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fridge fan stays on!
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Racerrojo
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PostPosted: Fri May 31, 2013 8:44 pm    Post subject: fridge fan stays on! Reply with quote

The other day while I was showing the van to it future owner, out of the blue this humming noise started, it turns out to be the fridge's fan, it will stay running, no matther what position the switch was. The only way I could get it to stop was unplugging the harness.
What would cause this behavior?
I all forremoving the fridge and gaining storage, or maybe replacing it with a more modern one, but is there's some thing not outrageously expensive out tyere?
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danfromsyr
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PostPosted: Fri May 31, 2013 8:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

it's because you live in Arizona.. Idea
we don't have that problem here in the northeast. Wink

the fan always has power as it has no real way to know (electrically) if you have the propane on.. the snap switch has a preset temp, and your hot climate can trip it.
some AZ westy owners put a bypass switch on the power feed to the rear fridge fan..
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1621
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PostPosted: Fri May 31, 2013 8:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

IIRC, the fan triggers from a thermostat. If it's hot, the fan will kick on to rid the area between the fridge and side panel of the heat, regardless of where the switch is.
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debbiej
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PostPosted: Fri May 31, 2013 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When the temps get up there, that fan runs. You can remove the fuse (forget which one, there are 2) behind the driver's seat to stop it. Everyone says the fridges are no good, but mine works great and I really like it.
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Racerrojo
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 9:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not AZ but close, New Mexico.
I have read about this, but is the first time I can hear it, and I've dealt with over 30 vans on the last 8 years.
And I've also never need able to fund the fridge on propane. But then againg , never put to much effort or time in to it.
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MarkWard
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 6:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Probably the fan is on its way out and that is why you are now hearing it. We like our dometic. We run it on propane almost exclusively, which eliminates the battery stress for us. If you search my user name here, I posted a few pictures of mods I did to ours to improve its performance when our OE fan did finally up and die. mark
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Summers420us
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My fridge fan will run almost constantly if the fridge is running on propane. Starts with fast cycling but eventually just ends up running non stop.

Got to get more heat out from behind it I guess...
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MarkWard
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 6:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Summers420us wrote:
My fridge fan will run almost constantly if the fridge is running on propane. Starts with fast cycling but eventually just ends up running non stop.

Got to get more heat out from behind it I guess...


Here is what we did. I modified the city water port, added a pc fan and a two way toggle switch that lets me run both fans or just the fridge fan. I also left the original temp switch in case I forget. The insulation is 3 or 4 layers of reflectix to keep the sun's heat from over heating the area. Satisfied with the results. Disclaimer, I take no credit for the ideas. These came from others, just my take on them.

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Racerrojo
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is nice!
I was able to light mine up, and left it runni.g all night , but unplugged the wires to the fan because it was running of Tue aux battery even whith the shore power.
I think there's some weird wiring because its running on the same fuse as the sink pump.
The temperature (using a thermal gun on the freezer metal) was 59F at ist lowest point.
It's doing something , but far from impressive.
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Racerrojo
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is nice!
I was able to light mine up, and left it runni.g all night , but unplugged the wires to the fan because it was running of Tue aux battery even whith the shore power.
I think there's some weird wiring because its running on the same fuse as the sink pump.
The temperature (using a thermal gun on the freezer metal) was 59F at ist lowest point.
It's doing something , but far from impressive.
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crazyvwvanman
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You should not run the fridge unless the fan is working properly.

The fridge fan is supposed to be on the same fuse as the sink pump, normal.

The other fuse in the years that have 2 fuses is only for the fridge 12 volt HEATING ELEMENT, not the fan.

Mark


Racerrojo wrote:
That is nice!
I was able to light mine up, and left it runni.g all night , but unplugged the wires to the fan because it was running of Tue aux battery even whith the shore power.
I think there's some weird wiring because its running on the same fuse as the sink pump.
The temperature (using a thermal gun on the freezer metal) was 59F at ist lowest point.
It's doing something , but far from impressive.
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MarkWard
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 10:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't have the wiring, but I believe that fan is on the power circuit for the sink pump and the display. The fridge heater element is on the other circuit. Before our fan layed down, but was making noise intermittently, my wife would always question it the fridge was working right. I never did any temp testing, but since adding the computer fan with the shroud and a way to move the heat out from behind the fridge, she always will comment the fridge seems to be working well when she opens it.
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Racerrojo
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 10:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll che k againg, but I belive that with the aux battery from GW the fridge with run on battery only with the ing. on.
There's something wrong anyway, because I dis connected the batthery and trey to run it on sure power, and the fan would not run.
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kamzcab86
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 11:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Racerrojo wrote:
I'll che k againg, but I belive that with the aux battery from GW the fridge with run on battery only with the ing. on.
There's something wrong anyway, because I dis connected the batthery and trey to run it on sure power, and the fan would not run.


Don't confuse the fridge cooling with the fan; they're two separate components. The fridge only cools via the aux battery if DC mode is selected; likewise with shore power (AC mode). The fan runs off the battery (aux if setup is installed, or main if not) regardless of fridge cooling mode. Therefore, disconnecting the aux battery would indeed lead to the fan not running, if the wiring was left as-is.

Wink
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