Best Of

I purchased a Vitrifrigo  C62IXD4-F (2.2 cu ft) 120V/12V refrigerator to replace the Norcold 180.3 refrigerator in my Tab 320S.  Although the compressor is made in China, the unit is made in Italy.  Most people are using an Isotherm as replacement, but I wanted to avoid China products as much as possible.  The quality of the Vitrifrigo is really nice. 

My installation is unique in that it uses the existing side vents to cool the unit with the option of switching the cooling to the inside of the Tab 320s in cold weather to help heat the interior or if needed in hot weather when running the AC unit but after a couple days of 100+ degree temps, the unit is staying in the low to mid 30’s empty.

The installation is essentially complete with the exception of wood doors on the air inlet and outlet on the inside the trailer (two grey insulation boards seen in the picture below):

The grey insulation boards isolate the air inlet and outlet from the side vents.  If removed and the side vents blocked, the cooling air is then from and to the inside of the trailer.  The upper grey insulation board exposes the cooling air inlet from the existing upper side vent.  The lower grey insulation board exposes the hot air exhaust from the refrigerator through the lower existing side vent.  The opening in the middle is storage which I think will be used to hold shoes which always are in the way on the floor of the trailer.  

Below are a few pictures showing the installation to achieve routing of the cooling air as described.

Norcold removed and hole cut in bottom of existing board:

Note the insulation board installed to isolate the cabinets under the sink from the refrigerator:

Vertical plywood partition (before insulation and painting underneath the refrigerator):

You can see the plywood shelf bottom and ceiling positioned to isolate the incoming and outgoing refrigerator cooling air via the existing vents:

Cover over the compressor and condenser so cooling air enters the existing upper side vent, flows across the top of the refrigerator and is pulled in across the condenser by the condenser fan which is located below the edge of the aluminum plate nearest the sink:

The above shows the basic components and installation but not the detail seals required to isolate the incoming air from the outgoing air.

Although I have some details to finish up, the installation if complete and functions very good so far. It was a lot of detail work and a lot of thinking to pull this off.