About the shroud... was an idea to contain and direct the fan and
convection driven airflow. I imagine it to be a shallow u section, open
at top and bottom, enclosing fan and fins. I think it has potential,
seeing as I want to replace my fan I'll give it a tryout.

Thanks for the replacement fan tip. I can't recall for sure (in a court
of law *S*), but I think there was a resistor directly wired to the
original fan which I removed. But I suppose I'll soon see. The muffin
fan sounded like it was going full speed.

thanks again for the info Mark.

Alistair

'82 westy, diesel converted to gas in '94

http://www.members.shaw.ca/albell/

On 1-Sep-04, at 3:32 PM, Mark Drillock wrote:

> I would hesitate to make any shrouding as it would likely cause the
> fridge fan to run more often than otherwise.
>
> The best replacement fridge fan I have found is the one sold at most RV
> supply places. It used to be sold as a FridgeMate but now is sold by
> Valterra and called a FridgeCool Vent Compartment Coil Fan.
>
> It fits in the stock location and moves a little more air than the
> stock
> fan, especially the early stock fans such as likely came on your 82.
> The
> early ones had a current limiting resistor wired right next to the
> motor. That kept the fan speed down and caused the fan to stay on
> longer
> than it would have at full speed. You did not leave the resistor in the
> wiring when you put in the muffin fan did you?
>
> The Valterra fan kit is overpriced and comes with a couple parts not
> needed that add to the cost. It includes a temp switch to cycle it on
> and off automatically but the Westy fridge already has that. It also
> comes with an on/off switch and switch mounting plate, as well as a lot
> of wire so the switch can be mounted where desired.
>
> The only parts of the kit that I use are the fan bracket, fan motor,
> and
> fan blade. The kit is about $35 USD. The bracket needs 2 new holes
> drilled into the back of the fridge as the stock bracket mounting holes
> don't line up. This is no big deal.
>
> Mark
>
> Alistair Bell wrote:
>
>> couple of things not covered in last posting...
>> .......
>>
>> only thing i want to do after this trip is to replace fridge external
>> cooling fan with one that moves more air. I stuck a smallish muffin
>> fan
>> back there replacing broken stock unit, and in the warm temps we had
>> the new fan ran almost all the time during the day. Doesn't move
>> enough
>> I suppose. A while back a fellow list member raised this concern about
>> muffin fans, now I have to agree with him. Mind you it was hot on this
>> trip, but temps were those that could be expected elsewhere in the
>> world :) Also thinking about Dennis Haynes old suggestion of making a
>> shroud around cooling fin area to direct the cooling air more
>> efficiently.
>>
>