Ventilation for fridge compressor

[meza]

I'm fitting my regular 12v compressor fridge to a kitchen cabinet. Should I be concerned about adding ventilation to the kitchen cabinet or are these things ok with the air space that is available at the back of the units?
What have people done with theirs? Some photos would be helpful.

Thanks!

 

[TallPaul_S]

Yes definitely needs to be ventilation as there's a fan on the compressor and it needs airflow. They normally have a requirement for the gap around the fridge to allow air flow.

Mine has the gap (possibly a bit smaller than required) but also has no rear to the cabinet so it's got free air to circulate between the fridge and the sliding door.

 

[roadtripper]

With a fridge install you broadly need to think about both flows of air - where does the hot air go to (it will tend to rise) and where does the cooler air enter?

Any flow needs to be as straight and as simple as possible so the air moves freely by natural chimney effect ideally.

If you don't clear that warm air then the most likely place for the heat to go is back into the fridge so it's an efficiency concern - if the heat can't escape then you'll use more battery capacity pumping it back out of the fridge.

 

[DXX]

There is some other content on the Forum which covers this topic, the fridge manual also explains how it should be ventilated by convection.
Air enters under the fridge as it’s on feet.
Warmer air exhausts above the fridge, the most efficient method is to leave a small gap between the furniture and the side of the van above the fridge.

 

[meza]

Yes definitely needs to be ventilation as there's a fan on the compressor and it needs airflow. They normally have a requirement for the gap around the fridge to allow air flow.

Mine has the gap (possibly a bit smaller than required) but also has no rear to the cabinet so it's got free air to circulate between the fridge and the sliding door.

View attachment 240337

Very neat, and twin slider must make it so much easier to install all the gubbins!

 

[TallPaul_S]

Very neat, and twin slider must make it so much easier to install all the gubbins!

Yep! And handy for swapping out fresh/waste water!

 

[meza]

Thanks all. I has a read of that other thread too.

There's a marking on the fan on my fridge which shows it draws air from the left (looking at the front of the fridge) and exhausts to the right, over the fins, compressor and control box.

There's a 2-3cm gap between the wall and kitchen end panel next to the fan and the fridge is raised up 1-2cm on feet so I reckon that should be fine to allow air flow.

Will keep an eye on it in the summer and see if it's able to exhaust the hot air well enough down the back of the other cupboard.

Cheers all.

 

[cgtmiles]

Our fridge is ventilated via a grill between the kitchen and the drivers seat, the air has some extra room the circulate as the panel behind isn’t boarded out

 

[meza]

 

[cgtmiles]