Fridge temp too high

[Pahaska]

I have tried a battery-driven fan inside, blowing up against the evaporator coils. It made a bit of difference, but my thermometer on the bottom shelf still shows the effective temperature is warmer than I want.

[Dalwyn]

Here is one of the threads regarding problems with the cooling in the fridge for GT owners. I have been having problems since I got my unit. Nova Kool made some suggestions that my dealer followed. It helped some but still having cooling problems when temp and humidity are high.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f240...te-153680.html

This is an answer I got from Airstream support when I contacted them about the problem. I have attached photos showing what Nova Kool recommended.

I am sending him a vent kit with an additional fan. This will help circulation to the refrigerator compartment and it should run more efficiently. We have seen this issue a few times, and it is typically only when the outside temperatures are very high.

[FlyFishinRVr]

Originally Posted by amirm

My lithium batteries run at pretty high voltage (about 14.4 volts). I would think that is good for it but who knows.

If I remember right, you recently completed your conversion to lithium, and you said your fridge ran fine prior to that. You may want to reach out to NovaKool and see what they say about running at a higher-than-expected voltage. Have you placed a clamp on the input to see if you're pushing more current than spec'd? You should be around 2.2A when the compressor is running. Not sure what might happen if you push much past that.....

[68 TWind]

We have issues with our fridge too ( not the original). I've installed fans to pull more air over the coils but here in the south when the humidity and temp are close to 100- the temp will get into the low 40's during the day even when the freezer is at zero. We bought an digital indoor outdoor thermometer from Wally World that works great. I found that the temp varies greatly depending on where the sender is placed. Only suggestion is when you have to open it, get everything out at one time and then get it closed. Just opening the door will increase the temp several degrees and it takes a while to get it back down. The other issue is that if I don't turn the thermostat down at night, in the morning things inside will be frozen.

[Fly.On]

Our 2017 GT has had no problem maintaining 40-deg refer temp with control set at 5 and 0-deg freezer temp with control on 6. Outside temps were in the low to mid 90s on a number of days. We have an Acurite remote Digital Refrigerator/Freezer Thermometer Model 00986 and are very happy with it.

[amirm]

Just an update. Went on a two day trip to Washington/Oregon coast so temps were pretty reasonable. We put in two freezer packs and two bottles of frozen water. That worked beyond my expectations. Two days later and everything was super cold! We kept two other freezer packs in the freezer and swapped them out two days later.

Other than taking extra space, this solution definitely works.

The wireless temp sensors arrived today so will be installing that next.

[FlyFishinRVr]

Originally Posted by amirm

Just an update. Went on a two day trip to Washington/Oregon coast so temps were pretty reasonable. We put in two freezer packs and two bottles of frozen water. That worked beyond my expectations. Two days later and everything was super cold! We kept two other freezer packs in the freezer and swapped them out two days later.

Other than taking extra space, this solution definitely works.

The wireless temp sensors arrived today so will be installing that next.

So that amount of thermal mass was enough to do the trick. Interesting. That says you are right on the edge without it, meaning a small change somewhere may get you where you want to be and free up the space taken by the frozen items. [emoji846]

[TayaraTravel]

Originally Posted by Fly.On

Our 2017 GT has had no problem maintaining 40-deg refer temp with control set at 5 and 0-deg freezer temp with control on 6. Outside temps were in the low to mid 90s on a number of days. We have an Acurite remote Digital Refrigerator/Freezer Thermometer Model 00986 and are very happy with it.

So far our 2017 GT refrigerator has performed fine, in sometimes very hot Texas weather.

I also have this thermometer, but it sometimes annoyingly loses connection between the remote sensors. Is there a trick to keep it happy?

[urnmor]

Since your AS is a 2016 is it still under warranty? if so why not have the dealer look at it.

[amirm]

Originally Posted by urnmor

Since your AS is a 2016 is it still under warranty? if so why not have the dealer look at it.

'cause I suspect they will just keep it and find nothing wrong. This is our prime RV season and I don't want to be without it.

That said, I found a window leaking so have to take it in anyway. I will install the temp sensors so I have some way of showing them the problem.

[amirm]

FYI just made the appointment for the leak and she asked me if there was anything else to look at and I mentioned this issue. Problem is, the appointment is on September 5th!!! What a screwed up industry. Waiting until the entire RV season is almost over here to repair something? And one that involves leakage of rain into the cabin???

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by amirm

FYI just made the appointment for the leak and she asked me if there was anything else to look at and I mentioned this issue. Problem is, the appointment is on September 5th!!! What a screwed up industry. Waiting until the entire RV season is almost over here to repair something? And one that involves leakage of rain into the cabin???

You just hit on one of the big problems with RV Industry. Lack of service.

I just had this discussion with a friend that also maintains his own RV like I do. If you have to rely on a dealer for months or who is 100's of miles away you are screwed. Not a good situation.

Best of luck,

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by amirm

FYI just made the appointment for the leak and she asked me if there was anything else to look at and I mentioned this issue. Problem is, the appointment is on September 5th!!! What a screwed up industry. Waiting until the entire RV season is almost over here to repair something? And one that involves leakage of rain into the cabin???

+1 on what the poster above replied.

If LB_3 and I had gone the route of getting our Dometic 3-way fridge repaired instead of buying the new Vitrifrigo, it would have been a minimum 5 to 10 weeks to get the warranty claim fulfilled (according to the local Dometic-authorized shops I called).

For many intents and purposes, once you buy that vehicle, you're on your own. The pieces of paper may say that you are entitled to this or that in the way of support, but chances are good that you can't wait that long and you're going to be stuck either paying out the nose to have someone take care of it off-warranty, or you'll be DIYing it. Are you going to allow your rig to leak for the next six weeks until that appointment rolls around? My guess would be no.

[amirm]

We are lucky that this is our dry season and the leak is very slight and falls where it is easy to deal with. Not ideal but yes, I can wait seeing how it is not going to be an easy job to rip out that window, reseal it, and put it back together.

[toskeysam]

I too wrestled with window leak. Destroyed the mouse fur wall behind driver. I discovered the leak at the beginning of our summer trip. Showed it to my dealer and told him I'd be back in October. I ran a bead of silicon window dealer around the window for now. You can't see it but I know it's there.

[glcmranger]

Look inside back by the fins. On the right side, there is a plastic slider. Make sure it's all the way to the top of the fin. Coldest position is attached to right fin, slid up.

[gghayes]

Originally Posted by amirm

BTW, I did find a thread where the person had tried everything from fan to changing the resistor on the compressor and nothing helped. He took it to Nova Kool and they could not figure it out either. So they said they were going to make him a custom unit to do the job! Sadly, that is where the thread ended.

Given that the evaporator coils are solid frozen, I am thinking cooling capacity is not a problem but rather, there is not enough circulation inside to push the heat to go out. Fashioning a fan inside is not fun though but maybe I do a temporary setup and see if it works better.

To finish the thread, I fianally took the van to the factory and they installed a 2017 refrigerator and it is now working perfectly
Gloria

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by gghayes

To finish the thread, I fianally took the van to the factory and they installed a 2017 refrigerator and it is now working perfectly

Gloria

Good to know - thanks for the follow-up.

[amirm]

Thanks for the update.

In my case, it took so long to take it in for service that the weather cooled and so they said there is nothing wrong with it. Have to wait for next summer to see if the issue comes back!

Meanwhile it got so cold outside that the diet coke cans we had in there froze and exploded!!! Only the diet coke seems to do that. Other types of drinks had not even frozen. What a huge mess it was to clean up!

[VAtom]

Originally Posted by amirm

Thanks for the update.

Meanwhile it got so cold outside that the diet coke cans we had in there froze and exploded!!! Only the diet coke seems to do that. Other types of drinks had not even frozen!

Salt, sugar and alchohol lower the freezing point of water. I doubt that the small amount of chemical sweetner in Diet Coke does.

I've had club soda cans explode, but not sugar sodas.
The plastic used for most bottled water is too tough to explode from expansion.