Galley Ventilation - 12V Fridge

[Strop]

I am planning for the future and thinking at some time I might put a 12V Waeco fridge/freezer in my galley, making it's home there. I don't want to have the unit in the tow vehicle.

My question is that do you need to put some form of ventilation into the galley so these units do not overheat whilst travelling? Even when camping you may want to close the hatch overnight and whilst they might not work much at night, or as much, they will need air to keep the motor cool. Or so I am assuming.

So what solutions have people come up with to solve this problem (my initial search did not find anything)?

Also those that have them (as I have never had one) do they make much noise of a night annoying you and keeping you from sleeping?

Thanks

Laurie

[GerryS]

We use a CF35 in ours...a campinn. It seems to travel well with just a small clearance around it.

It is a bit warm (motor area) at our destination but the food is still cold. We've been doing this for 3 seasons and we haven't experienced extremely hot days, that might change the equation.

We also keep the fridge inside while we are away from the campsite. So far, no food has gone bad.

We typically travel from 8am to 5pm, not much longer than that unless we are near our destination and know we will be there with enough time to set up before nightfall with time to spare.

We love the Waco (sold in the US as Dometic) fridge. The one thing it is missing is a built in internal fan to move air around.

[Strop]

Thanks Gerry,

How much space do you have around your unit?

I am thinking of mounting mine long ways. If I do that the motor of the freezer in a CF35/40 will be at the back of the space. With the new model CFX35/40 the motor will be at the front. I have planned for the rear ventilation if I buy that unit.

More worried about the fridge passing away, but I suppose that they sit in cars all locked up in the sun all day and survive. I have found some little plastic 1" vents with flyscreens on them but not sure how waterproof they will be.

Thanks

Laurie

[teddy]

I bought some of these 4" stainless vents for the same purpose

[Strop]

Teddy I found some similar with insect screens as well but the thought of punching a hole in the wall does not sit well with me at this time. I am not sure how well the vents will prevent water getting in - more when you are driving with all the spray around.

Yet to make sawdust so time to think and buy more parts.

[dales133]

Every second person in aussie has a fridge in thier 4x4 or work truck without ventilation and it gets bloody hot here...I wouldn't stress about it but obviously it wouldn't work as hard and benefit from the hatch being open where ever possible

[GerryS]

I'm not sure a small very like that show would make much difference unless you put a fan behind it....

[dales133]

I've got a duel battery In my land cruiser witch is common here.
My seconds a 120ah deep cycle witch will run a modern fridge for upto a week.
Even with a single Battery you should get a few days.
I'll run anderson plugs to my TD to charge it off the trucks system too then I'll be able to exhaust both deep cycles and still have my main battery left.

[GerryS]

The waeco pulls very little power...and they have an auto shutoff feature which keeps from flatlining the battery...according to what I read 3.75 amps. I don't know about a week, but a couple days isn't a problem.

[Strop]

The fridge will be the biggest puller of power in my setup. The wife's hair dryer will have to stay at home.

I have a Ctek D250S for use in my system. My plan is to buy a solar panel to charge my Deep Cycle battery when out camping for longer periods. The Waeco fridge I am looking at should use about 24 amp/hrs per day according to their specs. Solar panels should give me back about 20 so extended stays should be good. LED lights use bugger all power and the next biggest thing I have to charge is an iPad. I think about 5 amp/hrs from empty to full.

As I said my concern is with the fridge - how much less efficient will it be when hot. The last thing you want is for it to burn through all your power when you get to your destination because it hasn't worked during the travel to your spot. Gerry's comments have lessened that concern.

I found a little vent that is used with horse trailers that is water proof and sucks the air from the vehicle as it travels along. In conjunction with those small vents it might be a good system to have an airflow through the galley while travelling - extracting that hot air. I can always add it later if necessary.

All the best

Laurie