Fridge not really working with propane

newcamp

Hi all,

I tested out my fridge for the first time yesterday. It was 94 degrees outside. I had it running on propane for five hours and it only managed to get the fridge temp down to 73 degrees in that time. 

Leftmost knob is on flame symbol, second knob (shore power) is on off, third dial (propane) is on the highest possible flame (without going all the wat to off where it shuts down). The flame indicator was on green the whole time. Propane tank is all the way open. 

Am I doing something wrong? 

I haven't tried the shore power option yet, but I will try that today later. 

Any idea what could be wrong?

Thanks!

webers3

You did nothing wrong. The fridge won’t cool more than 20-30 degrees below ambient temperature, just the nature of the beast. 

mona

It takes a good 24 hours to cool down. Make sure you are level. @webers3 I think you have the fridge confused with the air conditioning. 

Jeannie 

newcamp

So, it seems normal?

I will try shore power today and leave on over night. 

Then, I'm hoping it can maintain a lower temp on propane afterwards. 

It's level front to back, but maybe a tad off sideways, since I didn't bother with the levelers in my driveway. Just an inch lower on the driver's side wheel. 

webers3

@mona no I don’t have it confused with a/c. The subject of the 3 way fridge and its deficiency  has been covered in many threads here. 

Freespirit

Just yesterday, our Norcold (three way) refrigerator cooled down to 34 degrees with ambient temperature of 92 and humidity of 72%. I was on propane and it did take a full 24 hours to get to that temperature. I did install two small computer fans in the hot air exit vent and had them on. Many conversations on this forum debate the effectiveness of adding hot air exit fans, but from my observations I see a difference when I have them on versus not. 

webers3

@Freespirit your 3 way must be special to get to that temp with ambient being 90+. I’d say you have a rare one 

Grumpy_G

webers3 said:

@Freespirit your 3 way must be special to get to that temp with ambient being 90+. I’d say you have a rare one 

There's at least two of them . One quirk with the 3 way used in T@bs is that it has no thermostat for gas or DC, only for AC. The knob regulates the gas flame directly and it typically needs adjusted during the day. Occasionally I forget to turn it down for the night and wake up to partially frozen food.... 

mona

I’ve never had a problem with my 3 way getting cold and staying cold. The mountains are always nice and blue. 

mona

@newcamp mine is picky about level. Might be worth your while to try leveling the trailer to see if that makes a difference. 

Jeannie 

newcamp

MAJOR UPDATE:

Suddenly the fridge is working extremely well! 

I put it on shore power today and in less than 3 hours it was down to 36 degrees (73 degrees outside today).

Then I unplugged and switched to gas and looked 10 min later and it had continued down to 34 degrees. 

Put the flame to medium and came back one hour later and it had reached 28 degrees, so freezing!

Nothing to worry about!

I don't know why it had such a slow start, but now it seems it's all good!

Thanks,

ChrisK

webers3 said:

@Freespirit your 3 way must be special to get to that temp with ambient being 90+. I’d say you have a rare one 

Mine works fine too. Over 100 and i can cool it down just fine.

Grumpy_G

newcamp said:

I don't know why it had such a slow start, but now it seems it's all good!

In the initial post you wrote the fridge was set to maximum. Granted this is just a sample size of one (me) but I have seen an absorption fridge go into "overdriven" territory with too much heat. The fridge would start to cool and after a few hours the process would stop and the temperature went up. 

TomCanada

Our 3 way works perfectly on propane.  The caveat is - precooling the fridge on shore power for 24 hours before a trip, and only putting cold food (or room temperature eg. drinks) back into it (nothing hot).  Keeping to those rules, we have no problems even in hot temps, and even keep our ice creams frozen in the little freezer.  That said, what we consider 'hot' outdoors may not be what others do - we only really get into the low 90's at the hottest (low 30's Celsius).

We also preheat our hot water before leaving for a boondocking trip - can't hurt to save that propane (even though it does seem to last forever)

ChanW

+1 for 3-way works well! (With patience)