At 08:00 7/1/99 -0400, W. Silva wrote:
>My question is:  Does humidity have an effect on the cooling of the
>Dometic?

Well it takes about 475 (small) calories to condense a gram of water from
the air, and another 85 or so to freeze it.  So that's some difference,
especially if you keep opening the box. (That's why your drink gets warm so
fast when it's humid, every gram of sweat will raise a twelve-ounce drink
(no ice) about 2.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1.6 C), or melt about six grams of
ice.  Six grams of ice is one and a third teaspoons.)

I have a faint notion that water vapor in the air lessens its heat
capacity, and therefor requires more airflow over the fins to achieve the
same cooling, as well.

So I guarantee there's an effect.  I don't have a feel for how significant
it is to the Dometic.  I think I saw a 650 Btu/hr rating on mine, in which
case a gram of water would be about one third of a per cent of the one-hour
capacity.  Doesn't sound like much, but of course these things balance on a
knife-edge...

david
David Beierl - dbeierl@ibm.net