Keeping Your Cool: RV Refrigerator Vent Inspection
Dave SolbergDescription
RV refrigerators are basic, simple machines, but they need regular maintenance so that they’ll work efficiently. Some basic RV refrigerator maintenance will help your refrigerator stay cool even in hot weather. The way an RV refrigerator works is by heating a liquid in the back of the unit which “percolates” up through a series of tubes inside the freezer compartment and then the main refrigerator. As this heated solution makes its way back to the boiler, it draws heat from the unit and with the absence of heat, you have cold.
This is a fine, efficient system until something simple goes wrong. A common problem with this type of refrigerator is insufficient ventilation in the refrigerator compartment which traps ambient heat and makes it difficult for the process to work.
In this video, you’ll learn how to remove the cap from the refrigerator vent to find out if the vent cover is blocked. Insufficient cooling could be as simple as leaves blocking the flow of air from your RV refrigerator cavity to the outside air. You’ll learn what to look for and what tools to use in order to quickly and efficiently clean the screening over the vent, allowing the hot air to flow to the outside once more.
Any type of RV refrigerator troubleshooting on the roof of your RV holds an element of danger, and this video shows the precautions you should take before attempting work on your RV roof. Learn when to work on the roof and when to avoid it, and what types of weather conditions make this repair a more elaborate chore than when your RV is stored inside all winter long.
The refrigerator in your RV works by actually heating a solution, that goes up through a set of tubes and absorbs heat coming out. With that, we draw a lotta heat and create a lotta heat in the backside of that refrigerator compartment which needs to be vented. Here's the vent on the typical refrigerator that comes up through the roof. Now, if you've got a refrigerator and a slide room, it's actually gonna be on the side of the slide room. But we want to come up here periodically and take this cap off. Because we can get debris, we can get dust, that's gonna clog that plenum and keep that heat from coming out of the inside. And then our refrigerator is not gonna work as well. So it's very easy to do and keep in mind, be very careful up on the roof. Make sure you've kinda scoped the area out. I've got my foot planted here, so I know I've got a good base that I'm gonna be able to get it against that plenum. Don't ever go on the roof when it's wet. It'll be very slippery, no matter what kind of surface, rubber, aluminum, fiberglass. So, we're just gonna take these four screws. Off the top. And this literally lifts right off. Now this unit is fairly clean. This, is actually stored inside all winter. So we're not gonna get as much snow and ice, and dirt built up inside. But you see here, we do still have a little bit, a couple of leaves that have come in here. If this was full of dust, I would try to brush it off or better yet. If I can get a little shop vac up here, vacuum all that up so it doesn't fall down. And I can see the back of my refrigerator from here. Really nothing more you need to do but just periodically take a look at this. Look at the seal around here. Make sure that's cocked real well. You don't see any cracking, if you do, then we're gonna have to cut that back and reseal it, with some new butyl tape or silicone. But other than that, you keep this clean, the heat will come out and your refrigerator is gonna work much more efficiently.
Share tips, start a discussion or ask other students a question. If you have a question for the instructor, please click here.
Already a member? Sign in
No Responses to “Keeping Your Cool: RV Refrigerator Vent Inspection”