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Old 09-14-2021, 02:39 PM   #1
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Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Port Angeles, Washington
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Refrigerator Shade

Living in the NW with cooler weather trips to the SW we have not had problems with our refrigerator working well. We have also not better insulated or modified the rear area of the refrigerator cabinet. (These are on our to do list.) I'm wondering if an easy, albeit temporary whilst parked, improvement for hot days might be to put a shade or curtain on the outside of the trailer in the refrigerator area?

This could be a length of reflectix anchored to the refrigerator access panel at the bottom and the vent hood at the top. It could either lay against the trailer or stand off leaving an air gap. Would something like this be worth the effort or do any good?

Looking forward to anyone's thoughts.
Thanks,
Doug
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Old 09-14-2021, 06:25 PM   #2
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Personally I think they are of marginal value but Eggscape made one
https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...tml#post291904
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Old 09-15-2021, 06:32 AM   #3
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Our 5.0 that we are taking delivery of at the end of the month has the new 12 volt compressor fridge with no vents anywhere so hopefully heat from outside won't be a problem.
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Old 09-15-2021, 08:26 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by WanderBred View Post
Our 5.0 that we are taking delivery of at the end of the month has the new 12 volt compressor fridge with no vents anywhere so hopefully heat from outside won't be a problem.
All your heat will be on the inside with the compressor unit operating.....
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Old 09-15-2021, 01:56 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug & Betty View Post
... I'm wondering if an easy, albeit temporary whilst parked, improvement for hot days might be to put a shade or curtain on the outside of the trailer in the refrigerator area?
I put together a lightweight, easy to make, shade for our refrigerator that we road tested in the September heat and relentless Wyoming winds at Curt Gowdy SP. It took quite a beating and never came undone. Seemed to make a significant difference in the amount of time our fridge fan ran. And... biggest blessing for us, the fan never ran at night. First time that's happened summer camping.
  • Purchased a nylon collapsible dog kennel, sewed some ribbon loops onto 4 corners of one side, and hung it on the side of our E19 with 4 heavy duty suction cups.
  • Purchased a 10 x 10 white canopy sunwall, box folded it and sewed it to fit around the top and sides of the dog kennel. Sewed ribbon loops to 2 top corners and 2 sides to correspond to loops on dog kennel.
  • Easy peasy to attach: Clip 2 loops at top of dog kennel into suction cup hooks and and secure suction cups to side of camper, then attach bottom 2 loops and suction cups.
  • Once dog kennel is secure, place the white sunwall cover over it and slip the 4 loops into the suction cup hooks.
The whole things folds up into a nice little package for storage. ;-)


Links to supplies...
Attached Thumbnails
Fridge Shade dog crate and suction cups.jpg   Fridge Shade white cover side view.jpg   Fridge Shade white cover front view.jpg  
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Old 09-15-2021, 06:19 PM   #6
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We camp extensively in the hot, sunny Southwest. Our Escape 17 has the frig. on the passenger side, so we try to always have our awning out a little bit to provide shade for the wall that the frig is against to keep the wall cooler. It does help. (No, I don't have a quantitative answer.)
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Old 09-15-2021, 06:29 PM   #7
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Penny, I understand the need to keep the refrigerator side from building up heat, but is there still air circulating so air can move up and out the top vent? I am curious because we need to come up with some sort of solution as well. Thanks!
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Old 09-15-2021, 07:23 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by kathytony1985 View Post
Penny, I understand the need to keep the refrigerator side from building up heat, but is there still air circulating so air can move up and out the top vent? I am curious because we need to come up with some sort of solution as well. Thanks!
That was a concern of mine as well, but there's plenty of air circulation.
The kennel isn't tight up against the Escape, several of the kennel walls are open mesh material, and the white cover is very loose, so, lots of air circulation.
Alternatively, you could probably just attach some sort of skirt to the bottom of the dog kennel rather than cover the entire thing. ;-)
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Old 09-15-2021, 07:39 PM   #9
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Good to know! Thanks
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Old 09-15-2021, 08:29 PM   #10
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Our Casita was configured the same way and it made it so easy to be able to just extend the awning to shade the fridge. ;-)
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