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ChrisAich · 10-02-2002, 10:39 AM

Dear Group,

When we were out (first time) we ended up dry camping.
The refrigerator was on gas. There was a noise coming from the refrigerator. If you are not level (and we knew we were slightly off and getting boards to prevent this in future) is there a fan or something that turns on for some reason?
I have the refrigerator on (gas) in the driveway and there is no noise.
Anyone know anything about this? Thanks.

Christine
CCD 2002

JPAIRSTREAM · 10-02-2002, 04:55 PM

There is a fan in the Refrigerator cabinet. If the temp goes over a certain degrees the fan will turn on to circulate the air thru cabinet. This will help the refrigerator operate correctly.

uwe · 10-02-2002, 04:57 PM

Hi Christine,

I read that a propane refrigerator should not be more than 1/2 bubble off level. Do you think it was more than that when you heard the noise?
Your noise could come from multiple sources, for example it could be a slight noise from the burner, or it could be your ammonia inside the refrigeration unit bubbling, if you were too far off level, or it might be a ventilation fan for the cooling unit that you are hearing. Hard to tell without a closer description. If it does not make the noise when level in your driveway, then it might have been caused by the trailer being off level.
Are you sure it had to do with the refrigerator?

Pahaska · 10-02-2002, 05:18 PM

A/S had to install a fan because in the Internationals, there is no rooftop vent to provide convection cooling of the fins.

On a cool night, you will hear the fan cycle on and off as the burner cycles. On a warm day, the fan will run continuously. The fan is on a thermal switch and will start 15-20 minutes after the refrigerator is initially turned on.

IMHO, the fan runs far too fast and needs a series resistor to quiet it a bit.

ChrisAich · 10-03-2002, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pahaska
A/S had to install a fan because in the Internationals, there is no rooftop vent to provide convection cooling of the fins.

On a cool night, you will hear the fan cycle on and off as the burner cycles. On a warm day, the fan will run continuously. The fan is on a thermal switch and will start 15-20 minutes after the refrigerator is initially turned on.

IMHO, the fan runs far too fast and needs a series resistor to quiet it a bit.

You're right. It was the fan. I'm just not used to the small hum of that fan being on. In the quiet of a campground it sounds so loud. I'm just used to stone quiet when I'm napping or sleeping in the bedroom at night. I think I'm just going to have to get used to it. Sorry for the fuss.

Christine

ChrisAich · 10-03-2002, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by uwe
Hi Christine,

I read that a propane refrigerator should not be more than 1/2 bubble off level. Do you think it was more than that when you heard the noise?
Your noise could come from multiple sources, for example it could be a slight noise from the burner, or it could be your ammonia inside the refrigeration unit bubbling, if you were too far off level, or it might be a ventilation fan for the cooling unit that you are hearing. Hard to tell without a closer description. If it does not make the noise when level in your driveway, then it might have been caused by the trailer being off level.
Are you sure it had to do with the refrigerator?

As it turns out, I've made a big fuss over a naturally occuring function. The fan. It's just doing it's job. Duhh. At night when everything was so quiet, it seemed SO loud.

Thanks for your response. I'm lucky I have my fan on the other side of the trailer from the door. At least it will always work. I will look forward to the fan cycling *off*. Thanks for your response.

Christine
CCD

ChrisAich · 10-03-2002, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JPAIRSTREAM
There is a fan in the Refrigerator cabinet. If the temp goes over a certain degrees the fan will turn on to circulate the air thru cabinet. This will help the refrigerator operate correctly.

Thanks JP. I sat in it yesterday with everything fired up. Definitely the little fan and I will have to sit out there a lot and work on getting used to that sound. Looking forward to hearing it cycle *off*. lol.

Christine
CCD

betteleal · 11-10-2002, 11:26 PM

It takes a little getting used to, but eventually you won't even hear the refrigerator fan. The worst part is in the beginning when you hear it and don't know where the noise is coming from and why there is that noise.. time will take care of it. we just returned from our first rally (Nevada unit) in Mesquite (dry camping) yes, the noise was there but hardly noticed it. Was ab le to get to sleep after all.

hex · 11-11-2002, 07:04 AM

ChrisAich wrote:

Quote:

You're right. It was the fan. I'm just not used to the small hum of that fan being on. In the quiet of a campground it sounds so loud. I'm just used to stone quiet when I'm napping or sleeping in the bedroom at night. I think I'm just going to have to get used to it. Sorry for the fuss.

Christine

Fuss? Not hardly Christine.
These questions are the little ones of REAL Value to so many of us newbies (and prob'ly some oldies as well). There is no other place to get these factoids. So IMHO it is imperative that nothingAirstream ever be considered too trivial to ask. Thanks.

Now would someone define ~~~dry camping~~~ to me. Is the other kind of camping ~~~wet camping~~~?

Pahaska · 11-11-2002, 09:10 AM

There is also a fan in the AC/DC converter that you may hear from time to time. I was working in the trailer the other day with every light and both Fantastic Fans turned on. The fan in my converter cycled on and off a couple of times during the afternoon (outside temp was about 90 degrees).

Diana Langley · 11-11-2002, 09:39 AM

Now would someone define ~~~dry camping~~~ to me. Is the other kind of camping ~~~wet camping~~~?

Dry camping is when you are camping in an area without any kind of water or electrical hookups.

thenewkid64 · 11-11-2002, 09:48 AM

I have also heard that called boondocking.

Diana Langley · 11-11-2002, 09:53 AM

Maybe it's a Southern California thing. I usually head for the desert when I camp.

ChrisAich · 11-11-2002, 12:11 PM

One more thing on the refrigerator fan. A friend suggested I may have the refrigerator set too high. Bingo, I turned it down to 4 and it cycles off more than it runs and keeps everything cool. Of course it hasn't been hot here either. So, I'm sure if I'm traveling in heat I'll have to turn it up. Oh, well.

Christine

Pahaska · 11-11-2002, 12:49 PM

ChrisAich

I would suggest you invest in a good refrigerator thermometer and use it to insure that the temperature is always below 40 degrees. I have a good stainless steel one that I use to keep an eye on the fridge.

One caveat: The thermostat is in the refrigerator part and there is no real temperature control on the freezer portion. It just gets colder when the refrigerator thermostat calls for more cold. On one of my previous trailers, I found that the freezer will defrost if the outside air gets down close to freezing.

Most of the periiphery of the refrigerator is exposed to outside temperatures and there isn't enough call for the box to cool so that the freezer will gradually come up to the ambient temperature.

Pick · 11-11-2002, 07:52 PM

We like dry camping or boondocking here in the East also. Lots of places to boondock in Pennsylvania, especially the Allegheny National Forest.

**jcanavera** · 01-17-2003, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pahaska
I would suggest you invest in a good refrigerator thermometer and use it to insure that the temperature is always below 40 degrees. I have a good stainless steel one that I use to keep an eye on the fridge.

I'm planning on putting a wireless unit in our refrigerator this year. The base unit can monitor multiple remotes so you could upgrade and add an additional remote in the freezer, and one outside if you wish. Some base units have alarm set points so you could be alerted to high temps in the refrigerator.

I'm finding that these wireless units can be found for $20-30. This includes the base unit and one remote.

Jack

silverback · 07-27-2003, 04:09 PM

Shouldn't the fan turn off sometime? We picked our CCD up yesterday, and during orientation the refrigerator was turned on with 110 VAC and gas. As far as I can tell it was turned off (knobs are in the off position), but that fan has never stopped running. Of course it is well over a hundred degrees where we're storing it (well into the evening). I even tried the battery disconnect switch (another thread I'll be starting shortly). That seemed to increase the fan's RPMs and I didn't like the readout I was getting on our solar panel controller so I switched it back to use from store. Definitely some questions for our dealer tomorrow morning on that also. Is it just the heat?
Thanks,
Ken

Pahaska · 07-27-2003, 05:25 PM

In my experience, in 95-degree+++ heat, the fan will run for hours after the refrigerator is turned off, until all residual heat is removed from the coils. I suspect that the fan thermostat has some hysterises so that, once turned on, it takes a lower temperature to turn back off.

Last week, in approximately 95-degree temperature, it ran continuously throughout the day. In the evening, it started cycling and in the 73-degree night, it came on only periodically.

The reason the fan speeded up when you turned off the battery disconnect is that the voltage rose without the battery charging load. Your solar array should be connected on the battery side of the battery disconnect or else the fan will run all by itself on real hot days.

JPAIRSTREAM · 07-27-2003, 05:34 PM

The fan will come on if the interior of the cabinet is above 85 degrees even if the refrigerator is shut off. The sensor in the right corner of the refer is hooked to the 12 volt separate. There should be an inline fuse to the fan. If you are not using your refer. I suppose you could take it out.. But be advised if you do not put it back in the refer will not work correctly with out this fan. It will not cool correctly without the circulation through the coils.