# Fan For Inside Of Dometic Refrigerator



## thefulminator

Thought I would post the pics of my latest mod.

I ran across an ebay auction where a guy was selling a fan for inside the refrigerator that turns on and off when you power the fridge on or off and stays running while the door is open. After doing a little research, I figured out that his "fridge" fan was actually a computer hard drive cooler which I happened to have experience with. I had installed one of these fans in my kids computer years ago and it died rather quickly because of the cheap fans used.

We have used a battery powered fan from Camping World for a few season and had been less than impressed but it. I've been using some very nice but inexpensive computer fans lately and decided to make my own. The fan I used is an Antec Tricool. It is extremely quiet and you control the speed with it's built in speed control for low/medium/high. This fan is also available in 80mm and 120mm sizes. I used the 92mm because it had better airflow vs. noise at low speed than the other sizes. I am currently using the 120mm size in a couple computer and couldn't be happier with them.

Parts:
Antec Tricool 92mm computer fan Amazon link
StarTech fan guard Amazon link
Quick disconnect adapter Radio Shack link
Ground clip Home Depot link
Female quick disconnect connector Radio Shack link
(2) #6 x 3" machine screws
(2) #6 x 3/4" machine screws
(8) #6 nut
(2) #6 washers
(1) piece of packing foam

I already had the quick disconnect adapter, female connector and ground clip but have included links so you know where they can be found.

My idea was to make the fan stay in place by wedging a slightly soft material between the ceiling of the fridge and the cooling fins. I ended up cutting a piece of packing foam a little larger than the gap and it works perfectly. I cut the foam down using my band saw until it fit the way I wanted. I then installed the fan guard to the fan with the machine screws then added the foam.































I then cut the connector off the wires. The middle wire is the positive and one of the outside wires is the negative. There are three wires on this fan which are all the same color, one of which is for motherboard speed control that you don't need for this mod. You can figure out which wire is the negative using the adapter included with the fan. The black wire on the adapter corresponds to the negative wire on the fan.

Leaving the positive wire as long as possible, I crimped on a female quick disconnect. I then cut the negative wire somewhat shorter and cut the motherboard speed control very short because I didn't need it. If you are not sure which wire is which you don't have to remove the motherboard wire and could just coil it out of the way.

I removed the lens from the interior light, pulled off the red wire and reinstalled it and the fan power wire using the quick disconnect adapter. Make sure to pull the wires away from the light bulb when you put it all together.
























After that replace the lens, and put the fan in place. To attach the ground wire I just clipped it to one of the fins with the ground clip. These clips are made for substantially larger wire so I stripped more of the negative wire than I needed, doubled it over a couple times and tinned it with my soldering iron.










The fan only runs when the refrigerator power is on and I can set it to low, medium or high. On low I can't hear it run through the refrigerator door and it pushes a lot more air than the old battery fan. The fridge seems to recover much faster when starting it up before a trip and gets the beer cold much faster than it used to.


----------



## Sweathog62

Very nice report. Thanks so much for sharing!!


----------



## Landrover

thefulminator said:


> Thought I would post the pics of my latest mod.
> 
> I ran across an ebay auction where a guy was selling a fan for inside the refrigerator that turns on and off when you power the fridge on or off and stays running while the door is open. After doing a little research, I figured out that his "fridge" fan was actually a computer hard drive cooler which I happened to have experience with. I had installed one of these fans in my kids computer years ago and it died rather quickly because of the cheap fans used.
> 
> We have used a battery powered fan from Camping World for a few season and had been less than impressed but it. I've been using some very nice but inexpensive computer fans lately and decided to make my own. The fan I used is an Antec Tricool. It is extremely quiet and you control the speed with it's built in speed control for low/medium/high. This fan is also available in 80mm and 120mm sizes. I used the 92mm because it had better airflow vs. noise at low speed than the other sizes. I am currently using the 120mm size in a couple computer and couldn't be happier with them.
> 
> Parts:
> Antec Tricool 92mm computer fan Amazon link
> StarTech fan guard Amazon link
> Quick disconnect adapter Radio Shack link
> Ground clip Home Depot link
> Female quick disconnect connector Radio Shack link
> (2) #6 x 3" machine screws
> (2) #6 x 3/4" machine screws
> (8) #6 nut
> (2) #6 washers
> (1) piece of packing foam
> 
> I already had the quick disconnect adapter, female connector and ground clip but have included links so you know where they can be found.
> 
> My idea was to make the fan stay in place by wedging a slightly soft material between the ceiling of the fridge and the cooling fins. I ended up cutting a piece of packing foam a little larger than the gap and it works perfectly. I cut the foam down using my band saw until it fit the way I wanted. I then installed the fan guard to the fan with the machine screws then added the foam.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I then cut the connector off the wires. The middle wire is the positive and one of the outside wires is the negative. There are three wires on this fan which are all the same color, one of which is for motherboard speed control that you don't need for this mod. You can figure out which wire is the negative using the adapter included with the fan. The black wire on the adapter corresponds to the negative wire on the fan.
> 
> Leaving the positive wire as long as possible, I crimped on a female quick disconnect. I then cut the negative wire somewhat shorter and cut the motherboard speed control very short because I didn't need it. If you are not sure which wire is which you don't have to remove the motherboard wire and could just coil it out of the way.
> 
> I removed the lens from the interior light, pulled off the red wire and reinstalled it and the fan power wire using the quick disconnect adapter. Make sure to pull the wires away from the light bulb when you put it all together.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After that replace the lens, and put the fan in place. To attach the ground wire I just clipped it to one of the fins with the ground clip. These clips are made for substantially larger wire so I stripped more of the negative wire than I needed, doubled it over a couple times and tinned it with my soldering iron.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The fan only runs when the refrigerator power is on and I can set it to low, medium or high. On low I can't hear it run through the refrigerator door and it pushes a lot more air than the old battery fan. The fridge seems to recover much faster when starting it up before a trip and gets the beer cold much faster than it used to.


Thanks so much for that report. So a quick question how does blowing air around help it cool? I really am a newbie.


----------



## thefulminator

The only way the heat can be removed from the refrigerator interior is for it to get to the fins at the top of the cooling box. If the air isn't moving, each molecule of air has to transfer heat to the neighboring molecule by conduction. It works but it's slow. Air movement causes forced convection. Moving the air around picks up the heat and circulates it from the items in the fridge to the fins.

Imagine an 80 degree day with absolutely no wind. You will feel pretty warm. Take that same 80 degrees and add some wind or better yet drive around in a convertible at a decent speed and you feel cooler. The air being passed around you picks up some of your body heat and takes it away. The more air that passes around you, the cooler you feel. That is exactly how wind chill works in cold temperatures. It's the same reason your car has a fan that blows across the radiator when you are stopped. When you stop the car the air movement stops and heat builds up in the radiator. When the fan sensor detects the higher temperature, it kicks the fan on to start the forced convection.


----------



## the4crisps

Great Mod! Better air movement than the battery self contained units. One question.. Do you have it blowing air over the fins or pulling it across them? Does it make a difference?


----------



## thefulminator

Mine blows into the fins. Titanizer just did the mod too and hers blows away from the fins. Hopefully she can give some feedback as well.


----------



## titanizer

The beer was cold. Frig stayed at 38 during the day with 95+ outside. The freezer comp. stayed around 0 at night and 10-15 during the day time. I'm going to reverse the fan direction next camping trip and see if there's any significant difference. I'll post results after next trip.


----------



## Tangooutback

thefulminator said:


> The fan only runs when the refrigerator power is on and I can set it to low, medium or high. On low I can't hear it run through the refrigerator door and it pushes a lot more air than the old battery fan. The fridge seems to recover much faster when starting it up before a trip and gets the beer cold much faster than it used to.


In this picture looks like the fan is blowing air only to 8 fins, not all the fins ?


----------



## thefulminator

Yes it's only blowing into a few fins but it keeps enough air moving to circulate aroung the entire compatment. Overall I think it is a very worthwhile mod.


----------



## titanizer

I have to agreed with Mr. Fulminator. I've tried placing fan on the shelf below the fins blowing out into the frig, underneath blowing up through the fins ;works best with this setup blowing directly into the fins







.


----------



## Tangooutback

thefulminator said:


> Yes it's only blowing into a few fins but it keeps enough air moving to circulate aroung the entire compatment. Overall I think it is a very worthwhile mod.


Do you think if you add two fans it would double performance efficiency?


----------



## RDS

I installed one of the ebay fans and turned fridge on last night. This afternoon the camper is 93 degrees inside. The freezer is 7 degrees and the main compartment is 37 degrees.

That should keep the adult beverages cold.


----------

