Refrigerator Compressor Ventilation - The Problem

Note: This ventilation idea was a failure.  It is just too hot in the summers to adequately ventilate with outside air. 
 
My broken thermistor wire problem on my trip this summer dramatically revealed the conditions behind the Isotherm refrigerator in my van.  It was very hot back there.  I used a towel rolled up to block the heat streaming in from it after I opened it up to try to fix it.  I had put insulation all around the refrigerator leaving a hole above the compressor and behind the entire refrigerator open to the upper and lower vents.  I assumed the compressor fan would be sufficient to draw air in and out. Crossing the Great Plains meant very hot conditions in the 90's to over 100F as well as uncomfortable humidity levels.  Added to that was my westward trek meant the refrigerator side of the van had the sun beating down all day as well.

Thermistor Replaced

The new thermistor came for my Isotherm refrigerator.  They sent a 6' phone cord and they had already wired it to a new thermistor, only this time with a nice flat connection protected by a heat shrink tube.  A much better connection that should be able to withstand some knocking about if it should fall again.  My contact said to use a pencil to poke a hole thru the silicon where the coolant tube and wire goes thru and poke it thru.  It was easy enough to get a hole thru but pushing the thermistor thru was not easy.  I ended up using a 1/4" wide piece of vinyl flashing to use as a fish wire poked thru the hole, then taped the thermistor to it to pull it thru.  

Isotherm Refrigerator Saga

I replaced my original 3-way refrigerator last spring with an Isotherm CR130 marine refrigerator.  The old one never worked for more than a few hours and mostly not at all.  I tried everything but to no avail.  After much research, I settled on the Isotherm because of it's excellent reputation for ruggedness, efficiency, and the company standing behind it's products.  It was expensive but I really wanted one that would be reliable and very miserly on the battery usage.

Route back east

The high dry plains of NE CO - CO14

I got back home on August 3.  Once I get home, the work piled up is daunting!  Mowing and 8-10 foot weeds, my laundry, get food going again, the pets.  My attempt to get the little volunteer job I do failed as my friend somehow did the opposite of what I asked and sent my home mail to my sister's instead of the PO Box mail.  Before I know it, 2 weeks have passed.  Here's a quick post about the route I took back.  It was just to get home in a reasonable amount of time but still look for swimming opportunities for the dog.

Getting ready to go

I've been moochdocking at my sister's house over the weekend again.  Got the ASU back and a new remote switch from the company for my refrigerator Thursday evening.  He had emailed me that the ASU tested good and that it might be the switch.  I reinstalled it, first trying the original wire, then the replacement wire.  No joy.  For a while, I thought the compressor might be going but not the fan.  That turned out not to be the case.  It is exactly like it was when it failed.  I think it must be the ASU despite their tests.  The electronics box attached to the compressor and wired to a manual switch to turn the compressor on and off works fine and it cools very well including the freezer (a workaround).  I just have to watch the temperature and keep it from freezing and remember to turn it back on when the temp rises.  Not ideal but better than ice in a cooler.  So, after determining it simply does not work Friday, I reinstalled the manual switch and put the fridge back into the cavity and secured it for the ride home.  It started cooling.

Busy, Busy

This has been a really busy stay here in Colorado.  First was the getting ready for the family gathering at my sister's house.  It was fun to see a bunch of the relatives.  Then clean up afterwards.  In the meantime, my brother-in -law found a nice pond to swim my dog and their standard poodle.  We learned that their dog can't swim.  He loves water but is pathetic swimming.  He doesn't use his hind legs and splashes the water with his front legs.  Then when he can reach the ground standing up, he walks out on his hind legs.

To Colorado, part 2

Continuing the trek across the plains to Colorado story:

Camp at Chatham SP, IA

Sunday: Road closures made us head further south than I wanted in Illinois.  I was also winging it for awhile because Mr. Garmin kept wanting me to head for Chicago.  I was aiming for a more northerly route to have less heat but no way did we want to have Chicago traffic to deal with. I headed for US24 and defied Garmin for quite awhile.  The dog didn't get any swimming in because I wanted to make up for the lost time struggling with the refrigerator.  Once we made it across Iowa and the Mighty Mississippi, we were in Keokak, IA.  I hadn't realized that we had gone that far south.  It was the end of the day and I was tired so I started looking for a place for the night.  A little north of town, Garmin said there was a campground so I headed to it.  It was another one of those fit you in tight private campgrounds.  Yuck.  On the road, I saw a little sign saying Chatham State Park.  So I headed for it, got a bit turned around but found a little campground with electric, water, and a dump.  Might have been showers there too but I didn't look.  Only a handful of campers and a camp host were there.  Nice sites for $15.  It was essentially right across the road from the full and crowded private campground.  Yay, nice private site with AC for the night.  I cooked the hamburger I had brought along to use it up with some onions and spices for dinner.