Possible to pre-cool fridge on 12v only?

Jay_and_Kat · September 15

I'm thinking ahead to next season here and wondering if we could get the fridge to start cooling on just 12v? The camper is in a storage lot, and while we can bring it home the day before trips, that tends to also be a bit of a "production," both getting in the drive and out of the drive. The storage lot has no trees that would shade the camper, so the solar panels would be in sun nearly all day (if our storage lot neighbor is next to us, later in the day there'd be some shade on the camper,) everything else in the camper would be off.

We would also toss in a couple yeti ice blocks in the fridge and freezer sections. I guess the question is, if we set the fridge to about level 2 or 3 cooling, would it kill the batteries overnight and cause us bigger headaches than our current method of turning it on when we hook up and let it chill on the drive to the campground (food is purchased at a local grocery store once we're set up, NOT carried in a warm fridge!)

MuttonChops · September 15

Why not run the Fridge on Propane, it's a 3-Way and designed to use propane when power is not available.

Any 3-Way Fridge on 12VDC will deeply drain if not fully drain most trailer battery banks overnight.

Jay_and_Kat · September 15

My concern with using propane would be leaving it going overnight, unattended. I will admit, so far, we've only camped at sites with 30A hookups and run the fridge off that, the one time we needed to use propane (stupid electric pedestal was WAY too far for our electric cord, we had to buy an extension) and because we'd never used it on propane before...

I couldn't figure out why it wasn't lighting until we got home and I did some googling and discovered the propane lines needed to "fill" and push out the air that seeped in over time in storage. Lighting the cooktop first for a moment, then trying to get the fridge to kick to propane (once we got home,) worked.

Your point at the end about the fridge likely killing the batteries if left on battery overnight, though, tells me this would be a bad idea. Or at least not a good idea to try.

Thank you

TourDeForth · September 15

You could still fill it with ice, leave it off over night and have it behave like a cooler until the next day. Then turn it on.

Grumpy_G · September 16

Out of curiosity I did test the 12V setting on the fridge with the trailer sitting in the shop and hooked up to shore power. It did get the fridge below 40F overnight so to some extent it's feasible to use 12V to cool down the fridge. However this was in very favorable conditions with the trailer not sitting outside in the sun. Keep in mind the 12V setting does not have any temperature control, the heating element is turned on continuously regardless of what the dial is set to. That's about 9-10A continuously so it will drain a 100Ah battery in a little over 10 hours. With solar the solar output needs to be in the 200W+ range (continuously!) to keep the fridge going and adding charge to the battery.
While I do cool down the fridge before a trip I wonder if it makes that much of a difference. The volume of the fridge is rather small and when opening the door the cool air escapes at the bottom. Packing the fridge with items right out of the home fridge might be just as good. I also often put frozen food in the fridge which will be ready to use at the camp site.

Marceline · September 16

I have a T@B with a 2way fridge that I keep on a friend's back 40. When I need to pre-cool the fridge I buy a chunk of dry ice and throw it in the fridge. Seems to cool it pretty quickly.

MuttonChops · September 16

Jay_and_Kat said:
. . . concern with using propane would be leaving it going overnight, unattended.

Propane appliances with always on pilot burners are very safe.
Just like a home gas water heater, if the Fridge detects the flame has gone out it automatically turns the gas off. It is very reliable technology with gas explosions being very rare.

Expect worse case risk is arriving the next morning to find the Fridge internal temperature below zero.

Cherokee · September 16

Possible on a cold winter's day yes, but a NoCold 3-way is best when pre-cooled on shore power first. We've started a couple of times without pre-cooling. However, all the food came strait from our home frig, so it was cold at from the beginning, and we have a strong alternator. It is unsafe to tow with the gas turned on

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Possible to pre-cool fridge on 12v only?

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