should the fridge be cooler ?

[wints]

I've just serviced the 'gas side' of the fridge: cleaned the flue & swirl plate (lots of muck from these), changed the jet, cleaned the burner etc. The fridge fired up straight away so I set about testing. Bowl of water in the freezer, 3 cartons of milk in the fridge part. With a very accurate digital thermometer (with a probe) I measured thus :-

Gas position at 2 (max of 5):

After 2 hrs freezer - 4.5 deg C, fridge 12 deg C, ambient temp in van 27 deg C. After 12 hours freezer -5.5 deg C (cereal bowl of water now solid ice), fridge 10 deg C, ambient temp in van 17 deg C.

I'm happy with the freezer temp, but I'd expected the fridge to be cooler.

How does the cold from the freezer transfer into the fridge ?

Would packing the fridge have made any difference ?

 

Any thoughts ?

 

regards

Allen

[Brian Kirby]

It is usual to set the control at the mid position, so 2.5 would have been be a fairer test.  However, why not turn it to 5 and see what happens?  What you really need to know, I think, is can it do the job, not what temperature it reaches at this, or that, setting.  Then, if it overcools at max, back it off until satisfied.  However, they all tend to suffer in high ambient temperatures, added to which they have small volumes and are upset by adding, for example, a bottle of wine or water.  In the end, to maintain a reasonable fridge temperature on a hot day you just have to run the fridge hard.  It'll be plenty cold the next morning, though!  :-)

[Mel B]

Try putting more items in the fridge, they work better when they don't have large open areas in them, as this helps to get the temperature down because it's not trying to cool such a large volume of air.

 

Also, I think you really need to have the fridge thermostat much higher to start with, I'd certianly run it at the high setting for an hour or two to get it really chilled down then reduce it to the mid point and see how it goes from there.

[BrianR]

On a point of detail, if the 'fridge is properly installed it should be isolated from the 'van interior, so it is the external ambient temperature that matters, not the internal. I agree that for normal Summer temperatures you would expect to need to set it at more than 2 to get the right temperature in the 'fridge.

[breakaleg]

I usually find that beause we often trave 50-100 miles to our destination with it running on 12 volt the fridge is reall cold as it runs at maximum on 12 volt, so i don't need it so high on gas to keep it cool, never tried on gas from warm though.

pete

[djchapple]

The problem with some fridges is the installation, some have better air flow over the cooling fins than others do.

 

One way to improve the performance of three way fridges is to fit a small cooling fan to the inside of the top air outlet thus increasing the flow over the fins.

 

These are available from many of the bigger parts outlets such as Towsure.

[Patricia]

If the ambient temperature was 27 that's quite hot really. I have a large fridge/freezer (think it is 130 cu ft) and one year in Spain when the temperature was in the high 30s to my horror I found that it was 19 degrees just running on electric. I obviously had to throw all the food away then put it on gas and it performed a bit better and the next year my husband fitted a fan (from CAK tanks). I am not sure where the fan is i.e. top or bottom of the cavity behind the fridge but I have to take the bottom outside vent off to access the switch so I always imagined it to be at the bottom.

 

I always carry a fridge thermometer now to check and yesterday, after travelling some hours, found the temperature at 10. I put the thermostat up to maximum and found it at 2 today (on electric) so I am not sure that 12v is powerful enough over several hours. Incidentally it was well cooled down before the journey began but I haven't activated the fan because it is jolly cold here in Cornwall!

[BrianR]

djchapple - 2008-07-18 10:24 PM

 

One way to improve the performance of three way fridges is to fit a small cooling fan to the inside of the top air outlet thus increasing the flow over the fins.

 

These are available from many of the bigger parts outlets such as Towsure.

 

These fans are the same as those used to cool computers, so this is often a cheaper way of getting one. If you ask around someone is sure to have an old computer they can't bring themselves to throw away. All you need then is a switch and a fuse - 1 amp would be fine.

[wints]

Part of my question was 'how does the cold transfer from the freezer bit into the fridge part ?' I've seen refridgerant pipes in the freezer but not in the fridge.

On 12v from ambient, approx 18 C, it took about 30 mins (Lytham to Leyland) for the freezer to get to -4 C, the fridge was 12 C. The fridge was empty.

 

regards

Allen

[rupert123]

wints - 2008-07-19 6:44 PM

 

Part of my question was 'how does the cold transfer from the freezer bit into the fridge part ?' I've seen refridgerant pipes in the freezer but not in the fridge.

On 12v from ambient, approx 18 C, it took about 30 mins (Lytham to Leyland) for the freezer to get to -4 C, the fridge was 12 C. The fridge was empty.

 

regards

Allen

 

I assume m/h fridges work in the same way as household ones. You only have one cooling unit, this will take temperature in freezer down and a portion of cold air is passed to fridge section via some sort of damper. As freezer part is working it would seem it is damper section that may not be transfering enough cold air, a simple solution would be to do as suggested and turn unit down to five to see what happens. Putting more items in fridge to lessen air space, as has been suggested, will in fact increase the temperature as the items put in will raise temp. a little until they have been cooled, you need air circulation. If turning down the temperature to a lower setting does not work I would suggest a visit to a fridge engeineer will be required. Incidently the fridge may well take longer to reach its working temperature as it is a much larger space and priority is to freezer compartment. Hope all that makes some sort of sense.

[Mel B]

When I said put more items in the fridge to reduce the air space I of course meant items taken from your 'domestic' fridge at home, ie items that are already cool .... when we go away we put 'fridge' items in the fridge, so they are always cool already ... what items did you think of putting in the fridge Rupert? :-D

[Brian Kirby]

wints - 2008-07-19 6:44 PM Part of my question was 'how does the cold transfer from the freezer bit into the fridge part ?' I've seen refridgerant pipes in the freezer but not in the fridge. On 12v from ambient, approx 18 C, it took about 30 mins (Lytham to Leyland) for the freezer to get to -4 C, the fridge was 12 C. The fridge was empty. regards Allen

Yes, but!  This is read the manual time!  Dometic, at least, do not propose the 12V element as a means to bring the fridge down to temperature, only a means of maintaining the temperature once the fridge is cold.  They recommend: "Switch the refrigerator on approx. 12 hours before filling it".  Since the 12V only operates when the engine is running, the implication seems clear.  They also state: "The refrigerator will take several hours to reach its operating temperature in the cooling compartment.  The freezer compartment should be cold about one hour after switching on the refrigerator." 

[wints]

Just back from 3 days in Coniston. Middle of a field, no hook up. Fridge on gas mark 3 (out of 5). Freezing (solid ice ) in freezer, and milk cold enough in fridge. Temps outside approx 20 C, but 27 C in van today. So I think all is ok.

Also managed to get astra 28E on my maplins sattelite. I've had this for a year and played with it 2 or 3 times, always got astra 19E but never the main one until now. Excellent picture and the boss was chuffed.

regards

Allen