A real performance problem with these fridges is the fact that the condenser
coils are inside the van and are poorly vented. All normal RV installations
actually have the rear of the fridge outside in a chimney type environment.
Even though they will often have fans to help with airflow. On my motor home
the fridge is in one of those slideouts so the hot air exhaust is on the
side, not out the top. After a few years of poor performance while camped I
realized the problem was the awning. If the awning was open it stopped the
natural draft just enough to keep the fridge from cooling. I added a couple
fans on the top vent and what a difference. The ice cream stays frozen and
ice maker keeps working. These absorption fridges are very sensitive to hot
weather. 

Dennis  

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Jim Felder
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 2:09 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: [VANAGON] Another dometic question�does size matter?

Soooo, has anyone explored opening and reinsulating one of these things?
Even externally (meaning the inside of the pantry, the right sides of the
cabinets to the left, the top, bottom and backs with a high quality
insulation? Is it possible to get the cabinet open? I don't see how it would
be, having had the thing out several times, but I haven't specifically
looked for how to do so, either.

My fridge does about that on AC, but won't pull a 40� F delta on propane,
especially as the temps get higher and higher the delta gets smaller.

Jim

On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 12:39 PM, george jannini
<georgejoann@gmail.com>wrote:

>    Insulation- you must be joking.  A nice hot propane burner right 
> underneath the box ain't exactly a help, either.
>
>    Incidentally, my fridge has been running on AC for a couple of 
> days, box empty, van closed up (mostly).  At the moment it's around 82 
> degF inside the bus and  39 degF inside.
>
> Geo/ATL
>