Refrigerator fan, on or off - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

Neal and Bev · 04-05-2010, 11:22 AM

Some of you have said that you leave your Hi-Lo refrigerator running all the time at home. I'm currently doing this too.

My question is about the refrigerator fan. Do you leave it on too? I assume that the fan aids the refrigerators ability to cool in hot weather, but if you’re running the refrigerator empty, just for the sake of its health, do you run the fan too? I was just thinking about the wear and tear on the fan motor and bearings, is that an issue? Is the fan hard to replace?

Neal

RichR · 04-05-2010, 12:45 PM

The fan makes the refer work more efficiently, especially in hot weather. I think if you have the refer turned on and set to a warmer temperature just to have it operating the fan shouldn't have to be running all the time. It should turn itself on and off as needed. If you have it full of food in warm weather the fan would be important. And like you mentioned, the life of the fan motor itself may not be that great. We usually turn the fan on during the warmer days and turn it off at night, and hardly at all when boondocking to conserve on the batteries.

Of course, the refer should only be left on when the Hi-Lo is in the up position or is being towed down the road. I believe the manual says to not have the refer turned on for more than an hour and a half in the down position.

TJM · 06-09-2010, 06:38 PM

Have a question regarding my refrig fan. We have a 22' Hi-Lo and are leaving in the morning for a 4 day trip. The humidity here today is horrible. I plugged our trailer in to our garage and turned the refrig on to a/c,thermostat to 4. After awhile, the fan came on. Didn't really notice if it was recyclong or not. Plan was to leave the camper plugged in all night with the frig running and then load in the morning. My wife said that the trailer wasn't really that level and thought the frig would not work right, which I think she is correct. I decided to unplug the camper from the garage and turn the frig off. Fan still runs, even with no power going to it. I can take out the fan fuse and, obviously, it stops. Reinstall fuse and fan runs again. Any ideas?

dschulz · 06-10-2010, 11:18 AM

TJM, My fan will not come on and the advice from the customer support at Dometic was to check the fuse. They said it has an inline fuse attached, but I can not seem to find the fuse going to the fan. I have a model 2454 frig and found the fan by taking off the top covering the refrigerator. Since I also have a Hilo 22, was hoping you had the same refrigerator setup and could tell me where the fuse was located.

Sam Shields · 06-10-2010, 12:16 PM

The fuse for the fan is located on the back side of the refg. from the out side remove the vented cover lower section at the back of the frg. there are 2 inline fuse holders one is for the 12v element and the other is for the fan. Depending on the temp behind the frig the fan may not come on as it has a thermostat that alowes the fan to run only when it is needed.
Sam

dschulz · 06-11-2010, 09:04 AM

Sam, Thanks for the info on the fuse. I had actually found that one, but since it was good I was hoping the fan was on a different fuse. Since that was the fuse for the fan, I took off the top and traced the wiring. I checked all the connections and must have had a loose one as it worked when I turned the fan on. Thanks for you help and all the information you put on this site. It has been very helpful to me.

JackandJanet · 07-11-2010, 12:03 PM

I made a small wooden "prop" that holds the freezer door open and also prevents the refrigerator door from being closed. So, with the doors both open, it drys out quickly in the Arizona heat and there's never any odor buildup. If we're not using the trailer, the refrigerator and vent fan are both off.

- Jack

Lloyd · 07-11-2010, 06:02 PM

The refrigerator fan operates on a heat relay on the top of the ventilating fins of the refrigerator, found in my 27' by removing the counter top over the refrig, as suggested in another post, and should only operate when the heat causes the relay to close. I just replaced my large fan with two small fans, after seeing a forum suggestion. We have a remote thermometer in the refrig and monitor the inside temp. This last week the temp was in the 90's and the new fans maintained the cold temp in the mid 30's range, something the old single (noisy) one, was unable to do.

TJM · 07-23-2010, 04:08 PM

Hi. I am back. My computer hard drive crashed and I lost a lot of data. I do have a question. On my 1996 22' Hi-Lo, my refrigerator fan will run and run and run. My frige is a Dometic Americana Model # RM2553. Today, we are loading up the trailer and it is 96 degrees outside. I did make one cardinal mistake. Turned the frige on AC and set the thermostat to 4 An hour and a half later, fan is running but no cool. My wife said, trailer isn't level. I turned the frige off and fan is still running. After the sun goes down, I am going to level the trailer and try again. What else could the problem be? Also, when traveling on DC power, where should my togglew switch be ( the one that is in the panel where the switch for raiding and lowering unit is)? Should it be in the top, middle or bottom position? thanks alot.

JackandJanet · 07-23-2010, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TJM

Hi. I am back. My computer hard drive crashed and I lost a lot of data. I do have a question. On my 1996 22' Hi-Lo, my refrigerator fan will run and run and run. My frige is a Dometic Americana Model # RM2553. Today, we are loading up the trailer and it is 96 degrees outside. I did make one cardinal mistake. Turned the frige on AC and set the thermostat to 4 An hour and a half later, fan is running but no cool. My wife said, trailer isn't level. I turned the frige off and fan is still running. After the sun goes down, I am going to level the trailer and try again. What else could the problem be? Also, when traveling on DC power, where should my togglew switch be ( the one that is in the panel where the switch for raiding and lowering unit is)? Should it be in the top, middle or bottom position? thanks alot.

I believe the fan will run for a while even after you turn the refrigerator off if the temperature is high enough (at least I remember mine doing this). And, it takes a LONG time for a hot refrigerator to cool down, this is not an "efficient" refrigerating system. I never bother to check it until the next day. But as your Wife thought, it DOES have to be close to level (when traveling, the "motion" keeps the fluid where it needs to be).

You can have the 3-position switch in any position actually, but it SHOULD be in the middle or lower position to lockout DC power to the rest of the trailer. I leave mine in the lower position, since it needs to be there to raise the top back up again. The middle position is kind of a "neutral" position that disables everything but the refrigerator and fan (including the raising and lowering pump motor.

There's one exception to the "lockout" positions though - at least there was on my trailer. It came with a factory installed TV/CD/DVD player and that thing was ALWAYS on, sucking up standby power, regardless of the switch position. I finally installed a simple ON-OFF switch in its power supply, and now I don't have to worry about my batteries discharging during storage anymore.

- Jack

TJM · 07-24-2010, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackandJanet

I believe the fan will run for a while even after you turn the refrigerator off if the temperature is high enough (at least I remember mine doing this). And, it takes a LONG time for a hot refrigerator to cool down, this is not an "efficient" refrigerating system. I never bother to check it until the next day. But as your Wife thought, it DOES have to be close to level (when traveling, the "motion" keeps the fluid where it needs to be).

You can have the 3-position switch in any position actually, but it SHOULD be in the middle or lower position to lockout DC power to the rest of the trailer. I leave mine in the lower position, since it needs to be there to raise the top back up again. The middle position is kind of a "neutral" position that disables everything but the refrigerator and fan (including the raising and lowering pump motor.

There's one exception to the "lockout" positions though - at least there was on my trailer. It came with a factory installed TV/CD/DVD player and that thing was ALWAYS on, sucking up standby power, regardless of the switch position. I finally installed a simple ON-OFF switch in its power supply, and now I don't have to worry about my batteries discharging during storage anymore.

- Jack

So, if I leave it in the middle position while traveling, with battery charging, refrigerator should run fine on 12volt without draining battery?

JackandJanet · 07-24-2010, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TJM

So, if I leave it in the middle position while traveling, with battery charging, refrigerator should run fine on 12volt without draining battery?

That's certainly my understanding of how the thing works. As I say though, I just leave mine in the lower position.

Last summer, in my F-150, the 30 Amp fuse for the DC power to the trailer blew sometime on our way to Colorado (I think between New Mexico and Colorado). The trailer battery and refrigerator with fan can put a pretty heavy load on that circuit, so it's something to check now and then. I carry spare 30 Amp fuses in my truck now - they're an "odd" size.

- Jack

wvjeepr · 07-25-2010, 05:16 PM

My 94 FunLite apparantly doesn't have a fan is there a kit to install one? Is there any recommendation on the brand to buy and how to install it?

Harry

JackandJanet · 07-25-2010, 07:12 PM

See this thread: http://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f35/...rator-fan-261/

You'd probably need a setup with a temperature controller and would have to work out the mounting. You'd also need to tap into the DC power line for the refrigerator itself, since you'd want it working while under tow. But, I suspect it's doable.

I kind of wonder why there's even a fan switch in the trailer. As I understand it, the fan improves cooling anytime the refrigerator is operating (on gas or electric), so the only reason to turn it off would be if the noise was a bother. And, yes, it wakes me up at night sometimes, but I tend to go right back to sleep.

- Jack