At 01:27 AM 6/13/2013, Jeff Palmer wrote:
>Keith if I'm understanding Dennis right, the fan will come on
>regardless of whether or not you've 'flipped the switch' to turn the
>fridge on, right?
>
>Or have i had one too many late night beverages?

Jeff, it's a completely independent system, runs through the kitchen
circuit.  It draws about fifty milliamps when the fan is
running.  That's about 1.2 amp hours per day of continuous running.

If you think about it, setting things up to only run when the fridge
is active would be a considerable extra expense.   If it were a
DC-only fridge it would be different, but it's primarily a gas fridge
and also has AC capability.

You could make it automatic by adding an additional thermostat in
series at the boiler that would only trip when the boiler is hot.  I
don't know what its working temperature is but I'm sure there's a
value that would reliably indicate boiler-on but not trip from solar
heating.  If Westfalia had been really clever they could have
specified this when they bought the fridges, and the total extra cost
would have been a few dollars.  But that would have translated into a
noticeable difference in the package price.  But you could retrofit
it.  Here's a 170F button-type thermal switch for $15 shipped in the
US.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Selco-CA170-Thermal-Switch-to-Control-AC-or-DC-Circuits-/390607352286?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5af20331de
.  I suspect that 170F would fit the requirements.

Yours,
David