Adding a vent and a fan to cool the CSS refrigerator

grace

This post will show you how we vented our CSS refrigerator and added a small fan. We have a 2013 320 CSS that I acquired in 2018. The refrigerator barely worked, and by the end of 2021 it died. As many with the clamshell model know, it can get very hot inside the kitchen when the clamshell is closed. The heat the refrigerator creates has nowhere to go. So any refrigerator will struggle to keep food cold...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/102IHIe2Ieyoc0vfvkmxqTw_XDs77Ho_XCzgq7eNgd8k/edit?usp=sharing

Sharon_is_SAM

We thought about doing this as once our ARB overheated.  Just hate to cut a hole in the side.  We generally do not travel in very hot weather, so there is that.

grace

I know the feeling of being rather reluctant to cut a hole in the t@b. That held me back for two years. In my write up, I left out the part of the story where after replacing the broken original refrigerator, and after 2 weeks on the road, we overheated the new refrigerator. We had to finish the 5-week trip without a refrigerator. The dealer replaced it on warranty. At that point, I figured we would either have to vent the compartment, or forget about having refrigeration. So this is actually the third refrigerator. 

Slackers

Good mod! I wonder if the cool air vent can alternatively be placed below the fridge on the underside of the Tab.

Sharon_is_SAM

We have a vent located directly under out frig (sans fan) and it isn’t enough ventilation.

Slackers

I guess it depends upon where the intake on the fridge is located.  @Sharon_is_SAM does your under fridge vent include a fan?

grace

I have seen other posts on this forum showing a mod of a vent under the refrig. I did not go that route for three reasons. First, keeping out road dirt and water seemed more problematic. Second putting a hole in the floor was scarier IMHO. And finally, most RVs have refrigerator vents because most refrigerators are gas. 

Slackers

My non-thermodynamic trained thought is two vents are needed.  1st for the cool air to enter and a 2nd for hotter air to escape.  Propping the hatch open provides that second vent. 

Marceline

grace said:

I have seen other posts on this forum showing a mod of a vent under the refrig. I did not go that route for three reasons. First, keeping out road dirt and water seemed more problematic. Second putting a hole in the floor was scarier IMHO. And finally, most RVs have refrigerator vents because most refrigerators are gas. 

I have been considering doing something like this and even exchanged a couple of emails with NuCamp. I'm curious about where you located your vent, though. Doesn't the fridge exhaust heat through the grill at the front of the fridge? I had looked at putting vents in the bottom lower corners at the very rear of the trailer.

I've also been toying with trying to figure out how to make a small marine solar vent work. I'm thinking of putting it in the clamshell lid.
Something like this or this. 

grace

Marceline, I wouldn't put a vent on the clamshell. I would be very difficult to get a vent sealed against a curved surface. The two vent/fan combo parts are interesting, but you would also need a duct to bring the airflow all the way through the wall, floor, or door. Our vent is located on the door side of the trailer almost 2 feet from the back. I would add an exhaust vent to the rear and above the first vent. The air comes in the bottom vent, flows across the back of the refrigerator, then up over the top to exhaust through the grill above the refrig unit. This would catch that air and pull it outside instead of into the clamshell compartment. Alternatively, you could put the exhaust fan further to the left, outside the refrigerator compartment and inside the clamshell compartment, but then you have the fan and wires exposed when you have the clamshell opened.
Note if we do add the second fan as positioned above, we would have to create a baffle between the two fans, so the air doesn't just go from the intake fan to the exhaust fan without passing over the refrigerator, i.e. add a wall that prevents airflow between the two fans.