1995 T4 RC1140 Fridge - Is it working as expected?

aidanic · Jul 11, 2023

Hi there,

We have a 1995 VW T4 California with the Westfalia original build-out and the Westfalia Electrolux RC 1140 fridge. It works mostly. We're doing a longer road trip soon and I want to keep some medication in the fridge while we're on the road.

I want to confirm the performance - if it is what I should expect - and if there's anything I can do to improve the measured performance.

On the control panel test mode, it draws 6.5A, more than the suggested 4.5A from various sources. (Hold down the 4 keys and scroll down to the snowflake).

I've had a temperature monitor in the fridge for the last few days. The van has been in the garage with a nominal 20C external temperature, out of direct sunlight.

Above is the run overnight in the garage - the control panel is set to +2C. The top of those peaks are 9.2C and the bottom are about 4.6C. The cooling cycle has a 15 minute duration, with the warming cycle running over 30 minutes before the compressor kicks in. A total of 45 minutes from "peak to peak". For this test, there is nothing in the fridge except the temperature sensor. And the lid is closed. The 12V charger is plugged into the mains - so no leisure battery issues.

I put 4L of ambient temperature water in plastic bottles in the fridge and it took ~15 hours for the curve to settle down again.

With the 4L water and the sensor, the "peak to peak" period remains at 45 minutes.

What are my options here?
Should I get a new sensor (~€55 from coolandshop.de) and will it do anything?
Can I put additional rockwool or other insulation around the fridge - especially between the fridge and the exterior body panel?
Is there enough "coolant in the pipes"?

Or is it working as expected for a 28 year old fridge - if it ain't broke, don't fix it?

Many thanks in advance for your collective wisdom.

Aidan

sidepod · Jul 11, 2023

Obvs I don’t have the monitoring kit you have but what I can say is, I can easily make ice and freeze stuff in the fridge.
If I set the control panel to 3 the the rear of the fridge box will ice up.

I’ve had a previous unit re-gassed by Penguin refrigeration and the difference is night and day.

aidanic · Jul 11, 2023

I've just been using a "Elitech RC-5" logging sensor - it's about £15 on eBay. The medication I mention should be kept cool at a constant temperature, so having a logging sensor is kind of useful for that.

If you're interested in all things fridge related - I can recommend this YT video from Technology Connections

Anyway, back to the T4 - getting the fridge re-gassed appears to be more difficult than expected based on where I live.

I'm running the fridge overnight set to "-2C" and see what that looks like. And I'll do some more digging on the re-gassing.

Thanks...

sidepod · Jul 12, 2023

aidanic said:
I've just been using a "Elitech RC-5" logging sensor - it's about £15 on eBay. The medication I mention should be kept cool at a constant temperature, so having a logging sensor is kind of useful for that.

If you're interested in all things fridge related - I can recommend this YT video from Technology Connections

Anyway, back to the T4 - getting the fridge re-gassed appears to be more difficult than expected based on where I live.

I'm running the fridge overnight set to "-2C" and see what that looks like. And I'll do some more digging on the re-gassing.

Thanks...

Penguin are very good with posting/shipping.
Obvs you’ll need to remove the fridge (easy - 30mins). Box it up and courier it.

syncrostan · Jul 12, 2023

had similar problems last year, see below. Fridge had been fine, like Sidepod said would readily make ice,last year had your problem, replaced sensor, no change, reg gasped, left on test overbite and fused ,on inspection short circuit on control box, melted and bridged out fuse. New fridge, not the cheapest upgrade but more efficient than the old one .just my ten pence worth.

aidanic · Jul 12, 2023

syncrostan said:
New fridge

Did you get another RC1140 or something else? If something else, how did it fit?

syncrostan · Jul 12, 2023

aidanic said:
Did you get another RC1140 or something else? If something else, how did it fit?

Ordered the upto date equivalent from Gunzl, working well, €800.00. Sits approx 2.5cm lower, utilises existing lid

aidanic · Jul 12, 2023

syncrostan said:
Ordered the upto date equivalent from Gunzl, working well, €800.00. Sits approx 2.5cm lower, utilises existing lid

Basically one of these:

Original Kühlbox Westfalia T4 California passend für VW T4 Westfalia

Diese Kühlbox passt in alle Westfalia T4 Modelle, welche die Kühlbox RC1140 oder RC1140-1 eingebaut hatten. Der einzige Unterschied bei diesen beiden…

www.mybusparts.de

which runs to ~€950 these days. There are other vendors, such as Cool and Shop for a bit cheaper, and some guys in Poland.

Original Westfalia RC1140-1 - Cool & Shop

Dometic Westfalia RC1140-1, VW California T4, Ford Nugget, Columbus, Reperatur und Austausch, Original Westfalia RC1140-1 - Cool & Shop

coolandshop.de

To be clear - you purchased a near identical replacement, which needed to be positioned 2.5cm higher in the space under the counter and it has the same connectors as the original fridge.

syncrostan · Jul 12, 2023

that’s the one

aidanic · Jul 15, 2023

I'm going to add a couple of informational posts below, around the fridge performance and the way you get the fridge out which I believe is not very described online.

I've decided to leave the fridge "as is". I believe it's working "to specification".

I do find that it warms up too quickly, especially during sunny days. Ideally I would remove it and insulate the surrounding areas, especially between the body panel and the fridge. There's not much space for this to the "right", with the cupboard under the cooker and in "front", the area facing into the cabin. A project for the autumn.

aidanic · Jul 15, 2023

Performance:

I tested the fridge with three control panel settings, +2C, 0C and -2C. For me, the 0C was the best setting.
In a garage with an ambient temperature of 20C, the fridge takes ~15 minutes to cool down by ~3.5C. With the 0C setting, the maximum was 6.5C and minimum was 3C. The "warm up period" was around 25 minutes. On average, the fridge cycle was 45 minutes.

With the same 0C settings, and taken outside with 25C ambient temperatures and the fridge side of the van facing the sun, the cycle time changed from 15/25 to 12/18, with the fridge warming up in just 18 minutes before the compressor kicked in. The max/min went from 6.4/2 to 7/5.4. This temperature graph shows the time where I moved the van out of the garage.

I have some other results, although they are broadly similar.

If I can, I would try and insulate the fridge to "double" the warm-up time, so from 30 minutes to an hour.

I'm not 100% convinced that everything is OK with the Westfalia controller, which is reading the thermostat and choosing when to turn on the compressor. Still, the temperature graphs are very consistent and make sense with the outside conditions.

The measured current draw at 6.5A with some back of an envelope calculations probably means that 180Ah battery will give me about 5 days of cool drinks, before I need to recharge the leisure battery.

The guys at Penguin were helpful, although to/from the UK from mainland Europe is a little unsatisfactory with shipping these days. They mentioned that they are setting up in the Irish Republic which would be slightly easier.

As I mention, I believe the fridge is working fine - my expectations were a little higher than it's design allows

aidanic · Jul 15, 2023

Removing the RC1140 fridge from a 1995 T4 California

I have not bothered to remove the fridge fully - I have four bolts to go - still this description should be helpful.

Step #1 Remove the lower board/grill with two Philips screws.

Step #2 Remove the rail that you clip the table into - the whole rail, some 12 black Philips screws. My pictures show it still there - it needs to be removed.

Step #3 Remove the stainless steel surround. Two tiny Philips screws on the inside and one at the back of the fridge.

Step #4 Remove two long Gold Philips screws that are screwed through the door jam of the cupboard under the cooker. These are easily 40mm long.

Step #5 Remove the two Philips screws on the left hand side of the upper panel and remove it.

Step #5 Part 2

To remove the upper front panel, you need to ease out the left hand vertical edge first, as the right hand edge slides behind the door jam of the adjacent cupboard.

Step #6 Remove the two bolts from the inside of the wardrobe cupboard and the two small Philips screws holding the locking plate.

Step #7 Remove the base bolts holding the bottom of the fridge to the floor.

OK, so I only went this far. There may need to be some fiddling with the vent pipes. Then it should be easy to slide out the fridge into the cabin.

sidepod · Jul 15, 2023

No need to remove the lid/top section. Fridge unit comes out from below.charger unit removed first obvs.

richardvwt4 · Nov 19, 2023

aidanic said:
Hi there,

We have a 1995 VW T4 California with the Westfalia original build-out and the Westfalia Electrolux RC 1140 fridge. It works mostly. We're doing a longer road trip soon and I want to keep some medication in the fridge while we're on the road.

I want to confirm the performance - if it is what I should expect - and if there's anything I can do to improve the measured performance.

On the control panel test mode, it draws 6.5A, more than the suggested 4.5A from various sources. (Hold down the 4 keys and scroll down to the snowflake).

I've had a temperature monitor in the fridge for the last few days. The van has been in the garage with a nominal 20C external temperature, out of direct sunlight.

View attachment 111078
Above is the run overnight in the garage - the control panel is set to +2C. The top of those peaks are 9.2C and the bottom are about 4.6C. The cooling cycle has a 15 minute duration, with the warming cycle running over 30 minutes before the compressor kicks in. A total of 45 minutes from "peak to peak". For this test, there is nothing in the fridge except the temperature sensor. And the lid is closed. The 12V charger is plugged into the mains - so no leisure battery issues.

I put 4L of ambient temperature water in plastic bottles in the fridge and it took ~15 hours for the curve to settle down again.

View attachment 111083

With the 4L water and the sensor, the "peak to peak" period remains at 45 minutes.

View attachment 111084
What are my options here?
Should I get a new sensor (~€55 from coolandshop.de) and will it do anything?
Can I put additional rockwool or other insulation around the fridge - especially between the fridge and the exterior body panel?
Is there enough "coolant in the pipes"?

Or is it working as expected for a 28 year old fridge - if it ain't broke, don't fix it?

Many thanks in advance for your collective wisdom.

Aidan

Aidan.. for the age of the van contra the sensor price it's obvious what you must do. Without a fridge life changes dramatically in a t4.
Easily done. Blue and brown at the connector but should be as it is.
Luck
Richard in Spain