$5 MUST-DO upgrade for upright fridges! Installing a 12V fan in my Bushman 85L fridge

[@peruecuadorbelgica]

I did the same after seeing some fridges had a fan inside; It works well.

[@coptotermes]

I noticed you added the rubber weather proofing to the front of the switch but the back of the switch was ignored. These type of switches normally have the back plate held in by metal tabs and are not moisture proof. I think inside a fridge, humidity will be the problem possibly causing corrosion of the switch contacts in the long term. Simple fix i think would be to seal the rear of the switch with either silicone or hot glue to prevent moisture ingress. Nice vid mate! Thanks for sharing.

[@explorebound]

Update: I've found running the fan constantly works almost "too well", and causes the fridge to reach -4 even on the lowest setting. I've since installed a temperature controller, full video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5CceaZ9gJ6Kfs0

[@doddy03gu79]

Interesting to see how well that fan bracket hangs on after a while using a sealant to stick it, not an adhesive. Being such a light unit it should be fine but if it does fall off, that could be why. Nice job 👍

[@braddavis43]

Does this also stop the freezer from frosting up?

[@evil17]

I suspect that the compressor is trying to bring the freezer/Evaporator down to a temp/pressure & the fan is keeping its temp/pressure up in an effort to bring the whole fridge down to the set temp & this would probly run the compressor more than necessary & increase ur power usage, check ur amp/watt meter difference after 24hr of use with & without the fan. I would suggest: 1. Yes a temp controller for ur fan would be an ideal solution & give you better control of ur fridge space temp & probly reduce power consumption as well. 2. A two way or 3 position switch so you can have it on, off, or set to come on with compressor. 3. A potentiometer so you can trim the voltage going to the fan & effectively slow it down some when necessary, but the 1st suggestion, yours, is probly best solution.

[@XploringOz]

Hey mate, great video. Very professional and neat looking install. Videography and lighting on point as always. I don't think most people realise the behind the scenes work involved. I'm sure this fan will most definitely remove any issue of frosting from occurring, particularly when it's loaded up. Would be interested to see whether or not the fridge itself uses a little more power over a set period. I'm thinking the regulation of air, particularly against the freezer compartment wold probably require the compressor to switch on more often. Maybe another test for a followup review down the track. Either way, their frosting issue is probably the more prevalent and no doubt you have solved this. Nice work 👍

[@explorebound]

Thanks mate I really appreciate that, especially coming from someone who puts out such high-quality videos as yourself! 🙂 Yeah that's a very good point and something I'll be able to test out thoughly over the coming months. Some people run fans like these through a temperature controller module that cuts the fan in and out at set temperatures to avoid this issue, but I'm hoping as this fan moves a very small amount of air that it might not be such an issue for me, but time will tell I guess!

[@aTissa]

I don't even own an upright fridge, but as usual, love watching your DIY vids! Great content as usual 👏

[@ytluckynuts]

I have just recently added this strap to my toilet door in my RV. Works like a charm. Does not open itself anymore.

[@keithchad661]

I have done the same but used a mirco relay , so it is on when the door is closed and off when light is on door open

[@-PORK-CHOP-]

That's a real oversight on the fridge's design, you would think the fridge would come with some sort of locking mechanism considering it's purposely designed for going into caravans / canopies, also the fan has arrows on them that shows the way it spins.

[@ottouring]

Hi, Just watched your video. Great idea. I’m a fridge technician by trade and not wanting to be negative but I think you have wired it incorrectly. Can I ask you to do one thing open the door and the fan should run as you have wired into your light, press the grey switch in at front of light housing and I think the fan will stop which means whilst the door is closed the fan will never run and in fact draw more air in whilst door is open and possibly more frost on evaporator( freezer box) as air has moisture in it and when comes into contact with the freezer will ice up more. I suggest you wire it into your thermostat as the fan will then run when ever your compressor is running door open or closed. Just have a look and try the grey push lever and I’m sure you will understand. Any questions please contact me and I’ll be happy to answer. Cheers Out There Touring

[@explorebound]

Hi mate, appreciate the comment! That’s not quite correct though, I’ve tapped the fan in to the light power supply before the switch which has constant power regardless of door position. 👍

[@ottouring]

@@explorebound Copy. I’ll have a closer look and look. Cheers Out There Touring

[@Foxmunta]

Nice job with the fan mate, I'll nick that idea for mine. Regards the door securing, I have attached a small block of foam to the door stiffening bar that keeps a little bit of pressure on when the canopy door is closed.

[@stevo7454]

Genius idea I've just bought the king's upright and noticed the same issues, will now be adding a fan too Cheers

[@jackturtle131]

Clever idea Daniel. Nearly the same idea as people do with an 3 way fridge in caravans

[@descowan5410]

Thanks Daniel, great clip always wondered about the internal fan idea. Cheers

[@mycyclingdisorder]

Thanks for the video. Have you also considered whether an external fan would be beneficial in drawing air across the compressor and related electronics at the rear of the fan? I understand air flow across this area will improve performance of the fridge, more of an issue when a fridge is slid into a cabinet in a van/RV than in a canopy of course.

[@claudyboulaye286]

Very neat mate! 👌 Great work and cheers for the share! Will be doing this myself with my 85L Kings upright now 😁

[@Ordinaryrigs]

Good vid mate, pretty cool seeing my Facebook page getting out there

[@OutNAboutAustralia]

Great video mate! Very neat and tidy install. It'd also be awesome to see a comparison of Fan ON vs Fan OFF power consumption or cycle frequency of the fridge over a 24hr period. Keep up the good content!

[@explorebound]

Thanks mate! Yeah that's something I'm interested to find out too, will report back here when I have the results. 🙂

[@williamthompson6518]

@@explorebound what’s your thoughts on power consumption after a year

[@johncanalese588]

Good project but just some feedback. 1) please be aware that fuses are installed to protect the wiring in electrical circuits from short-circuit or other overload condition with potential fire. So sticking it right next to the fan isn't protecting the wiring run to the light. 2) it is a very moist environment that you've got there, so if no waterproof switches, like you've installed you're going to get accelerated corrosion on the contacts then unreliable operation and failure.

[@camclarke567]

looking forward to more testing!!

[@fatmanoverlanding]

Looks like one of the "cons" for upright fridges. But like you, I'll still seriously look at one when I update my drawer system at the back of my 80 Series prior to my Simpson Desert trip next year.

[@antem77]

Great job mate 😉

[@4WheelingInNSW]

Good one mate, interesting mod, well done 👍

[@tbillington]

Nice work. If the silicon doesn't hold, give 3m VHB double sided tape a go.

[@andrewt3952]

Gorilla grip heavy duty double sided is good too

[@jackthomson73]

Nicely done mate 👍. The only thing I would change is the location of the switch as it looks like it would be hit by things moving around in the fridge. Does a two ltr bottle milk or coke fit in there alright?

[@allanpower8041]

That's a huge difference. I actually didn't think it would make a difference.

[@lujye2]

Hi there, Looking to do the same and wire it into the thermostat circuit so it runs when the compressor is one. Where did you find this info about connecting into the active of the light and negative of the thermostat

[@glengriffin-k6u]

i watched another vid and he turned his fan around the other way because he said it makes the freezer weep, so my question is what's the best way to have your fan blowing cheers

[@0502Rob]

Great video 👍

[@ottouring]

Let me know if my thoughts are correct or not. I’ll see if I can find the electronic schematic for the fridges both kings and bushman as they are the same and double check my thought Cheers again Out There Touring

[@SammyTCJ11]

Hey mate have you done any testing up north in a pilbara summer 40+ degrees since you installed the fan?

[@SaxonLewis-z4o]

Could you test current draw before and after?

[@user-vb1uw6kj4g]

Or, does the fridge run a bit harder with the fan on? Cooling down the rest of the fridge is great but does it cause the compressor to run more if you’re blowing air across the freezer?

[@Htht217]

Do you find the fridge cage being so close to the top of the canopy causes the top section of the cage to heat up? I have a similar one in black and it seems to get very hot when the canopy is in the sun on hot days

[@JSFTouring]

Great video mate, just wondering how you have found the fan over time with the freezer and if it has had any effect of the freezing actually freezing

[@explorebound]

I haven't found it to affect the freezer much at all really. I mainly just use my freezer to make ice and it still does this easily. 🙂

[@outdoors5352]

Maybe you can start selling your fan kit for $130 and undercut the competitor 😁

[@explorebound]

Haha I'm not sure my workmanship would be up to a sellable standard 😅

[@cyclemoto8744]

How ridiculous, having to go to all that effort and time to make a new product work as it should have been designed. I keep considering an upright for for my next unit, however I'm seeing more and more negatives. Thanks for the content

[@tonycocomazzo8500]

Does the freezer still freeze up now with the fan running?

[@SUPERTRUCKER166]

Never had a drama with my 130L, i havent switched it off since it was installed 3 years ago, outside of defrosting it twice a year. Runs on temp 2 in an uninsulated canopy.

[@pipeline2735]

Hey Mitch, what part of oz do you live in ? I’m in North Queensland and looking at buying but don’t like idea of defrosting to regularly.

[@SUPERTRUCKER166]

@@pipeline2735 doesnt matter what fridge you have whether its a chest or upright you gotta defrost them peroidically. And i travel all over Aus working, currently stuck at nhulunbuy doing some work on the old alumina plant (doing some road resealing ready for the scrap metal decomission)

[@pipeline2735]

Don’t mind periodically, have had a few chest style over the years. Have read one review where they were up Broome way and they reckon every 4 to 8 weeks which I thought was a bit much. They still liked the fridge though.

[@alangray8241]

Yes same here with a 130 litre Bushman in an uninsulated canopy. We live in Broome and work and travel all over the Great Sandy and North Kimberley on the Gibb River Road. The 130l Bushman works perfectly. No need to defrost, and we've been running it on Setting #3 the past few weeks. I wonder if this defrosting problem is more of an issue with the 85 lite than the 130 litre Bushman? Thanks for a great video.

[@michaeljones1715]

Great idea and I appreciate the results. However, I'd like to see if you now need to run the fridge on 3 or can you raise the temp a little as the test results show the internal fridge temp was lower than initial testing. If this is the case, it should mean using less power to get the same result. Or, does this mean the freezer will not operate properly? Would love to see further testing. I might take a look at my upright fridge now.

[@explorebound]

I think it's a bit of a trade-off in the sense that I'll be able to run the fridge on 1 or 2, however because the air is circulating correctly the compressor will kick in more frequently because it has an accurate reading of internal temperature rather than just measuring the coldest part if that makes sense. I'll certainly be doing some more testing in the future and will pin a comment with any additional info I learn. 🙂

[@travelsolo2677]

Pity these fridge don’t come with a factory fan ?

[@1Coolbanana]

What happened about the freezer? Better or worse?

[@dunderclumpin]

Thanks for the video mate, I certainly won’t be buying a bushman fridge any time soon.

[@markfrombriz]

Cool video, im thinking of doing the other method you mentioned, and wiring it up just so when the compressor is running, i haven't found any good online examples of this , do you have the link to the one you described ? Cheers

[@explorebound]

Thanks mate! I've actually just bought a temp controller for mine as I found running with the fan constantly brings the temperature down too far, so have been just using it as a bit of a "turbo" button haha. Will share a video of the temp controller installation soon.

[@markfrombriz]

@@explorebound sweet

[@SammyDunster]

Stupid question from a novice, but if you wired it to the fridge light will the fan still work when the door is closed and the presumably the light is not getting power?

[@explorebound]

Hey mate, no such thing as a stupid question 🙂 The flow of power into the light is through a constant power wire that runs into the light assembly, through a switch that is acivated when the door opens, then to the light itself. So with the wiring, so long as the fan is tapped into the lights power supply BEFORE that switch then it will get constant power regardless of if the door is opened or closed - hope this makes sense!

[@bradwalker5909]

G'day I'm wondering during how the sikaflex has held up in the fridge?

[@explorebound]

Hey mate, it's actually held surprisingly well! We've travelled some very rough and corrogated tracks since the install and it's still holding strong

[@HammerRocks]

Well done. Just like a bought one. 👍

[@krump743]

Thought the bushmans was the bees knees best fridge for offroading. Some how this fridge was the fad of 2022 😂

[@explorebound]

I still find it a great fridge and am glad I bought it, the compressor has never let me down and that’s what’s important if you’re relying on it out bush. The fan mod wasn’t ‘necessary’ either, more just something that could be improved so the only real issue I’ve had with mine is the door catch which is alright in my books 👍

[@benabbott2994]

How you finding the bushman fridge? Tossing up between that and the Evakool

[@explorebound]

I reckon they're great and wouldn't run anything else - these really shine in remote areas where you need to rely on your gear so was worth the money in my opinion. They also work fine without this fan installed, it just allows me to 'overfill' it and have it still work effectively, but when filled correctly with room for air to circulate they're fine.

[@benabbott2994]

@@explorebound Nice one cheers.

[@JoshSinnott97]

Hey mate, I've seen others move the standard bushman latch from the top corner to the centre of the side (where you've mounted the child lock) and it seems that it stops the door opening. If you end up trying this and having success with it, an update would be really awesome I'm still using an Engel but I'm very tempted to convert to an upright just to save on weight with the fridge slide while gaining double the capacity too. Sounds like you're happy with making the switch now that you've installed the fan?

[@explorebound]

Hey Josh, thanks, that’s definitely worth looking into! Yep I’m definitely happy with the switch to the upright (even without the fan mod), it’s so much more convenient for daily use. 🙂

[@JoshSinnott97]

Appreciate the reply Sounds like it's only a matter of time before they become the standard over the chest fridges

[@slowmadders]

Hello mate, came across your video after researching the same issue with the fridge we have in our camper and wanted to share some findings that might help others. Firstly, ours is actually an Isotherm, but I’ve discovered that Isotherm, Kings and Bushman are all the same but rebadged with minor accessory differences. Anyway, I’m from the UK and we had no problems with ours there. But as the weather has got warmer and we’re now in Albania, it’s very hot and ours is struggling to keep up. For me, the single biggest thing that helps is defrosting the freezer box. I think I’m going to have to do it weekly, it’s crazy! In the current climate, if I leave it longer, the fridge starts to hover at around 8-12°C with the dial on maximum. How often do you defrost yours? The Isotherm models come with a drip tray under the freezer, I’ noticed that your Australian Bushman’s don’t so I’ve ditched ours for now as it seems to be impeding the cold flow of air too. Ours also has another plastic grille on the left and right of the freezer box whereas yours doesn’t, seems to trap more ice, not sure how to remove that yet though! When it works, this fridge is great. But for the price, it’s frustrating to have to think about all these workarounds. One more thing, the Isotherm comes in two versions, each with different doors. One is the door that you have, but the version we’ve got has a much better centralised latch system that clicks into place and is very secure.

[@ryans8527]

Hey mate, when you say you defrost the freezer how do you go about this? We are having similar problems with our kings upright

[@slowmadders]

@@ryans8527 So I've found the quickest way is to remove the shelves, place a tray and a towel to collect water from the freezer box and turn off the fridge. Then place a container of boiling water in the freezer box, you can also place a container of boiling water just underneath the freezer compartment too. I use a plastic spatula to speed up the process as it begins melting but you can generally have the whole freezer defrosted in 20 minutes using this method. Make sure ice build up has completely gone from the left and right of the freezer box especially (dripping will stop). Then thoroughly dry the inside of the freezer box and fridge and dry anything which you put back inside of the fridge/freezer.

[@johncanalese588]

I have an Italian Indel B 130L upright fridge in my caravan and I swear it is IDENTICAL to the 130L Bushman Fridge sold here in Australia.

[@danieldavidson1983]

Seems everyone that has an upright fridge does this. You would think companies would start selling them with fans already inbuilt - especially with the prices that they charge for their fridges!

[@explorebound]

Completely agree! Seems like a cheap addition to make on the manufacturing side that would make them work a lot better when packed to the limit.

[@joelsantler6447]

Awesome stuff mate. Curious though, where’d you get the plastic crisper drawer in the bottom of ur bushmans from? Looks like it fits well, I need that in mine for sure.

[@rodgergarland5032]

I would be concerned that your fridge is going to have to work harder to maintain the freezer temperature which in reality means the compressor is going to be running more

[@LostInOzMedia]

How did the sealant hold up over time?

[@explorebound]

It's still holding strong and we've done a lot of bumpy tracks and corrugations since the install

[@cruza1289]

How do you rate the fridge

[@explorebound]

We love it 🙂

[@BradleyMackintosh]

Get yourself liquid electrical tape, works a dream for y connections or where you can’t put actual heat shrink.

[@explorebound]

Oh that's very cool, thanks for the tip! I've never heard of it before 🙂

[@adamsmith5565]

Bradley what brand and where is this available? Sounds bloody handy.

[@BradleyMackintosh]

@@adamsmith5565 some jaycars stock it, otherwise it can be purchased online. Don't know the brand, just know it's a yellow can

[@CJFranciss]

Imagine spending 1500 for a fridge to have all these issues. Im still not sold on them. My 52 litre bushman original draws a third of the power, takes up half the space, fits twice as much, is portable, and it even stays shut..

[@explorebound]

Hey mate, that's why I believe it's important to include all the info in vids like these, to assist people like yourself in deciding what's right for you. For me the issues I've experienced with it are trivial in comparison to the main reasons I bought it which was convenience of regular use, a reliable compressor and weight/space saving as don't need to run a drop-slide for access. I'm not sure I'd call it "all these issues" though, I agree the door was an issue but the temperature regulation was more just something that could be improved rather than an issue for me. 👍

[@CJFranciss]

That’s fair enough if your happy with it. 👍

[@ausguy4385]

Great way to void the warranty 😅 Just by a better fridge or don't over load

[@markthomas8766]

Upright fridges are a BAD idea for camping. Sorry. I don't like induction cookers either. May be I'm primative.

[@jimmywalls7251]

😺

[@brettr5547]

Looks like the fridge is a bit of a problem child🤷‍♂️🤣

[@explorebound]

The price of convenience 🤣

[@CJFranciss]

@@explorebound hahaha losing a fridge full of food is a funny idea of convenience

[@TahjmaRahj]

Hey great video I have a kings upright do you think this will work similar? Thanks

[@explorebound]

Hey mate, the concept should be the same for the Kings fridge, just not sure how the internal light is configured in those for the wiring.