super charge your fridge for less than 10 bucks!

[john hd]

hey all, in the neverending quest to keep my beer cold i came upon this idea.

instead of using a fridge fan powered by d cell batteries i came upon an really cool fan ment for hard drives!

it was $1.98 buy it now on e bay, plus 5 dollar shipping from hong kong. with misc. hardware and connectors the whole thing costs about 9 bucks.

installation was easy, i used 4 common binder clips. i removed the handles and drilled a 1/8 hole through the back. screws are stainless with nylocks. after drilling i painted them silver to make it look pretty. the whole assembly simply pushes into place on the fins in the back.

wiring was easy, two wires spliced into the hot side of the fridge light circuit. (if you have a fridge without an interior light an external power source would be required, power could be routed through the cooling fin drain if needed.)

so far i am impressed with the performance, the fridge was cooling much quicker, i had about 30 degrees in the upper fridge section after 2 hours!

hopefully, i will have cold beer and no more frozen lettuce!

john

[53flyingcloud]

Suggestion:
Throw out the lettuce and, you'll have room for more beer~!
Make mine a Guinness..

[richinny]

those power supply and processor fans work well and draw litte power. i've used the power supply fan during summer black outs to keep me cool at home. a fantastic fan might speed that cooling even more ;-)

[john hd]

you are correct they don't draw much current, .36 amps. less than the 15 watt fridge light.

here are the specs on the fan:

Specification

• Reduce hard drive temperature
• Extends your hard disk drive life and reliability
• Fits 3 1/2" hard drive
• Easy Installation
• MT BF-sleeve 20000 hrs. ball-40000hrs
• Air Flow-36 CFM(1 unit)
• Speed -4000rpm(1 unit)
• Static Pressure-0.09 INCH-HO
• Voltage-12V DC
• Power-4.32W
• Curenct-0.36A
• Dimension-130x103X16mm(LxWxH)
• 3.5" Hard Disk Drive Cooler
• Weight: 92g

john

[HankandLois]

The fan installation looks great!!! What happened to the other two beers???

[john hd]

btw, this is the outfit i got it from, ignore the price and look it up on ebay.

Computer PC HDD 2 Fan 3.5" Hard Drive Cooler Blower Exhaust--Silver

john

[john hd]

What happened to the other two beers???

i had to have something to drink while i was wiring it in!

john

[ArtStream]

John!

Thanks for the cool guide, much better than my boxter fan zipped tied to the fridge shelf!

Michael

[SilverRanger]

I applaud your ingenuity, and raise my glass to your motive.


I've been looking at those computer fans to replace the noisy one that cools the reefer compartment. As soon as I find out the CFM of the original fan, I'll try to match it with a quieter fan, maybe one with those cool blue LED lights.

Google Image Result for http://cool-cases-usa.com/Zen-Cart-v1.2.4/images/lt120bl.bmp

[vswingfield]

Thanks for the idea. I have one on the way now. I had to get a blue one to match the exterior trim on my Excella.

I also ordered a 120mm fan for a low draw personal fan:

Y65 120mm Standard PC/Mac System Case Cooling Fan - (item 120148977930 end time Aug-09-07 09:15:00 PDT)

Compter fans make great 12v fans. Quiet and low power required.

Vaughan

[Dwight]

This also works.

[john hd]

nice install dwight, is the thumb switch to turn it on/off?

might add one to mine.

john