The Norcold at least doesn't have a constant flame or heater running to
operate the chemicals. But when the compressor runs, it does extract
heat from the food lying around otherwise unemployed in the interior of
the refrigerator, and that heat must go somewhere, as you note. So it is
convected off the grillwork on the rear of the refrigerator and drifts
upward and out the vent slots behind the stove, mainly. Far less heat
than what the Dometic has to dump: heater + extracted food heat.

I'm gonna pull my Norcold and add extra insulation around its sides.
There's room on both sides, plus the underside and I think the top could
use some, too.

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR

Loren Busch typed:
> A 1question for the 'feidge gurus out there.  We all know that with the
> stock Dometic refigerator in our Westies that there is heat build up behind
> the refigerator, that there is a fan on the Dometic to move air across the
> cooling fins when the temp gets up to a certain point, and that many have
> taken additional steps to get that hot air out of the space behind the
> refigerator.  But, how about the Norcold like several of us have installed?
> Is the heat being extracted from the inside being dumped in that same
> cavity
> behind the 'fridge?  The Norcold has built in vents top and bottom but when
> my Norcold is running I don't get any sign of heat (like with the Dometic)
> at the vents in front or at the top of the cabinets (behind the stove).  So
> where is it going?  Or is most of the heat problem with the Dometic on
> propane the propane fire being used to create the cooling cycle?
>