Mark, can you expand on that a little?  I'd be interested in such a
modification since my Dometic seems to fall under the "30 degrees lower than
ambient temp rule".

Bob Trousdale
'90 Westy

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]
> On Behalf Of Mark Drillock
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 4:26 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Dometic in 100F ambient?
>
> No, this is false. I have camped in 90-100 degrees for days
> on end without problem with my stock RM182A Westy fridge. I
> do have an external vent from behind the fridge to the
> outside, using a small fan to get that hot air  out of the
> vehicle. The fins freeze up solid after a couple of days
>
> I also have an old travel trailer permanently ensconced above
> a beach in Baja with it's original 70s Dometic. It gets down
> to the high 30s in the fridge when it is in the 80s outside.
> The freezer temp is always below ZERO, often pegging my
> thermometer at minus 15 degrees F. I do not set the fridge as
> cold as it will go since I don't want all my food frozen.
>
> Mark
>
> Todd Last wrote:
>
> > Isn't it a fact of the design of the Dometic (or any
> ammonia apsorption fridge)  that you are not going to get any
> better than 20-30 degrees lower than the ambient temperature?
> >
> >
> > Todd
> > '88 Westy
> >
> >
> >  -------------- Original message ----------------------
> > From: Michael Diehr <md03@XOCHI.COM>
> >
> >>After this last weekend's positive experience with a coleman xtreme
> >>cooler in 100F+ temperatures, I'm wondering if there's even
> any reason
> >>trying to fix up the Dometic.
> >>
> >>First question -- has anyone ever had a working dometic provide
> >>adequate cooling in 100F+ temperatures?
> >>
> >>Looking at the coleman cooler, I notice that it has almost
> 2" of foam
> >>insulation.   Looking at the dometic, it seems to have very little
> >>insulation, and it also seems to be self-defeating as it
> dumps so much
> >>waste heat under the cabinet, so it's basically bathing itself in
> >>hear.
> >>
> >>Second question -- is re-insulating the dometic with some sort of
> >>modern insulator a possibility?
> >>
> >>Third question -- does venting the waste heat out of the van make a
> >>serious difference?  The dometic has a fan already, but all it seems
> >>to do is stir up the air behind the cabinet.   Would a fan
> that vents
> >>the air outside of the van actually be better?
> >
> >
>
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