I have gotten a few calls over the years from RV owners complaining about their refrigerators never getting cold and my first question is to ask if their refrigerator is in a slide-out and every time the answer is yes. This series of pictures is what I did to solve that heat build up issue in my RV. I am proud to say that after my fan modification and on a 90 plus degree day, my freezer was below zero degrees and my refrigerator section stayed at 38 degrees.
PS ~ Mikeees Klondike bars were frozen and delicious!!!
Refrigerators that are not installed in a slide-out have a vent on the roof of your RV and you get a natural chimney effect to remove the heat being produced by your absorption coil while driving down the road or when parked the wind moving over your roof has the same effect.
Refrigerators that are in a slide-out room have the disadvantage of not having that natural chimney effect because there is no roof vent so the heat produce by your absorption coil flows up to the top of the refrigerator compartment, then has to flow 90 degrees outward and out that upper access door. Also remember when you are traveling at 65 miles per hour, that wind flowing along the side of that upper refrigerator door might have an effect on letting that heat escape from the upper refrigerator compartment access door.
What manufactures have had to do is add what is known in the RV trade as a “Muffing Fan” that is turned on & off by a thermostat on your refrigerator absorption coil. This fan is suppose to move that heated air out of that upper refrigerator compartment and out the upper access door. The more air flow you can get over those coils and then exhaust out the refrigerator compartment, the better your absorption refrigerator will work. I believe 6 of my camping friends have done the same or similar fan modification and all have had fantastic results.
Here is how I did it.
