Cooling the fridge with a fan
Last summer in the South of France the Danfoss fridge in our T5.1 decided to stop working, because the temperature outside was 42 Celsius. I decided to install a small ventilator beneath the refrigerator, to pull out the hot air from the space under the compressor.
The temperature in the compartment I measured that day at 72 degrees Celsius. The fridge stops working above 55 degrees Celsius, according to the Danfoss manual. In fact the fridge is causing its own stoppage by generating heat.
The compressor space of the old T5.1 also houses the Waeco battery loader, that adds considerable more heat to the area. This loader stops working above 59 degrees Celsius, as many Cali owners might have experienced while on hook in hot summers. Later VWN moved the loader to the battery compartment at the back.
I mounted a 12 Volt DC Arctic fan F9 (9 euros) and connected it to the electro block (model number 101N0220) of the Danfoss compressor.
In the early T5 models you can easily open the 2.5 MM Torx screws of the left wall in the left closet. In later T5 versions the wall is fixed, and has a small service hatch, that is probably too small for people with big hands...
After opening the wall, you'll see the Danfoss electro block at the left, with a series of connectors from top to bottom.
The big Minus (-) connector is a switched mass, indirectly connected to the Minus pole of the leisure battery. The minus wire switches the compressor on and off.
Power is only switched on when the temperature sensor in the cool box (connectors C and T) reaches the value you that you chose in the computer unit of the Cali.
The big Plus (+) is the 12 Volt plus connector direct from the battery plus. Together they feed the fridge compressor. (the yellow D is a data wire).
Just below the big + and - you can see two other connectors, + (small plus sign ) and F (Fan). Normally these connectors are empty. They too are switched 12 Volt connections. I have used them to automatically switch on the fan only at times when the compressor is working. The small plus connector wire goes to the plus of the fan, the F wire to the minus of the fan.
A view of my provisional setup, which, I fear, is also the final setup:
The fan is pulling hot air from the compressor department. To avoid a circular air movement back into that space, I closed the gap around the grey water valve with a piece of linoleum.
With a switch I can cut off the current to the fan, just in case its sound keeps us out of sleep. Which isn't the case, I can hardly hear the fan working, even with the closet door open.
Does it help? Yes it does. On warm days the fan sucks enough warmth from under the compressor to keep the fridge going. The compressor also does start less frequently to cool the box. Although I must add, that since our solar panels we hardly use the battery loader, so there's less heat under the fridge.
Regards from Amsterdam,
Marc.
