doesn't have one installed on our rig already. Is it because we have a FC 25 FB and not a RB?
Thanks for your input!

Another factor that can affect the coldness of the refrigerator is the position or placement of the white thermistor probe wire inside the refrigerator.

Photos and additional information: Quick, easy and safe RV refrigerator defrosting (History Safari Express)

[CruizinDux]

Originally Posted by wanderingduo

This is a very helpful thread. I was wondering if someone with experience could please chime in here.
We returned from a 5 day trip spent in 95F weather. The fridge did not go below 42F at any given time even when ambient temps dropped to lower 60's at night. The fridge temps went up as high as low 50's at times.
I tried propping the vent cover open all day, with the awning covering the vent area but nothing helped.
I have contacted our dealership and they suggest that adding a fan to the vent will help us. I am just wondering why the factory doesn't have one installed on our rig already. Is it because we have a FC 25 FB and not a RB?
Thanks for your input!

Originally Posted by wanderingduo

This is a very helpful thread. I was wondering if someone with experience could please chime in here.
We returned from a 5 day trip spent in 95F weather. The fridge did not go below 42F at any given time even when ambient temps dropped to lower 60's at night. The fridge temps went up as high as low 50's at times.
I tried propping the vent cover open all day, with the awning covering the vent area but nothing helped.
I have contacted our dealership and they suggest that adding a fan to the vent will help us. I am just wondering why the factory doesn't have one installed on our rig already. Is it because we have a FC 25 FB and not a RB?
Thanks for your input!

I can’t comment on your unit’s lack of a fan but suspect it may be addressed earlier on in this thread. Some AS’s have a different design. If you haven’t already I
would suggest starting at the OP here as there is a long history to this thread.

Our FC20 had a fan but it was horrendously noisy and as reported by others prone to early failure. I completed the fan swap basically from a noise perspective but also an efficiency perspective with a slightly better flow spec (thicker fan). Best $20 I ever spent but a swap is easier than a retrofit. However as Silvergate pointed out above, simply opening the door improved the air flow efficiency as the fan turned off in a few minutes, I presume due to the better flow of the hot air escaping out the top door. Note the engineering technique in post #222 (SilverGate)

Don't confuse this with temp control. I have heard that moving the thermistor up but the dealer also said to move it to the right…so maybe do both and start in the upper right hand corner.


Here are a couple of you tube links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6ZYmTanteQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmzDYZFYmx0

Bob

[dkottum]

If it doesn't cool well, make sure the fridge interior light is shutting off. We had one where it did not, got very hot and burned the interior plastic around the light. The switch was not activating when closing the door. Dometic replaced the fridge under warranty.

[wanderingduo]

Yes, I have tried moving the thermistor and sleeve all the way up. It was already on the right most fin. And the light inside turns off as soon as the door closes-I checked that too.
The trailer does not have a second vent door higher up as some others here do just one lower vent door which I have tried to keep open and that has not made any significant difference. The upper vent is on the roof.
I really wanted to hear from someone who has a 2015 FC25FB or knows of one in particular to see if they too had a fan installed or not. The fact that the factory didn't see the need to put a fan in says that perhaps it was not needed. Or maybe someone forgot to put one in!?
I suspect that the fridge itself is not cooling enough and the recommended fix by the dealership may just turn out to be insufficient in this case, as the design of the vent is very different from even the RB in the same size. Which is not to say that the addition of a fan does not help but that in this case I believe the refrigerant or cooling unit itself may be the issue.
Hopefully someone with our model year and Front Bed will chime as to whether they had a factory installed fan or not.
Thanks for your responses thus far!

[TinVenture]

Originally Posted by wanderingduo

.
I really wanted to hear from someone who has a 2015 FC25FB or knows of one in particular to see if they too had a fan installed or not. The fact that the factory didn't see the need to put a fan in says that perhaps it was not needed. Or maybe someone forgot to put one in!?

A friend of mine has the same model as yours. Their unit is about 6 months old. He's been having issues with the fridge working less and less efficiently. It's at the point now where it's barely cooling the fridge.

When he operates on shore power the fridge seems to work fine. The cooling problem only seems to arise when operating on propane. It's going in to the dealer on Monday. I'll post an update if he figures anything out.

[OTRA15]

Did you sort this out? Any chance your model has a flue for the fridge which goes up through the roof? Our old 25' had one. A fan is only needed for models like our FC20 which lack the flue.

Originally Posted by wanderingduo

Yes, I have tried moving the thermistor and sleeve all the way up. It was already on the right most fin. And the light inside turns off as soon as the door closes-I checked that too.
The trailer does not have a second vent door higher up as some others here do just one lower vent door which I have tried to keep open and that has not made any significant difference. The upper vent is on the roof.
I really wanted to hear from someone who has a 2015 FC25FB or knows of one in particular to see if they too had a fan installed or not. The fact that the factory didn't see the need to put a fan in says that perhaps it was not needed. Or maybe someone forgot to put one in!?
I suspect that the fridge itself is not cooling enough and the recommended fix by the dealership may just turn out to be insufficient in this case, as the design of the vent is very different from even the RB in the same size. Which is not to say that the addition of a fan does not help but that in this case I believe the refrigerant or cooling unit itself may be the issue.
Hopefully someone with our model year and Front Bed will chime as to whether they had a factory installed fan or not.
Thanks for your responses thus far!

[wanderingduo]

Originally Posted by TinVenture

When he operates on shore power the fridge seems to work fine. The cooling problem only seems to arise when operating on propane. It's going in to the dealer on Monday. I'll post an update if he figures anything out.

I have the problem on both propane and shore power. We leave on a 2 week trip in a few days and will see how it behaves this time around. Unfortunately the local dealership found nothing wrong with the fridge.

Since your friend's fridge is working on shore power he should be able to get the propane part of things fixed.

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Did you sort this out? Any chance your model has a flue for the fridge which goes up through the roof? Our old 25' had one. A fan is only needed for models like our FC20 which lack the flue.

Nope, we haven't sorted it out yet.

Yes, our model does have a flue venting out the roof. I did email an experienced AS owner on this forum who has the same model year as ours and he felt that we have a problem with our fridge. I did take the trailer in to our local dealer who couldn't replicate the issue. So for now we are going to see what happens on our trip.

[OTRA15]

Thanks for the update, and good luck tracking this down!

Peter

[wanderingduo]

An update on our fridge woes. We spend a few weeks on the road in varying temperatures all the way from 32F to 89F. The fridge temp was set to 5- which is the coldest possible setting. The temperature in the fridge never went above 39F and stayed mostly around 34F. I can't explain why we didn't face any problems this time around, but we were so glad it worked for us. We ran the fridge on propane and shore power, and it worked flawlessly.

Now we just hope it stays this way!

[CruizinDux]

Originally Posted by wanderingduo

An update on our fridge woes. We spend a few weeks on the road in varying temperatures all the way from 32F to 89F. The fridge temp was set to 5- which is the coldest possible setting. The temperature in the fridge never went above 39F and stayed mostly around 34F. I can't explain why we didn't face any problems this time around, but we were so glad it worked for us. We ran the fridge on propane and shore power, and it worked flawlessly.

Now we just hope it stays this way!

wanderingduo... sending positive (and cold) vibes.

bob

[TinVenture]

Originally Posted by wanderingduo

An update on our fridge woes. We spend a few weeks on the road in varying temperatures all the way from 32F to 89F. The fridge temp was set to 5- which is the coldest possible setting. The temperature in the fridge never went above 39F and stayed mostly around 34F. I can't explain why we didn't face any problems this time around, but we were so glad it worked for us. We ran the fridge on propane and shore power, and it worked flawlessly.

Now we just hope it stays this way!

Glad to hear you got everything all sorted out!

Unfortunately my friend's 25' has been at the dealership for 27 days. He has called and let then know he needs to pick it up tomorrow yet they are not sure if it's ready. They weren't even sure if they have started work on it at the time he called. My experiences with this said dealership haven't been all that different

[wanderingduo]

Originally Posted by TinVenture

Glad to hear you got everything all sorted out!

Unfortunately my friend's 25' has been at the dealership for 27 days. He has called and let then know he needs to pick it up tomorrow yet they are not sure if it's ready. They weren't even sure if they have started work on it at the time he called. My experiences with this said dealership haven't been all that different

I can't really blame my local dealership for not finding a fault with the fridge because it seems to be an intermittent issue, thus hard to replicate. They were really good about taking my rig in within a few days of my contacting them and they did comprehensive testing on the fridge. I have had other problems with the trailer and they have been good at resolving them fairly quickly.

I can understand your friends frustration if his dealership is not helping out. Perhaps he should contact Airstream directly...