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Regular fridge in a van?
#746275 March 17th 2019 2:42 am
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I got a small regular fridge today, the kind you typically see in a college dorm.
It's about 20"x20"x20"

What are the dangers of this? Would a hot van interior on a summers day cause overheating dangers?
Is there anything dangerous to health they give off in a enclosed space?


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Re: Regular fridge in a van?
Lister #746276 March 17th 2019 8:31 am
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We've been using one slightly larger than you describe for many years with no problems. They do need some air circulation to work properly as most designs shed the heat via the exterior. Ours is "semi" built-in. There is space behind and an air gap (about 1.5") around the sides with plenty of room above.
Ours is a Haier brand IIRC and was about $80 or $90 at Walleyworld.

Last edited by CatFish; March 17th 2019 8:33 am.
Re: Regular fridge in a van?
Lister #746281 March 17th 2019 9:11 am
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Catfish don't eat spoiled egg salad.my old van had this upright ice chest for lack of better terms.


When in doubt..get the sawzall out..
Re: Regular fridge in a van?
Lister #746287 March 17th 2019 1:39 pm
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good ok thanks. I think i'll put it in front of the small side door so the window can be cracked to vent any hot air then


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Re: Regular fridge in a van?
Lister #746289 March 17th 2019 2:32 pm
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Lister, it won't need much air once it gets cold. (ours takes about 15 to 20 mins) They take very little running to maintain. If it has a small freezer area you can put a couple of waters in there to freeze. Then if you're just camping overnight the fridge will stay as cold as a cooler while you're travelling during the day. We only use ours for keeping food cold and dry. Beer and drinks are still in the cooler on ice.

Speaking of spoiled eggs, crack the door open a little when you're not camping to keep it from smelling like a fridge.

I attached a bad photo I took during some work on the sink. It shows the fridge, microwave and silverware drawer in front of the short door.....

Attached Files
20170502_105445.jpg (331.35 KB, 106 downloads)
Last edited by CatFish; March 17th 2019 2:34 pm.
Re: Regular fridge in a van?
Lister #746290 March 17th 2019 2:50 pm
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'Dorm' residential compressor fridges, meant to work on 115vAC, can use a lot of battery power when powered through an inverter which is big enough to handle the start up surge. Typical running wattage is 45 to 65 watts, but the start up surge on some models might be 10 to 15x that.

How much juice the inverter eats up when idling, between compressor run times is another factor in battery eating. My inverter chews up 0.6 amps turned on powering nothing,

My 12vDC Vitrifrigo fridge in 72f average ambient temps, with minimal door openings, consumes 0.68AH per hour, which is just slightly more than the inverter would use by itself uses in standby. But it is a 650$ fridge.

Plugging in on arrival and using the inverter to power a fridge while underway is of course no big deal, but reliably powering it off battery alone when locked in a hot van, will chew up batteries and make the fridge compressor run a lot. Yes it can overheat and shut down and perhaps spoil the food within. You want the interior to remain sub 40f.

These residential fridge might also employ the skin of the fridge as the condenser's heatsink. These need a certain distance between the side of the fridge or the side of the cabinet to allow heat disipation.

The Vf fridge i have has a little 120x120mm radiator like condenser to which is attached a 120mm computer fan. I've rigged my fridge cabinet so this fan, which turns on when the compressor does pulls cold filtered air from the floor, pushes it once through the condenser, then across compressor and compressor controller, then out a louvered conversion van window sliding window, or into the adjacent compartment, or both. So this air only goes once through the condenser and is exhausted. This is much more efficient than the whole cooling unit sitting in a cabinet with a few passive vents stewing in the heat it has generated.

So see where te condenser is on yor fridge, which part gets hot when it is in cool down mode, and make sure this has adequate room for heat dissipation.

If on battery power, every ten degrees hotter van internal temperatures double the time my fridge needs to run, doubling its electrical consumption, but I can ventilate it well enough and cover sunny side windows with reflectix, I can keep interior almost as cool as outside, even in direct sun. The fans consumption is way less than the extra the fridge would use to maintain sub40f internal temps in a hotter van.

Re: Regular fridge in a van?
Lister #746312 March 18th 2019 2:10 am
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Good points indeed.
I wouldnt run this off an inverter, The two campsites I go to more than any others have shore power so i'll keep it for that.
Adding a 700w microwave too tomorrow

Last project: some kind of pump faucet sink., still thinking about that.


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Re: Regular fridge in a van?
Lister #746313 March 18th 2019 8:48 am
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wrcsixeight what are your thoughts on converting 110 fridges to 12 volt? I've seen a few threads around covering the subject, but would that be better/worse than just buying a 12 volt that was designed that way? I'm currently trying to figure out the best way to have a functional fridge that will work when running or plugged in, but won't kill everything when running off batteries. Not planning on living in the van, but it would be cool if I could keep food cold for the duration of a long weekend in the summer without having to plug in.

Also trying to avoid having 30 batteries on board lol. Having a hard time finding the balance.

Last edited by tuner4life; March 18th 2019 8:49 am.

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Re: Regular fridge in a van?
Lister #746316 March 18th 2019 1:47 pm
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I have no experience converting 120vAC fridges to be 12vDC fridges and am not quite sure how that is accomplished, other than powering the fridge from an inverter.

I know some of the guys use a thermostat which turns on the inverter just for the compressor then off again afterwards, which can save a lot of energy, depending on just how much energy the inverter consumes when the fridge compressor is not running.

The fact that 12vdc fridges are so dang expensive has turned many down the 'what is cheaper' route?

People that do full time and do the inverter dorm fridge route usually find their batteries lose capacity quickly as they do not have enough battery or recharging capacity. Many wish they had saved their time and effort and some more money for a 12v model instead.

There are some cheaper chest style plug in fridges available, but I can't speak to their function or reliability. One does not need to go the front loader dorm fridge route.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DNNMY5...d_r=addb70e6-49a2-11e9-8448-5f8f8266119a


Do beware of the common ubiquitous 12v powerport plug and receptacle. Most portable DC fridges will come with these but the wiring to and from them is too thin to support the long term passing of 35 to 70 watts. In addition to that the design of the ciggy plug will work its way loose. It is always best to bypass this plug on any device which needs to be reliable, and any device which can regularly ask for more than 40 watts. I know there are heavier duty ciggy plugs and receptacles, some of which claim 20 amp ratings(240 watts), but they are smoking crack, and 20 amps might be ok very intermittently, not consistently.

If one really wants to use 12v plugs, then at least wire the aftermarket quality receptacle with 10AWG right to the battery, fused at the battery for 30 amps. My 89 dodge wired the dash ciggy plug from fuse block with 18awg. The voltage drop on such a circuit will have the fridge low voltage protection kick in well before the battery is in any danger of being overdepleted.

A good semi budget friendly DC fridge, which uses a good compressor, the danfoss secop bd35f, is available from here:

https://www.truckfridge.com/all-models/

This guy is a vendor for them and Vitrifrigo and has free shipping:

http://www.westyventures.com/parts.html#cart_restore

I now they are still pricey for just occassional weekend use, but the ones with both AC and DC an be plugged in at your home and used as a second fridge or freezer if that helps justify the cost.

If one decides just to do the inverter dorm fridge thing, expect to get about 2 days from a new healthy fully charged group31 marine battery before the low voltage alarm on the fridge starts screaming. Obviously ambient temperatures and how often the door is opened and for how long plays a big factor, as does the parasitic draw of the inverter when teh compressor is not actively running.

Be sure to do an extended and full recharge of the battery once the outing is over, by a plug in charger capable of no less than 10 amps. Alternator's voltage regulation is no where near adequate to fully charge a well depleted battrey, and even if the voltage regulation were ideal for this duty, it would take no less than 6.5 hours of driving. Since most voltage regulators revert to the mid to high 13's. The time to fully recharge a well depleted healthy battery is much much longer, and an older sulfated battery will likely never reach full charge at 13.8v, no matter how long it is plugged in and charging.

A lead acid battery ideally always wants to be fully charged. Anything less than this will have it lose capacity, and the lower and the longer it sits less than fully charged, the faster the capacity loss.

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