It's been running in the upper 30s (C) hereabouts for the past few days
and into the foreseeable future. I would not want my household
refrigerator to be ammonia-based. Esp. since we do not have
air-conditioning in our house.

I do have a big aux battery in the van -- a pair of golf cart batteries.
And a set of portable solar panels totalling about 75W (measured) and a
good MPPT solar controller. These are, as someone said a few days ago,
the "support system" for my Vitrifrigo refrigerator.

Nothing creeps me out quite like watching my perishables get warm. OTOH,
it's a personal issue. Like Don sez, "I suppose I could 'stress' about
how inefficient my Dometic is in my Vanagon but I'm satisfied with it..."

--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
Bend, Ore.

On 06/28/2015 08:36 AM, Alistair Bell wrote:
> It's all down to horses for courses.
>
> I have no problem using the dometic where I camp, but I can
> understand how it wouldn't work for hot climates.
>
> The warmest spot I have ever camped in was dinosaur provincial park
> in Alberta in summer. I think it was around 41 C and spotty shade at
> the camp spot. I didn't record fridge temps then but I recall that it
> wasn't up to the task.
>
> Now that I have a big aux battery I could install an electric fridge.
> But I don't have the pressing need right now.
>
> The previous mentioned ( R Jones) surface are to volume ratio
> handicap on the dometic is the big issue. If the fridge had super
> efficient insulation ( aerogel anyone?) it probably would help.
>
> Alistair
>
>
>
>
>> On Jun 28, 2015, at 8:17 AM, Rocket J Squirrel
>> <camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I did all the tricks I could to help the refrigerator when I was
>> camping in the Southwest because I like to tinker.
>>
>> Parked the van so the driver's side was the shady side, slung a
>> mylar blanket over that side when I couldn't park ideally, put on
>> the bigger heatsink fan, installed an exhaust fan in the city water
>> port, drew cooler air up from beneath the van, added additional
>> insulation between the outer wall of the van and the backside of
>> the refrigerator, and additional insulation around the flue.
>>
>> None of these made a noticeable difference. When you're parked in
>> 100F ambient temp and the ammonia cycle can only pull a 40F delta,
>> the inside of the refrigerator will eventually get to 60F. It might
>> have been be a bit later in the day when it reached that point, but
>> it got there anyway. Heat never sleeps.
>>
>> But have at it -- maybe someone will tumble to some new trick that
>> will make a significant difference.
>>
>> -- Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott 1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
>> Bend, Ore.
>>
>>> On 06/28/2015 07:56 AM, Alistair Bell wrote: Yes but it's a quiet
>>> person jammed in behind the fridge.
>>>
>>> It gets stoinking hot back there, flue is hot, fins are hot...
>>>
>>> Maybe insulating the flue, didn't Neil do that?
>>>
>>> Alistair
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Jun 28, 2015, at 7:54 AM, David Beierl
>>>> <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> At 10:13 AM 6/28/2015, Jim Felder wrote:
>>>>> Right, I never think about it unless I'm camping and can't do
>>>>> anything about it, but if that little flame was to be outside
>>>>> the living space like it is on RV, by means of a louvered
>>>>> panel or something like what you have done, it would have to
>>>>> be somewhat cooler inside.
>>>>
>>>> The 85 watt heater is about 300 BTU/hr, or about half a quiet
>>>> person.  The flame was quoted to me on the phone by a Dometic
>>>> tech years ago as 650 BTU/hr, or a whole person -- but the
>>>> great bulk of that extra goes out the flue.
>>>>
>>>> Yrs, d