Waeco compressor fridge

gooba53 · Guru

Waeco compressor fridge

PeterD · Guru

How well id the cavity behind the fridge cabinet ventilated? Friends had a Future Systems van that was not holding temperature in hot weather. On examination there was only a small vent at the top of the rear cavity that did not have much in the way of vent holes in it. We removed the vent completely and the fridge then operated OK and started cycling a bit. They later replaced the vent with a much larger top vent, the fridge then operated with even longer off periods.

A fridge is just a device that pumps heat from the cabinet and transfers it to the outside atmosphere. It doesnt matter whether it is an absorption or a compressor fridge, if you can not get the heat out from the rear cavity of the fridge installation. Van manufacturers seem to forget that with the installations for both styles of fridges.

Edit, I forgot the solar question. Yes the two problems seem to be interrelated. From your description of the solar installation it appears sufficient provided you are only using lights and a bit of TV in addition to your fridge on the batteries. Check the installation handbook for the fridge (if you don't have it in hand give us full details and we can find one on the net for you.) If necessary increase the ventilation behind the fridge to a larger size than recommended (remember it's a European fridge.) When you are working out the ventilator size its the area of the holes in the vent that counts and not the cut out size required to mount the vent.

Get the ventilation fixed first and then if that does not attend to your solar problem turn your attention to problems within the solar installation

-- Edited by PeterD on Monday 14th of September 2015 08:40:42 AM

-- Edited by PeterD on Monday 14th of September 2015 08:42:58 AM

Santa · Guru

How old is the fridge Gooba, have you checked the door seal? a poorly sealing door will have a dramatic affect on fridge operating efficiency as well as reducing your free camping duration.

gooba53 · Guru

Santa wrote:
How old is the fridge Gooba, have you checked the door seal? a poorly sealing door will have a dramatic affect on fridge operating efficiency as well as reducing your free camping duration.

The van is 3years old. It does look in tip top condition.

We've had ongoing electrical issues since purchase, just trying to nail down the actual problem.

Thanks for your reply.

Regards Dianne

gooba53 · Guru

Peter, makes absolute sense to do bigger vent, thanks for the suggestion. Stuart did put a small fan behind the fridge to suck out the air but did think he'd put a bigger one and yes now he will try the bigger holed vent as well.

We wont back to van this week so will probably have to follow on this conversation on the weekend. We've got all the books that the caravan dealer gave us, I know the operation manual is there but not positive of the installation one.

We don't even have a light on or TV, we use a lamp, even though I think lights only take a bit of power, we conserve so we last bit longer??

We've disconnected everything while away from van and will test batteries to see if they are all even when we get back.

thanks for ideas Ps you might see in avatar the little vent above that shade cloth, trying to keep fridge cool.

Dianne

-- Edited by gooba53 on Monday 14th of September 2015 09:21:10 AM

KFT · Guru

A rule of thumb I use is to always have more watts of solar than amp hours of battery to help ensure plenty of charge

My setup has 210 amphrs of battery and 240 watts of solar and we very rarely run out of power. When the tow is hooked up we have 330 amphours and 480 watts.

frank

Santa · Guru

gooba53 wrote:
Santa wrote:
How old is the fridge Gooba, have you checked the door seal? a poorly sealing door will have a dramatic affect on fridge operating efficiency as well as reducing your free camping duration.
The van is 3years old. It does look in tip top condition.
We've had ongoing electrical issues since purchase, just trying to nail down the actual problem.
Thanks for your reply.

Regards Dianne

The seal shouldn't need replacing yet Dianne, still worth a check though, place a strong light, torch or similar in the fridge, turn it on and close the door and check for any light leaks, do this at night of course.

It's a simple quick check and will at least eliminate this as a possible problem.

3 x fully charged 100 AH batteries should certainly last longer than three days.

gooba53 · Guru

Will absolutely do the seal test. Good to eliminate or prove ok, thanks

yes re batteries, it drives us crazy!!!

Jaahn · Guru

Hi gooba53,

There have been some really good suggestions so far and you are checking them out. biggrin

My suggestion is, do you have any metering on your system to see what is really happening. Are the batteries really getting fully charged for example. Are the solar panels giving out their full output. Note that when freecamping there must be no shading of the panels or their output will drop to very little. Is the wiring to the fridge good enough or is the power being wasted in poor connections etc. hmm Same question on the solar.

I always travel with my multimeter so I can check out any perceived problems. But I have some easily seen meters inside on the batteries all the time so I know when they are charging and what they are up to all the time. confuse

Jaahn

DeBe · Guru

If you Google Waeco 215L fridge you will find a PDF file of the instruction manual, it has a diagram of how it should be ventilated. Personaly that size fridge I would make the top & bottom vents a reasonably large size as these are not a small fridge & the heat has to go some where.

in transit · Senior Member

When we up-sized our fridge, I mounted two PC fans in the panel behind the fridge. The lower one blows air into the fridge cavity and the upper one sucks it out. As the hot air rises, this combination acts like a chimney.

I usually only run the fans when we are camped and find I can turn them off at night without causing any heat problems. The 2 of them draw about 300mA total current. Your fridge is probably drawing >3amps when the compressor is running, so you would save a lot of power. I think the fan I bought was about $30 with wiring and switch, the other one I pulled out of a computer. They are readily available at computer and electronic shops but make sure they are 12volt and get the 150mm dia ones.

The fridge will still cycle more frequently in the daytime because the ambient temperature is higher, but the overall benefit will be significant.

In hot weather it is good to have the fridge side of your van in the shade. Compare the difference by putting your hand on the sunny side, and then the shady side of your van.

Good luck.

dragonfly1 · Senior Member

More solar panels and a fan behind the fridge you can get fans and 70 deg thermostat from jaycar

Dragonfly1

iana · Guru

Question, when you first brought the van. did you have this trouble then? Just maybe its low on gas.

gooba53 · Guru

Wow, thanks everyone. Wish we had asked earlier!!! So many ideas already! Thank you

In reply to some posts::: the only metering is the solar regulator display, at different times during day it reads up to 14.2 and 14.3 on most occasions 13.6 when charging on solar. Stuart also checks with his multimeter and it reads same as solar display on regulator. When sun goes down it is 12.8, in morning 12.4 then after 3 days of these conditions it goes down to very little. As I said we conserve all other usage except for fridge.

Since my original post we've found we have 300wt on roof not 260. We will absolutely check the seal and increase the size of the fan at the back and also increase the size of the vents.

I have another question!!!

With 300wt on roof connected to 300amph agm batteries, can you hook in another 200wt panel with its own regulator on a seperate feed to the batteries, past the vans regulator?? Would that be a possible solution????

gooba53 · Guru

iana wrote:
Question, when you first brought the van. did you have this trouble then? Just maybe its low on gas.

We've never been able to free camp as long as we'd like or as long as the van dealer said we'd be able to. We have just been onto Waeco they say as the fridge and freezer temps are fine it all sounds normal, but they have put us in touch with a someone to check the gas only 40km from home.

We are wondering do we just need more solar??

gooba53 · Guru

dragonfly1 wrote:
More solar panels and a fan behind the fridge you can get fans and 70 deg thermostat from jaycar
Dragonfly1

Yep I reckon you've hit nail on head!!!

gooba53 · Guru

KFT wrote:
A rule of thumb I use is to always have more watts of solar than amp hours of battery to help ensure plenty of charge

My setup has 210 amphrs of battery and 240 watts of solar and we very rarely run out of power. When the tow is hooked up we have 330 amphours and 480 watts.

frank

Yes thanks Frank, sounds the way to go!!!

Jaahn · Guru

gooba53 wrote:
KFT wrote:
A rule of thumb I use is to always have more watts of solar than amp hours of battery to help ensure plenty of charge

My setup has 210 amphrs of battery and 240 watts of solar and we very rarely run out of power. When the tow is hooked up we have 330 amphours and 480 watts.

frank
Yes thanks Frank, sounds the way to go!!!

Hi gooba53,

I have free camped in the past with way less solar than that, only 160w, but turned the fridge off at night. biggrin I still feel you are not getting your system to work as it should. I would check it all out and see that it is all working as good as it could. Remember the panels flat on the roof only give 50-70% of their rating depending on how they face. Any shadows reduce this further. hmm

If you get another panel then I would make it a portable one and then you can face it directly towards the sun, in the morning and evening in particular, to get a few more good 'sun hours'. Portable panels are how I managed on the 160w for years. If the sun is good just a few changes over the day is OK. If the weather is not so good then you can set them more often.

Jaahn

gooba53 · Guru

Yes the additional solar panel will be a portable one to maximise the sun opportunites. We have no trouble on 240 but we love to get out in the open!!

wont be be back to van until weekend, will let you know how we go!!

thanks again everyone. It's great support!!!

regards Dianne and Stuart

Santa · Guru

Keep us informed Dianne, its always good to know if, when and how a problem has been solved. smile

Footprints · Senior Member

My previous research into the various types of fridges indicated that a compressor fridge uses and therefore require much more power than the 3 way types therefore you need a good battery bank and solar set up to operate them for extended periods. The main advantage of a compressor type refrigerator is that they are much more efficient in tropical climates than the 3 way that will struggle in the tropics. One particular caravan builder that specialises in off road vans and who always installs compressor fridges usually fits vans with 4 batteries and solar system to match.

Cheers Allen

gooba53 · Guru

We will absolutely let you know how we go. Will go back to van on weekend, have a few things in mind already and will definitely let you know whats going on!!!

We really appreciate the help !

regards Dianne

gooba53 · Guru

Footprints wrote:
My previous research into the various types of fridges indicated that a compressor fridge uses and therefore require much more power than the 3 way types therefore you need a good battery bank and solar set up to operate them for extended periods. The main advantage of a compressor type refrigerator is that they are much more efficient in tropical climates than the 3 way that will struggle in the tropics. One particular caravan builder that specialises in off road vans and who always installs compressor fridges usually fits vans with 4 batteries and solar system to match.
Cheers Allen

We do love the fridge, it's easy and efficient, its just the power thing. Will let you know how we go , looking at additional panel.

Santa · Guru

As a foot note, the set up you have should run the fridge with ease, we have a 130 litre 12 volt compressor fridge, running off 2 x 100 amp hour batteries and a couple of 100 watt solar panels.

The only time we have problems is if we experience a few days in a row of overcast weather, and that seldom happens. smile

banjo · Senior Member

We have the same fridge (well it's smaller brother the RPD175) two batteries120a/h, and 560w solar, never had any power issues in 3 1/2 years.

I would say you just do not have enough solar to "fully" recharge your 3 batteries, that in the course of 24hours have depleted them, you are lucky to get 5 hours of good usable solar energy back into them, so the batteries are not fully recharging and the cycle starts again only this time with partially full batteries.

Our fridge can use up to 5 A/H in hot conditions so if yours is not cycling much think 5 x 24 hrs = up to 100A/H's per day ! according to cycling, so say an average of 75A/H day.

Three days of use 75 x 3 = 225A/H Your 260 solar will be lucky to get approx 70A/H per day in perfect conditions, so 3 days x 70 = 210A/H.

Simply not enough solar for your size of fridge in hot conditions.

As suggested improved ventilation will help, to get the fridge more efficient, also a small fan placed inside the fridge to circulate the air around the condenser plate will help. But at the end of the day its just more solar to ensure your batteries are fully recovered before nightfall.

No use having lots of expensive batteries if you cannot charge them fully, it's just a recipe for their early death.

KevKim37 · Senior Member

I have a HPD 220 litre Waeco (White painted Household Look a Like) 13 yr with a Rear External Condenser and compared to a 130 or 175 Litre 12 volt Compressor Fridge they Do Use quite a bit More Ah's in Hot Weather but Internal temps are always Fridge @ +3 Degrees and Freezer @ -5 to -17 Degrees. I have fitted 50mm Insulation around Both sides and the Top which made a difference and Heavier gauge wire to fridge from batteries.

Until Tassie 2012 I also had Twin Computer Fans fitted to the Upper External Vent which also assisted in Hot Weather but thereafter because of the Colder Climate I had to Blank off the Top Vent and cut a 90mm Hole through to the ensuite fitted with a Computer Fan for Hot Weather ie (Vented Internally). The reason for this was that the Fridge Compressor would NOT switch Off or Cool the Fridge down at/or below Temps of 10 degrees which on checking the M/Fact Specs state that the Fridge is designed for temps from 10 to 40 degrees. Since this Modification we have spent 4 Winters in the Southern States (TAS,Vic,SA,WA) without a problem and the Internal venting doesn't interfere with Fridge Temps in Hot Weather. But on 46 degree days the Fridge can run a bit longer than Normal to maintain the internal Temps as mentioned before.

I do have 610 watts of Solar on the Roof and 12 months ago upgraded to Lithium Batteries (LiFePo4's) which are a World of Difference and a Game Changer, Definitely forget about Generator usage ie. (20 hrs in 12 months).

The RPD Model you have if i remember from reading specs before have a slightly thicker Insulation in the Cabinet Walls but have a Small Fan Cooled Condenser fitted close to the compressor which if Accumulating Residue/Dust Particles on the Condenser Cooling Fins/Fan could be Detrimental in Severe Ambient Temp Operating Conditions especially when/where it is Hard to See or Access for Inspection and/or Cleaning Purposes. I have seen a Fan and Rear Cooling Condenser on an early Model 190 Litre Waeco 2 door that encrusted with Fluff and Residue Build up that the Fridge was suffering with Poor Performance and after cleaning was working far better than previously.

The 120mm Computer type fans that they use on these later fridges can also Fail causing compressor failure from Head Pressures increasing in the System and if left running and/or cause the Compressor to Overheat and Shutdown. I hope that the Van Manufacturer has fitted an appropriate Access door for Serviceability as our has.

Cheers Kev.

gooba53 · Guru

Hi all, I started a new heading for the update. Called it update on power issues thanks again

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Ever looked at solar ventilation fans ? Operate by themselves fitted on top cover ..
www.ebay.com.au/itm/Solar-Powered-Caravan-Boat-Exhaust-Fan-Vent-SunVent-S-Steel-Day-Night-Battery-/361252721508

Ronnie and Kim · Newbie

Hi Dianne and Stuart',

Did you ever resolve your fridge problem? I have been focused on the same problem along with Waco's top techs and a very experienced Waeco agent. Prior to their involvement my fridge problem was evaluated by two other very experienced and qualified fridge mechanics one of which is a Waeco qualified agent.

Coincidentally I managed to camp next door to a fellow traveller who built and installed recording equipment to collect fridge data and as I also had a data logger in my fridge we were able to compare notes.

I would like to share my outcomes with you but first I would like to know if you resolved your problem.. I'm guessing you did not?

gooba53 · Guru

Problem not really solved, we havent experienced extreme hot weather since we made these changes I will note below. We would love to hear your outcomes please?

We got another 200 wt portable solar panel, which seems adequate but have only had warm not extreme days.

Put a 6 inch thermostaticly controlled fan set at 35 deg behind the fridge to take warm air away from the condenser.

Standard vents top and bottom approx 200x400

These changes haven't done anything to stop it continually cycling even in mild weather.

Looking forward to your thoughts Ronnie and Kim

thanks Dianne and Stuart