Fridge underpowered?

[gdgrimm]

Went for our second weekend with our 24" VRV toy hauler.  Had some concerns about whether the fridge that came installed was underpowered, but currently think it was just a series of newbie mistakes.

So here's what we did.....
Hooked up on Friday about 5:30 PM in Austin, TX heat (about 85+ F).  Trailer had been setting in uncovered, outdoor storage for a couple of weeks.  Turned the fridge on LP and drove about 90 minutes to our weekend stay.  Didn't really notice any cooling action (and fridge display still read 60).  So thought the LP side might not be working.  Connected to shore power and ran the AC side.  Didn't see much action then either.

But by morning it was down to a nice 39.  So we shifted back to LP (wanted to test that out), and loaded the fridge up with stuff that had been sitting in a cooler for a couple of days (i.e. not real cold).  During the 90 F day, the fridge started edging back up to 50.  By about sundown we shifted back to AC, and things started to work it's way down again.

The LP was working fine for water heating all day, so the tanks were good.

At the moment, our guess is that we just made newbie mistakes.  Didn't give the fridge enough time to cooldown to begin with, and then loaded it up with warm(ish) stuff that it had to try to chill during the heat of the day.  Next time out, we'll start the fridge on LP on Thursday night, before our Friday late afternoon hookup, so it's well chilled before we try to use it.  And we will move things directly from our home fridge, to cooler, to trailer fridge during the hookup process.  That should ensure that things are cold when going into the fridge, and allow the fridge to do any necessary further cooling during the (relatively) cool night.

So, does that sound like the proper way to do things?  Or are the fridge's that come with these just woefully underpowered and unlikely to keep things cool in hot temperatures.

[pinstriper]

I have started the reefer on AC the morning of a trip and had it be cool for the afternoon load and drive. I never run on propane so I can't say how that goes. But in transit we are on DC which is less effective. Our practice is to load everything as cold as can be - down to loading frozen meat in the fridge side. It helps the thing stay cool and by morning the bacon is thawed and tomorrow's steak/chicken/hamburger/hot dogs is also thawed.

We go back on AC as soon as we have hookups.

We load a bag of ice cubes in the freezer. Keeps my drinks cool all weekend and also helps make sure what we put in the freezer stays frozen.

[swbc150]

My Frig is working the way it is suppose to, which is perfect. I pre-cool it with the ac hookup at least 24 hrs before I leave, I have it on the highest cold temp at number 5. I then load it up with my Cold food/add the frozen food in the freezer section, switch it over to Propane and "Off" on the auto-mode so it stays on Propane, I also leave it on number 5 cold setting while traveling. Campsite is anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours depending where I am going and always dry-camping, No hook-ups.
After camp/trailer is set-up, I set the frig temp at number 3 or 4, that depends on the elevation I'm camped at and the outside Day temps, this last weeks campout it stayed on number 3 as I was camping at a higher elevation(9300ft).

[baldboy]

I have noticed that the fridge in my VRV is slower to cool down than any other RV that I have had.  It must just be how they are.  If I plug it in 24 hrs before I leave it is just barely getting cold enough for food.  Of course, that's in Florida heat... The first time I used it I thought it was broken, I turned it on in the AM four or six hrs prior to use and the temps hadn't changed at all, the other rigs I have had would have shown some change by then, or so I thought...  The fridge has always worked well if you give it time to cool down though!

[david]

All RV fridges take a while, some 8 hours before the temp starts to drop.

Also you may have never lit the propane pilot/burner. Even if my stove lights after first turning on the propane valve at the tank, it will take several tries before the propane burner lights on the fridge due to air in the lines. That may have been part of your problem.

If it is real quiet, I (even with my 68 year old ears) can hear the burner going if I put my ear down close to it outside. If noisy I remove the outside louvered panel and feel the burner housing. If cold, shut it off and turn it back to LPG and try again. Takes several attempts sometimes.

David

[swbc150]

Fire up the furnace in your camper no matter what the temp is outside, this is the best way to clear out the air in the propane system. Check that the frig is running on propane like David said, you will hear the flame, then switch it back to AC current for the pre-cool, no reason to leave it on propane if you have ac available.

Our Outside Temps here are a bit on the warm side too, upper 80's when I plug in the camper to the ac current, by the next day the frig temp is down to around 34F.

Also with the Frig don't overpack it with food, place can/bottle goods on the door shelves with different sizes inbetween, feel free to pack the freezer section with already frozen food.

I take along a Coleman Metal Cooler with home made blocked ice, as space opens up in the Frig I continue to restock with cold food.
You may need to keep the Frig Temp selector at a higher setting to stay at the desire inside frig temp.

[gdgrimm]

Quick followup to the OP.

By bedtime, the AC side of fridge had things back down to 44, so shifted it to LP.  By morning it was down to 33.  So everything appears to be working, and I'm pretty confident that if we follow our new game plan, things will work smoothly next time out.

[ducatirdr]

I have the 7x20 VRV and the fridge has always bummed me out with its crazy range of temp swings. This split freezer and refer seem to never sync up. The freezer runs GREAT the fridge is slow to cool and ranges in temp quite a bit throughout the day due to air temp outside. Of course having a black camper is also a bad choice for hot days. It's great for those cooler fall moto-x and enduro's.

Lessons learned

I give mine a good 24 hours of run time before loading food into it. This is a recommendation for all refers but we never worry about it due to most cool down quicker. I now start it two days before I depart. The day before I take off I'm usually starting to load the fridge with food for the trip.
I run it on LP when I pull it to keep it cold. It uses very little gas compared to other LP accessories like the water heater or camper heater which sucks down LP like its free! I don't want to get the the camping location and then start the fridge/freezer. When I plug in I always check to make sure the unit switches back to electric. Sometimes it gets stuck on LP. If that happens I shut it off for 5 minutes and then turn it back on. You don't want to shut it off and turn it right back on as you may have seen what happens to Air Conditioners when you do that. It over-loads the compressor and just isn't healthy for the unit. Let it cool for 5 and then turn it back on and then check for electric (auto) power.
Fill the Refer after it gets cold with cold stuff. Warm water bottles tends to put the thing into a tizzy for another 24 hours.
If I load the fridge with warm water bottles I notice the temp drops for a while. The freezer doesn't seem to suffer from temp drops like the fridge. So I load it with water bottles for their first couple hours to chill them fast then move them to the refer.
Move the temp sensor on the metal cooling fin from the bottom to the top of the fin. I heard this helps. But I haven't seen any difference.

The fridge temp does swing on hot days. But it seems the longer it's been running the better it is at keeping its temp below 40F on those hot days.

Hope this helps

[charliem]

[font size="3"]A few more points from my experience. Leave the temp set on Hi (5) throughout the night. This allows the fridge to cool to 33-35F in prep for the coming hot day. Also the fridge section needs air circulation. Packing light helps, but I use one of those little blue cube fans available at RV dealers. Seems to help. Of course, parking so the afternoon sun is not on the fridge side helps if possible.
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[jerrybeaird]

Well, I decided to install a dual mini circulation fan in the fridge to help the cooling and it was going smooth until I hooked it up to the inside light.  On our last trip I did notice that the light was acting strange but was working fine at the end.

To make a long story short, after hooking up the fan to the light, it worked for a minute but then nothing, no light, no fan.  It turned out to be the 5a fuse inside the back of the fridge that controlled the 12v circuit.

Just a heads up as visually the fuse looked fine, and my fluke meter said it was ok, ohm wise, but only .46 volts were getting through.  Never seen that before!  So, off to the auto parts store, popped in a new fuse and all is well.

[charliem]

[quote timestamp="1435633325" source="/post/12829/thread" author="@nd1979"]Well, I decided to install a dual mini circulation fan in the fridge to help the cooling and it was going smooth until I hooked it up to the inside light. 
[/quote][font size="3"]What's the advantage to powering from the light? The light is only on when the door is open and the fan should run all the time. Is there unswitched power available a the light fixture? [/font]

[jerrybeaird]

Hi Charliem,

I don't understand why, but this is how the light is wired.  There is a red wire and a gray wire. The grey wire is connected to the door switch.  When the door is open, the light goes on and the fan shuts off.  This prevents cold air from being blown out the door.  When the door is closed, the fan goes on, thus circulating the air.  

The ten watt bulb gets very very hot so I replaced it with an LED bulb.  What was strange is the LED bulb is real bright when opened but stays on when the door is closed at half the brightness.  So I just put the original 10 watt bulb back in and called it a day.

[charliem]

[font size="3"]nd1979,

Very interesting. Sounds like it's working the way you want it: fan runs only when door is closed. Just like an uptown residential unit. As for why and what happens with the LED, I'd need more info and measurements. So, for my curiosity, where are the red and gray wires you mention? At the light bulb or attached to the fan? What wires are attached to the fan unit itself and where are they connected? Any direct connections to ground or +12V ?
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[jerrybeaird]

Hi Charliem,

The red and gray wires are on opposite sides of the bulb.  The red wire on the mini fan combo is connected to the gray wire on the bulb terminal and the black wire is grounded to the refrig cooling fins to complete the circuit.

Initially, I traced the both wires to the panel at the back of the fridge to check for continuity and after verifying the the bulb, switch and wires were good, I then discovered the bad fuse that I initially thought was good.

[charliem]

[font size="3"]OK. Good info. If I understand what is happening I'm going to guess: With the LED in place and the door closed I'm guessing the LED is partially illuminated and the fan is NOT turning or only turning slowly. Correct?
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