One of the issues with the influx of a lot of European Motorhomes has been that many of them don’t have “Tropical” Fridges but instead have a Dometic fridge setup for Europe which it is generally expected to work in much cooler conditions than here in NZ.
Click on the images to see Hi Res
An easy way to sort this out is to install a Fridge Cooling Kit which Dometic supply for approximately $110 depending on where you get it from. This helps to get rid of any build up of heat in the cavity behind the fridge to help with it’s efficiency, especially when it is sitting in a campground.
Before I go any further.. although this kit is relatively easy to install yourself, I found that it involved putting screws into the back of the fridge in an area I wasn’t comfortable with so if you have any doubts, get someone like Vantage RV to install it.
Rafe was booked in to Vantage RV for a week for a whole lot of maintenance as we have been living in it fulltime and had to defer several things that needed to be done. While it was there, it made sense to get a Fridge Cooling kit installed despite the fact that my fridge has never really had any issues. It all helps as they say 🙂
Click on the Gallery to see a slideshow
Johan was given the short straw to do the job…Once the 3.5 years off dust was blown out of the back of the fridge, he screwed on the fan unit and then clipped on the Thermostat. Next came the wiring. The cover came off and there were two terminals there waiting for the wires to clip on to.
It was all very straight forward but not a job that I’d want to take it on myself and the whole job was done very quickly but then Johan has done heaps of these and made it look very easy.
We tested it by turning the fridge on and directing a heat gun on the thermostat and off it went. I was amazed by how quiet it was.
Now to load up the fridge and give it a real test!
There is more information on this see Robs Fan and Mikes Fridge
Bugger It, we are off - www.buggeritweareoff.com 
Great piece!! If you ever want to set up a Dethleffs van swap NZ UK let me know I have 500+ UK DOC members. Richard Dethleffs Owners Club UK
On Thu, 5 Apr 2018, 1:14 p.m. Bugger It, we are off – http://www.buggeritweareoff.com, wrote:
> Chris Miller – Buggeritweareoff.com posted: “One of the issues with the > influx of a lot of European Motorhomes has been that many of them don’t > have “Tropical” Fridges but instead have a Dometic fridge setup for Europe > which here it is generally expected to work in much cooler conditions. > Click o” >
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Thanks Richard
I’ll keep that in mind. It’s amazing how many Euro Motorhomes come here without having tropical fridges so this is a really easy and cheap fix.
Cheers
Chris
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