Freezer cold, refer not!

[scottandrea]

Hi All, My wife and I arrived in NH early today with our 2015 FC 23D. We noticed the freezer is cold and food still frozen, but the refrigerator is hardly cold at all. It's been running all day on AC and we had the unit air conditioning on to keep the temps down. Any idea what might be causing the problem or where we should look? I fear we're about to lose all of our food and have no refrigerator for our vacation. Thank you very much for any help!

[SteveSueMac]

Does your fridge have a temp control in it? In ours, it's in the freezer area. 5 is the coldest setting, 1 the least cold. Check to see where that's set. You may also want to try it on propane if for some funky reason electric isn't working.

Last - we usually start the fridge the night before we travel (on LP) because it can take more than 12 hours for it to get cool.


Wish I could be of more help!

[CRH]

What are the actual temps?

[paiceman]

Ours never seems cold so we have a thermometer in the fridge area and when the freezer seems very cold and fridge does not we check, it's usually right at 40 degrees F. which is fine.

Bud

[CRH]

I turned mine on using gas Wednesday evening. Yesterday evening, the trailer was 92 degrees inside. The digital thermometer in the fridge read 29 degrees.

[SteveSueMac]

Any update here?

[philipsinewe]

I could be wrong, but keeping the inside of the trailer cool will not make a lot of difference. When it gets hot out, we run ours on propane always. Much more efficient than the electric is.

[JCWDCW]

Originally Posted by philipsinewe

I could be wrong, but keeping the inside of the trailer cool will not make a lot of difference. When it gets hot out, we run ours on propane always. Much more efficient than the electric is.

The heat from the refrigeration system is vented either up the stack or by forced (fan) ventilation. There is more heat around the back of the fridge than the sides and front, and good airflow up over the condenser coils is more important than the actual temps around the fridge walls. Parking with the fridge facing blazing sun is not helpful!
Check your manual....there is usually a sensor clipped to the fins. Not sure about this but apparently you can move the sensor to compensate for fridge temp.
Also, you cannot open the door and just gander at the fridge contents. All the cold air falls out of the fridge and is replaced by warm air, so you need to be efficient at getting things out of the fridge and closing the door! Recovery is a lot longer than the time it takes to lose the cold air.
A small indoor/outdoor temp gauge with a probe on a length of wire is helpful for troubleshooting, without opening the door to check a thermometer. Mine runs on a AAA battery that lasts about two years.
JCW

[Cannonball]

I am intrigued by the concept of the fridge being more efficient on propane than electric in hot conditions. I am absolutely not being argumentative, but am really interested in this concept. How do you discover this/come to this conclusion? Is it merely measuring the temps? If I run the fridge on propane, can I leave the battery in "store" mode, or should it be left on?

[2fromtexas]

Helps to keep the awning down on the refrigerator side when very hot and sunny outside and yes don't browse get what you need and close the door. The white tab should be all the way up on the fin in the refrigerator.

[dolson]

Had similar issues. All above comments appropriate. Also, install a small refrigerator fan to circulate air. Seems to help a lot. Available online or at RV stores.

[The Ice Man]

There is a little white sensor that clips on the far right hand fin (in my 27 FB). This sensor can be knocked off very easily. With it off the fin I get temps approaching 40 degrees. If I'm getting high temp readings it's always the sensor that has come loose or been moved. For example (and this goes to the propane question as well) with the sensor properly installed I got the refrigerator section down to 32 degrees on propane with a 111 outside temperature in Page, Arizona last Tuesday. (No I'm not nuts, I was just on my way to the 88 degrees of Flagstaff. )

[rvb]

The whole system cools well but very slowly. Freezer first then the fins in the refrig box. The refrigerator box uses convection currents to cool from the fins at the top down into the box. You have to have air flow in the box for it to cool. It also cools better if the items you put in it are already cold.

We pulled into a campground today and my wife went to the store. Later I noticed our refrig. box was 43 degrees and the freezer was frozen solid. My wife had filled the top shelf full and the cold could not move down into the box. I redistributed the food so there was airspace around items all the way down and it was under 40 degrees in about an hour and a half. It is 34 degrees now (set on 5).

[Tampatomgirl]

I'm curious as well as Cannonball how you determined the frig is more efficient running on propane than electric since electricity is less expensive.

[rvb]

Originally Posted by Tampatomgirl

I'm curious as well as Cannonball how you determined the frig is more efficient running on propane than electric since electricity is less expensive.

He may be referring to it cooling quicker on propane than electricity. Propane may heat the coils quicker.

[rvb]

Originally Posted by Tampatomgirl

I'm curious as well as Cannonball how you determined the frig is more efficient running on propane than electric since electricity is less expensive.

Propane may heat the coils quicker than electric so he may be referring to it cooling quicker.

[rvb]

Sorry I posted twice. I refreshed and it didn't show up.

[SteveSueMac]

I usually love a cliffhanger buy c'mon now, Scottandrea 😜

[philipsinewe]

Originally Posted by Tampatomgirl

I'm curious as well as Cannonball how you determined the frig is more efficient running on propane than electric since electricity is less expensive.

Can't really confirm, have always been told, and read a few articles that state the frig is more efficient (at getting cold) on propane because of more heat being produced. Our experience shows that (not scientific) it does cool better on gas.

[philipsinewe]

Originally Posted by Cannonball

I am intrigued by the concept of the fridge being more efficient on propane than electric in hot conditions. I am absolutely not being argumentative, but am really interested in this concept. How do you discover this/come to this conclusion? Is it merely measuring the temps? If I run the fridge on propane, can I leave the battery in "store" mode, or should it be left on?

That just what we have always been told. I seem to remember reading a tech article at some point. Now, I will say, we do not have 2016 trailer. Ours is a 2003. Technology may have changed. Ours clearly cools better on gas. Just by inside temp.

Our frig still requires battery to run on gas.