A 12 year-old annoyance SOLVED!

[Rich Stidger]

I guess I'm just slow. I should have solved this issue years ago, but maybe there were always bigger fish to fry.

Anyway, in the refrigerator and freezer compartments I have a thermostat control that is a rectangular box with a large knob mounted on it for adjustment. This is an Adler-Barbour unit.

My problem has always been that this thermostat and knob is mounted in a spot that is easy to hit when getting food in or out of the box. So every time I think I might have nudged the control, I make a point to check it. Unfortunately I am the only one that checks, so if someone else unknowingly changes the setting, the refrigerator now either gets warmer or colder.

The solution was simple. I measured the diameter and height of the knob and obtained a short piece of PVC piping from my local friendly hardware store and cut two rings of the PVC pipe and glued those rings around the knob. Now the adjustment can still be made, but the ring prevents inadvertent changing of the setting. See the before and after pix below.

 

[Scott B]

Rich, good idea. Since we use the top load freezer for beer which works great, it's annoying when the t-stat gets knocked and freezes the beer.

 

[Don12364]

Rich,
As I never need to adjust the temp I just used a bit of sticky tape over the knob and down each side of the stat!

 

[Rich Stidger]

Donalex- you are correct, we don't normally "play" with the adjustment either. But this solution seemed more elegant.

 

[kloudie1]

Good solution, Rich ! When I get around to re-commisssioning my old "Frost" unit, I'll do same !.. I had the same annoyance where PO had installed thermostat. Thanks for posting!

 

[Rich Stidger]

...... it's annoying when the t-stat gets knocked and freezes the beer.

Scott-

Oh no! Frozen Beer!

I hate it when that happens........

 

[Jeff]

I have the same unit. Great idea Rich. Two other things I've done in my frig. The first is a small air circulating fan. It uses two "D" size batteries that last 30 days. Got it at an RV store for $20. It's only 3 x 3 x 3. It's made the temp's more consistant in our frig. The second addition I made was a battery operated wireless temp gauge. One unit mounts inside the frig and the other outside. I mounted each with Velcro. Bought this at Radio Shack for $20. Batteries last all summer. Makes it easy to tell if the unit has been switched off or the theromstat needs attention.

 

[Allan Frey]

>glued those rings around the knob

What glue did you use?

Allan

 

[Rich Stidger]

What glue did you use?

Standard combination all-plastic PVC/ABS/CPVC glue. Hold it in place for a minute or so. I seemed to detect that my rings slipped down a little so I probably didn't hold it long enough.

 

[timvg]

And to think that I thought I was the only one that bumped it.

 

[Rich Stidger]

Two other things I've done in my frig. The first is a small air circulating fan. It uses two "D" size batteries that last 30 days. Got it at an RV store for $20. It's only 3 x 3 x 3. It's made the temp's more consistant in our frig. The second addition I made was a battery operated wireless temp gauge.

Jeff, I have also done the same/similar things. Years ago I borrowed a small battery-operated circulating fan from a camper friend and liked what it did for the temperature circulation.

I improved on that idea with a vertical tube and a 2" 12V computer fan. I wired this in to the compressor circuit so that anytime the refrigerator was powered on the fan would run 24/7. The additional advantage of this is that it picks up cold air at the bottom of the refrigerator and blows it across to the opposite corner over the top of the food. It also can't get blocked by food items that is near it on the shelf like the small battery fan.


I also have one in my freezer compartment.

This year since I had recharged my compressors and I was keeping track of performance fairly closely, I did put in a wired thermometer to the refrigerator and put the sensor in the air flow of the fan. I would really like to get a double wireless readout for both the refrigerator and the freezer. Now hat I know it works for you I may do this next year.

The picture below shows the fan I built and installed about five years ago. That was before the recent addition of my thermostat rings.

 

[Franklin]

I have the same problem

 

[Dan Johnson]

Rich...

Brilliant!

 

[Raftco]

It's amazing how something so annoying can be solved in such a simple manner. I had a good laugh because as I'm re-building my O'Day 25 I tend to overthink things, 'keep it simple stupid!'. Brilliant is right!

 

[Benny]

It's a good thing those refrigerators were made to last.

 

[Guest]

Repair

Hi Rich, nice! I have the same problem with our thermostat controls. Great modification idea. Thanks for the tip.

Terry Cox

 

[Guest]

Reefer

An idea that I added to our freezer to help keep food items frozen. Foods that rested against the freezer wall and bottom tended to thaw slightly while the rest of the food remained frozen. I cut a small piece of the material, normally used between the mattress and bunk that allows air to circulate (plastic springy stuff similar to a kitchen sink scrubber), and placed it around the bottom and walls of our freezer compartment. It made a big difference. This seemed a better route than trying to tear into the reefer compartment and add insulation.

Terry Cox

 

[Rich Stidger]

For those of you that want to add the rings to the Adler/Barbour thermostat, you need 2" PVC pipe and the rings are 3/4" thick.

I have some spare material and I would be happy to cut and send 1 or 2 rings to you. Just ask. It's a snap when you have the material and a good chop saw. I have enough material for about 8-9 rings.