Turn a Dometic fridge into doggy A/C?

[AntiGroundhogDay]

Alright folks smarter than I, here's a chance to make me look as dumb as I look. 

I was thinking about a way to keep the pup cool while stuck in the van while the GF and I are visiting a place where dogs are not welcome.  I thought the smaller and more insulated a space I try to cool, the less battery I need.  I also thought about the losses converting 12V to 110V.  Then I thought about how a 12V compressor fridge like a Dometic does a pretty good job cooling things without the conversion losses (but hella expensive, oh well).  What if we turned one into a dog house of sorts?  Maybe tip one on their side and remove the lid and replace it with the heavy, flappy, clear plastic you'd walk through when walking into a freezer at a warehouse so the dog can come and go as they please?  With that said a few questions/comments came up:

- Can these 12V compressor fridges run on their sides?  I heard they don't care so long as input and output fans aren't blocked and didn't read a warning in the manual, but wanted to make sure.

- What are the interior dimensions of the bigger Dometic, like the CFC 100W or CF 110?  I see outside dimensions, but in this case interior dimensions are most important to fit the dog:   24" (L) x 10" (H) x 9" (W) roughly.  Pic: https://photos.app.goo.gl/XG4DrXmTSqbfuqSP8  I don't see them listed, just overall volume.

- If the pup doesn't fit in the biggest of 12v compressor fridge, I could possibly "extend" the cooler by removing the lid and building out an additional insulated area?

- How would you estimate draw in a setup like this?  How do you calculate AMP draw when the fridge is not being asked to get down to a typical temperature of a refrigerator (maybe keep it at ~72F?)?

- Do these 12V compressor fridges have the temp. range to even allow it to operate at a higher temperature (again, ~72F)?

- With all these factors (removing lid, possibly extending into an insulated igloo for a bigger dog, maintaining a higher temp, etc.) how would one even estimate the duty cycle of the compressor in an effort to estimate amperage draw?

- Just a wannabe here, so forgive me a for a lack of understanding ahead of time, but I've read the big Dometics can draw 7-7.5A.  I assume that is cycling the compressor 24/7.  Even given that, I think it's still a relatively light battery load if I wanted to run it 6 or 7 hours during the sunniest part of the day (solar panels are pumping juice into the batteries) and had two Trojan T105s?  https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/calculator-sizing-a-battery-to-a-load.html

- For even more efficiency, especially if you thought the compressor would be cycling all the time, would it make sense to exhaust to the outside of the van?

Many thanks for any help in working through the feasibility here.

 

[wmyers4u]

Get a bag of ice and a fan.....or a couple bags of ice.......gotta be hella cheaper way than a $600 fridge...........buy 50 bags of ice and a small kiddie pool

 

[wmyers4u]

Seriously try a swamp cooler for like $40 and try that first

 

[AntiGroundhogDay]

I'll be taking this van down the Pan American highway and while cheaper, finding ice or storing a kiddie pool in a small van is certainly not more convenient while on this trip. Can any electrical gurus shoot me down or hoist this idea up? Thanks!

 

[GypRat]

Swamp coolers only work in very dry climates like in Arizona or Nevada. It's nearly worthless in humid areas with humidity levels over 20%.

 

[GypRat]

Your best choice is to leave the dog with someone or to skip the areas where dogs are not allowed.
Say you found a small cooled animal crate and left the dog in it. What happens of something goes wrong with the cooler and you are not coming back any time soon? The dog will die miserably from heat exposure. You will need a remote monitoring system that will keep track of the interior temperature. Many people install remote cameras for this purpose.

To answer your question about a Dometic refrigerator. Most compressors should be in the upright position to operate properly. Ammonia type RV fridges take a long time to cool and won't produce enough cooling for what you are planning on doing.

In my humble opinion, bags of ice mentioned in one of the posts above, are your best solution. I would not do this to my dog.

Forgot to mention. If people hear a dog barking in a closed van in summer heat, they will call police and Humane Society. They will break the window and remove the dog.

 

[wmyers4u]

Ok, post read to me like you were going into a place that pets weren't allowed like a day trip or something.

I think at least some of the compressor units only operate to 45°, not sideways.

If you have a fridge already you might be able to experiment with taking the lid off and getting/making some sort of doggy bed for a top. If it's not too thick it might work as a cool place for him to sit...... Or some sort of ventilated top that he could lay on and keep cool.

You'd obviously have to devise a way for him to get there obviously.

 

[tx2sturgis]

You cant turn a compressor fridge sideways, the oil in the refrigerant wont do it's job properly...if at all. 

They can tolerate about a 30 degree slant, according to published specs. 

And most of the units you are referring to have a max temp setting of around 50 degrees.

There is one company (I know of) that actually makes a doghouse cooler, but the power requirements don't mesh well with solar, unless you have a LOT of solar. Now if you want to run a generator, then that possibility opens up.

Still, if anything goes wrong, Little Fido will be baked. 

And imagine the remorse and grief that would cause.

 

[tripper]

I believe it could be done, however it is a vey bad idea to rely on a compressor fridge to keep your dog alive, too many things can go wrong.

 

[Weight]

You will not have any money left for a fridge after getting permits to take your dog across many borders.

 

[AntiGroundhogDay]

If the compressor fridge can't be turned completely on its side, then I'd have to cut a hole in the side of one and leave the lid on.  Venting outside would be an option, but was only thinking of cooling an enclosed area with a doggy door of sorts, not cooling the entire van.  Folks who use 12V compressor fridges don't vent outside so I don't see the need to either if I were cooling an enclosed area.  

I don't know the failure rates of compressor fridges, but I'm not sure they are any worse than a generator than is running a house A/C system with two pieces of hardware that can go wrong.

But seeing as how failure of the hardware is certainly a possibility, and seeing as how I'd have to keep the compressor fridge upright and perform major surgery on it, and I'm told the highest setting on most of them is 50F, that idea is out.

Perhaps the right balance is to create an insulated dog hut of sorts with say, a couple frozen gel ice packs inside and a fan blowing.  This way the main source of cooling is fail proof (the frozen gel packs) even if the fan quits.  I could even use two smaller fans vs. one larger one for some redundancy.  I guess also, let the cooler/freezer do what it does best... be a cooler/freezer.  Even if I have to buy the biggest Dometic with a separate freezer dedicated to doggy ice packs, so be it.

I would have to test how long the temperature stays comfortable inside the insulated hut with one side with an entry like a walk-in cooler, but we're not talking 95F ambient temps here.  I aim to move with the 70F weather for the most part, but of course there will be days it gets a little warmer than desired.

Further brainstorming?  Much appreciated for the feedback.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Dogs will naturally lay on cooler ground, flat on their belly or side, to cool off.

Thinking outside the box...literally:

Would you consider possibly rigging up some kind of cage UNDER the van, with a fan and heavy screening all around?

Maybe some panels to block the view from passers-by.

I suppose this idea will not sit well with some folks...or the dog, but my dog loves to lay under my vehicle in the heat of the day.

And maybe the idea has merit...but I have never tried it either.

 

[AntiGroundhogDay]

Dogs will naturally lay on cooler ground, flat on their belly or side, to cool off.

Thinking outside the box...literally:

Would you consider possibly rigging up some kind of cage UNDER the van, with a fan and heavy screening all around?

Maybe some panels to block the view from passers-by.

I suppose this idea will not sit well with some folks...or the dog, but my dog loves to lay under my vehicle in the heat of the day.

And maybe the idea has merit...but I have never tried it either.

Well, I'm not sure that would sit well with the GF, but a few concerns come to mind:

- Theft of your pup.  The GF is very concerned about a purebred dog being lifted in a Latin American country.
- Rain.  if the pup is on the ground, rain might be a problem.  So could biting ants or critters.
- Wouldn't be a solution for hot asphalt I'd think.

But I agree, the dog would certainly lay on cooler vinyl on the floor of the van.

 

[DannyB1954]

Alright folks smarter than I, here's a chance to make me look as dumb as I look. 

I was thinking about a way to keep the pup cool while stuck in the van while the GF and I are visiting a place where dogs are not welcome.  .

A compressor type fridge will not work on it's side. The compressor and condenser need to be in the position they were designed for.
A refrigerator or air conditioner does not destroy heat. They move it from the inside to the outside. If you run either without venting to the outside, you will actually make the room warmer, (because of the motor running the compressor adds heat ).
You can install a 6,000 BTU air conditioner and run it off of a 900 watt generator. Ryobi makes one that will run on propane at about a rate of 1/3 lb per hour. I am installing 800 watts of solar panels on my van and hope that it will run the air conditioner, but I am not sure just yet as I am waiting for some mounting hardware. As I measure my A/C unit, it takes 35 amps DC to power the inverter. In theory, the solar should do it, but very seldom do you actually get the rated output out of solar.