Fridge fan alternate

[vasnipe]

Hi guys, I got this idea from the forum thread on the refrigerator fan others have purchased off of eBay. I’m a bit “thrifty”, OK, call me CHEAP. I’ll squeeze that nickel so hard the buffalo burps. I’ll see something and try to figure out how to do it myself or find somewhere on this wonderful web thingy where someone else has already done the grunt work and then go for it. I found a similar hard drive cooling fan setup on Deal Extreme dot com at $3.95 - Dual Fans Hard Drive Cooling Attachment - Hardware Parts for all of $3.95 and free shipping. Not bad, but you can’t be in a hurry to get the thing… Anyway, it arrived in about 10 days and I pulled the connector plug off and put it away for some future use. I added the additional positive wire and soldered the spade connector on. I soldered the ground wire to the alligator clip and flattened it for drilling. I opened the second alligator clip, flattened and drilled it also. I drilled the fan flange (where it rounds over then flattens out) and used sheet metal screws I had on hand to connect the alligator clips to the fan housing. We took a trip to Pigeon Forge, TN this past weekend and it worked like a charm, no frost, no ice, and the fridge was colder than you know where. I’ll need a longer run to figure out where the “thermostat” needs to be set. Anyway, with 2 alligator clips the fan did not budge in position, despite the potholes on I-40 and I-81. Hope this helps.

[janegraves]

Great post. I've ordered my fans, (along with other fun stuff) and will give it a try. I love that site. I've bought from them before. Long shipping time but great prices.

[MtnGuy]

Originally Posted by vasnipe

I’ll squeeze that nickel so hard the buffalo burps.

[strlw]

Ordered my fans and recieved them. Going to install today. Great idea. Alot better than those battery operated fans for $15.00

[vasnipe]

Good luck with the fans. I'm interested in any improvements or different ways to go about the thing.

Chris in Virginia

[ilovecamping]

Thank you. I will talk to DH and get ours ordered too. I already found a few other things I would like to get. That is a cool site.

[RubenZ]

I have a bunch of computer fans laying around here and probably going to make something similar. By any chance do you have more detail view of how you rigged the fan power? Are the Ground Connections the Alligator clips?

[strlw]

Originally Posted by RubenZ

I have a bunch of computer fans laying around here and probably going to make something similar. By any chance do you have more detail view of how you rigged the fan power? Are the Ground Connections the Alligator clips?

Hook the ground wire to one of the alligator clips and the hot wire goes to the input side of the light switch inside the refridge. This will keep the fan running anytime the fridge is on and won't cut off when the light goes off.

[Fire Instructor]

Has anyone who has one of these calculated what it draws? I'm paranoid about adding any more parasite loads to my electrical system. Is there any kind of watts or amp rating on it?

Does anyone with a Xantrex, Rogue, or any other controller/monitor that monitors load realtime have one of these fans?

[RubenZ]

Originally Posted by Fire Instructor

Has anyone who has one of these calculated what it draws? I'm paranoid about adding any more parasite loads to my electrical system. Is there any kind of watts or amp rating on it?

Does anyone with a Xantrex, Rogue, or any other controller/monitor that monitors load realtime have one of these fans?

The big FAN I have from a Server is 120mm and when I checked was 12V and 1.5A I thought that was kind of a lot so I may just find either a smaller 90mm fan or smaller. Not sure yet. This big fan is fast and draws and pushes a crap load of air. I looked at another fan here that seems to be either 60mm and it shows it would draw .70A so it varies. Bigger fans are slower but push more air. It's just a matter of finding the right fan.

For Example, THIS ONE is only .40A

And THIS ONE is bigger but draws only .35A and has a life span of around 50,000 hours.

You also want to look at db(decibels) to see how loud they run.

[vasnipe]

Ruben and strlw - Yes, the ground would connect to one of the alligator clips and the hot would go to the input side of the light switch. The hot wire can be stuck in between the spade connectors or you can add a female/male section and solder it in like I did. Here is another photo of the hot wire connecting to the light switch. If you want to run additional wire you can also pick up your ground connection there, I left it at the alligator clip to minimize the wires snaking around.

[vasnipe]

Fire Instructor - You want to keep your current draw as low as you can, the control fuse is only about 2.5 or 3 amps, not a lot of excess capacity there. I popped mine accidentally and had a fun time locating the control board and the fuse on the board to replace it. Ruben - you really don't need a honking big fan to circulate the air in the fridge. As noted in the original thread the idea here is to keep air moving past the heat exchanger fins to prevent condensation from forming, freezing, and then insulating them. As I noted above, the fridge was cold as could be. Some ground beef that my wife put in the freezer Saturday evening was frozen solid by the time we got home on Sunday evening. I still need a longer run to figure out where the "thermostat" needs to be set to keep things at the proper temps in the freezer and fridge. Don't really want beer slushies (or a frozen mess) when I get to the campground...

Chris in Virginia

[vasnipe]

Oops, wrong photo!
This one instead.

[RubenZ]

Ok Cool. I see what you did now and I'll probably do same. Ya the BIG fan is too big and fast, I'm probably going to use one I have laying around thats the size of yours,

[vasnipe]

Ruben - Glad to help out.
This web stuff is really cool when you can poke around and get ideas and then the help to figure out how to do yourself. Some of the things I've done were not the most economical, but I get the satisfaction of doing them myself.

Chris in Virginia

[Nursx2]

Just ordered mine.....thanks!

[Fire Instructor]

OK... so they got me.....

Went on-line to purchase a $3.95 fan, and wind-up spending almost $25 on the fap, plus a handful of adapters and cables.

[vasnipe]

Got back Sunday 7 August from 2 week trip to Pensacola, FL to see son graduate from his initial Navy schooling. Fridge fan performed flawlessly. Condensation did form on the fins (come on, humidity was nearly pegged the whole time we were there!), but never froze. Freezer kept the frozen stuff that way. I'm happy!

Fire Instructor - hey, you gotta watch those places. It is absolutely amazing just how many $'s you can toss at such a project when you get rolling. Of course that is not counting the "oh, cool" things you come across while looking for something.

Chris in Virginia

[F9PRO]

I went with a 140mm .25A 1300 rpm quiet fan 47cfm (Masscool SLC-FD14025)

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[vasnipe]

F9PRO That fan looks like it just might do the job...
How did you mount it to the fins?

Chris in Virginia