Pumping refrigerator heat elsewhere

oil pan 4 · 07-08-13, 06:51 PM

Here is a little post about my little refrigerator mod/repair/hackjob.
For the last week or so our fridge has been putting off a lot of heat and not cooling the contents on the inside very well.
The back part of the house where the fridge is located is not really air conditioned so with the fridge messed up putting off more heat than normal it feels like you have a little space heater going back there.
So I pulled the fridge away from the wall and cleaned it with compressed air only to find there wasn't very much dust, which makes sense since I cleaned it about 6 months ago. So I left it pulled away from the wall so I could keep an eye on it.

It was running the other day and I felt it putting off loads of heat and the compressor sounded like it was working really hard so I figured I would take a peek back there. That's when I found the condenser fan stopped. To rule out the possibility of this being part of normal operation I gave the condenser fan a nudge in the direction it normally spins. It started to very slowly turn again. I went to go look for options like cannibalizing the bathroom vent fan off my fireplace heat exchanger.
By the time I came back about 5 minutes later the condenser fan had stopped again and at that point I knew the fridge and all our food was screwed if I didn't do something.
This was really bad because I had to leave and drive 6hrs first thing the next morning and it was 9pm when I discovered it and all the stores were closed.

So I went to work taking out the old fan.

And here is what you end up with when you add some 22ga ducting sheet metal, a bathroom fan and 3'' clothes dryer ducting, sheet metal screws RTV and wiring.
I used the old condenser fan power circuit to power the bathroom vent fan.
To keep the refrigerator heat out of the barely air conditioned kitchen I put a hole in the wall through to the garage. If the fridge was against an exterior wall I would have just put a clothes dryer vent kit to pump the heat out.

Draw backs are the fridge now sound like a bathroom fan and it sticks out about 3 inches further, which is not a problem where its located.
If I had spent more than $25 on a bathroom fan I could have gotten a quieter one.

Good things:
It beats the heck to coming back a dead fridge full of food that spent the last week or so rotting in 90'F heat. I spent $0 fixing it, it works a lot better than before, all the heat that the refrigerator puts off now goes into the garage so the kitchen does not feel like there is a space heater going (it is summer after all). When it cools off all I have to do to reverse this mod is cover the hole in the wall and point the duct straight up.

jeff5may · 07-08-13, 07:49 PM

Awesome improvised solution! FWIW, you can usually oil the bushings or bearings on those fans and bring them back to life.

Daox · 07-09-13, 08:42 AM

Nice mod/fix.

AC_Hacker · 07-09-13, 11:07 AM

Yeah, I think you came up with a really clever solution, piping the heat out of the living space.

Now, if there was just some way that you could use that heat instead of discarding it, like to pre-heat the water before it gets to your water heater...

BTW, great pix!

-AC

oil pan 4 · 07-09-13, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeff5may

Awesome improvised solution! FWIW, you can usually oil the bushings or bearings on those fans and bring them back to life.

I might try that, I have done it before with other bushinged motors. At some point I think I will get back behind there and install another fan in addition to the bath room fan.

07-08-13, 06:51 PM	#1
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	Pumping refrigerator heat elsewhere Here is a little post about my little refrigerator mod/repair/hackjob. For the last week or so our fridge has been putting off a lot of heat and not cooling the contents on the inside very well. The back part of the house where the fridge is located is not really air conditioned so with the fridge messed up putting off more heat than normal it feels like you have a little space heater going back there. So I pulled the fridge away from the wall and cleaned it with compressed air only to find there wasn't very much dust, which makes sense since I cleaned it about 6 months ago. So I left it pulled away from the wall so I could keep an eye on it. It was running the other day and I felt it putting off loads of heat and the compressor sounded like it was working really hard so I figured I would take a peek back there. That's when I found the condenser fan stopped. To rule out the possibility of this being part of normal operation I gave the condenser fan a nudge in the direction it normally spins. It started to very slowly turn again. I went to go look for options like cannibalizing the bathroom vent fan off my fireplace heat exchanger. By the time I came back about 5 minutes later the condenser fan had stopped again and at that point I knew the fridge and all our food was screwed if I didn't do something. This was really bad because I had to leave and drive 6hrs first thing the next morning and it was 9pm when I discovered it and all the stores were closed. So I went to work taking out the old fan. And here is what you end up with when you add some 22ga ducting sheet metal, a bathroom fan and 3'' clothes dryer ducting, sheet metal screws RTV and wiring. I used the old condenser fan power circuit to power the bathroom vent fan. To keep the refrigerator heat out of the barely air conditioned kitchen I put a hole in the wall through to the garage. If the fridge was against an exterior wall I would have just put a clothes dryer vent kit to pump the heat out. Draw backs are the fridge now sound like a bathroom fan and it sticks out about 3 inches further, which is not a problem where its located. If I had spent more than $25 on a bathroom fan I could have gotten a quieter one. Good things: It beats the heck to coming back a dead fridge full of food that spent the last week or so rotting in 90'F heat. I spent $0 fixing it, it works a lot better than before, all the heat that the refrigerator puts off now goes into the garage so the kitchen does not feel like there is a space heater going (it is summer after all). When it cools off all I have to do to reverse this mod is cover the hole in the wall and point the duct straight up. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by oil pan 4; 07-08-13 at 07:11 PM..

07-09-13, 08:42 AM	#3
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Nice mod/fix. __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

07-09-13, 11:07 AM	#4
AC_Hacker Supreme EcoRenovator Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 4,004 Thanks: 303 Thanked 724 Times in 534 Posts	Yeah, I think you came up with a really clever solution, piping the heat out of the living space. Now, if there was just some way that you could use that heat instead of discarding it, like to pre-heat the water before it gets to your water heater... BTW, great pix! -AC __________________ I'm not an HVAC technician. In fact, I'm barely even a hacker...

07-08-13, 07:49 PM	#2
jeff5may Supreme EcoRenovator Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: elizabethtown, ky, USA Posts: 2,431 Thanks: 432 Thanked 619 Times in 517 Posts	Awesome improvised solution! FWIW, you can usually oil the bushings or bearings on those fans and bring them back to life.