I think having big open holes in the side of our vans would cause more
problems than it solved. Westfalia did a pretty good job designing
things but I agree that they did not adequately vent behind the fridge
for truly hot weather camping. I have camped often where temps inside
the van are 90-100 degrees and my fridge works fine. The rear fans run
constantly though when temps are in the 100 degree area. I have replaced
the stock fan with a similar but more powerful Valterra FridgeMate. I
also added an external vent with a small fan and a temp switch that
turns on sooner than the main fan. This reduces the amount of time the
louder main fan runs, as well as getting the heat outside.

I am the one who described installing the extra exhaust fan in the city
water port, ~6 years ago. I have installed a few of these for others but
on mine I mounted a separate vent. The best time to install the city
water exhaust fan is when you are replacing the Westy faucet. Replace it
with the far superior Shurflo faucet with no city water hookup and
convert the then unused city water connection to an exhaust fan as I
described here way  back when.

Mark

Frank Condelli wrote:

>Piss poor design plain and simple.  NO OTHER  RV vents the fridge to the
>interior of the vehicle.  The fridge should have  been sealed off to the vehicle
>and vented to the exterior.  I have  installed a 3" ~ 4" pancake fan in the
>city water port as previously described  by someone on this list.  This has been
>the single most beneficial thing  that has improved the Dometic operation in
>warm weather.  The amount of  heat being blown out of that port will amaze you
>when you think that all that  heat was previously being contained in the van
>and trying to exit through the  skylight if you remembered to keep it open.
>Once the interior temperature  surpasses 80 degrees F the fridge ceases to work,
>no more  possibility of  heat transfer ~ no more cooling ~ plain & simple !
>
>
>