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Old 05-21-2022, 11:27 PM   #1
wmb
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2013 25' Flying Cloud
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Fridge cools fine during the day but not during the night

It's the strangest thing. We're in Texas right now so we're getting 90F+ during the day, with the afternoon sun beating down on the fridge side, but the fridge stays around 36-39F. Starting at sundown, the fridge creeps over 40F, and by midnight it's around 48F. Then in the morning around 8am it's back down to 38F.

It's on electric, and the door seal seems to be fine all the way around.

What could be going on there?
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Old 05-22-2022, 12:34 AM   #2
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Is it on 12 volts or 120 volts?
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Old 05-22-2022, 12:45 AM   #3
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Is it on 12 volts or 120 volts?
Hmm, good question. I assume 120, since when we're not connected to shore power it auto-switches to LP. But there's also a 12V fuse labelled "fridge", which I assume is only for the light, control panel and fan.
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Old 05-22-2022, 04:36 AM   #4
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Just read an article seeing that Tesla has asked customers to not charge during peak use hours, 3-8pm. Maybe you're seeing the results of voltage drop where you are due to increased energy use during these peak time?

Have you got a EMS unit to protect against low voltage? Do you have a way to measure your 120v voltage during the evening hours? Would be interesting to see what the power is doing during the times when everyone is returning home and turning on their a/c units at the same time.
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Old 05-22-2022, 05:32 AM   #5
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Can you switch it to gas for an evening test and monitor temps. Possible issue with 120VAC heating element
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Old 05-22-2022, 05:51 AM   #6
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I presume you have a side vent system. Is the refer fan turning off after sunset maybe but the ambient temp is still high. Then as the ambient air drops, the refer doesn’t need the airflow for cooling effeciency.

I would check the button thermostat on the fins if the fan isn’t on. You can use a hair dryer or even jump it with a paper clip. Another possibility is that the stat is failing and while it is turning on/off, it doesn’t at the designed set points generally 90 off and 105 on ( rated at 85/100 with a 5 dev +/- var) you can check that with an infrared heat gun.

If you have some spare connectors simply unhook the two wires at the stat and make a short jump and just let the fans fun controlled by the refer’s fan toggle switch.
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Old 05-22-2022, 08:47 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by richard5933 View Post
Just read an article seeing that Tesla has asked customers to not charge during peak use hours, 3-8pm. Maybe you're seeing the results of voltage drop where you are due to increased energy use during these peak time?

Have you got a EMS unit to protect against low voltage? Do you have a way to measure your 120v voltage during the evening hours? Would be interesting to see what the power is doing during the times when everyone is returning home and turning on their a/c units at the same time.
We use the Progressive EMS-PT30X, and I have a UPS inside the trailer that shows a line voltage. We've had one low-voltage trip at the EMS recently (during a storm), but I've never noticed lower supply voltages during the night.
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Old 05-22-2022, 08:51 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by CruizinDux View Post
I presume you have a side vent system. Is the refer fan turning off after sunset maybe but the ambient temp is still high. Then as the ambient air drops, the refer doesn’t need the airflow for cooling effeciency.

I would check the button thermostat on the fins if the fan isn’t on. You can use a hair dryer or even jump it with a paper clip. Another possibility is that the stat is failing and while it is turning on/off, it doesn’t at the designed set points generally 90 off and 105 on ( rated at 85/100 with a 5 dev +/- var) you can check that with an infrared heat gun.

If you have some spare connectors simply unhook the two wires at the stat and make a short jump and just let the fans fun controlled by the refer’s fan toggle switch.
Yes, side vent. I just now bypassed the thermostat so that the fan is on continuously, and will monitor. Of course, after the storm last night we're now in for a few days of 60s and 70s so the experiment might have to run a bit longer before we get back to the 90-100 highs...
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Old 05-22-2022, 08:54 AM   #9
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Can you switch it to gas for an evening test and monitor temps. Possible issue with 120VAC heating element
Yes, I'll try that next after the "always-on-fan" test.
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Old 05-22-2022, 09:09 AM   #10
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My theory is that if it's an absorption cooling fridge, you may be seeing the delay of the afternoon reduction in cooling ability. The food will keep absorbing heat for a while and hold the inside temp but eventually as you open the door to put stuff in and out, the temperature will rise, especially as you put warm foods back in. The absorption will start working again in earnest late in the evening when ambient temps come back down and will eventually catch up especially when you leave the door shut overnight. One trick that might help is keeping a frozen 1 liter bottle of water in the freezer at night and move it to the fridge during the day to help reduce the temperature swing. We also prop our fridge access door open in hot climates and have installed a thermostatically controlled fan blowing up the evaporator stack when the ambient gets over 90 degrees. CruzinDux may be on track of you do have a fan, the thermostat may be wonky. - Brad
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Old 05-22-2022, 09:41 AM   #11
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All that I read can be an issue. Like my home, the Airstream will collect thermal mass as the day goes on and it is hard to overcome that. It loses it’s thermal mass as the evening hours come. Multiply that by the rigs in a park and it is a strain on the grid and each unit can suffer from it. Doesn’t matter if you are on shore power or gas.
I now have a more
modern fridge and it is much better with this problem.
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Old 05-22-2022, 12:30 PM   #12
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After sunset I’d start to load the next days refreshments. A few warm beers and water bottles, not to mention warm leftovers are more than sufficient to affect the thermal load of the refer.
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Old 05-22-2022, 01:54 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wmb View Post
Hmm, good question. I assume 120, since when we're not connected to shore power it auto-switches to LP. But there's also a 12V fuse labelled "fridge", which I assume is only for the light, control panel and fan.
try switching to LP for several days
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Old 05-22-2022, 01:58 PM   #14
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WMB, here is some reading re refer cooling, stats, venting and fans.

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f42...cb-230593.html

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f42...ml#post2590856 less applicable but IMO good refer info.

I have a buddy in Pdx, OR who has a FV 23, (maybe even a 2013) who has only the smaller horizontal fan. Not sure when the JC design creep occurred, but with all of my discussions with JC & Dometic re insulation and fans the new manual for my refer (RM2451 side vent) they now show the horizontal fan as an alternate. A brief walk at the local AS dealer virtually al the side vent units only utilized the alt location which apparently at JC is now OEM.

AS such I added it as a 3rd, and powered/switched/fused it separately than the the top two (OEM one fan).

I'm not sure what the magic combo is top 2 ~ Top 2 + Bottom 1, both on the stat and without/jumped. It should also be noted I kept the OEM upper stat but added a stat for a lower with a lower set point, so it turn on sooner and turns off later. This way I can switch from the higher set points to the lower set points.

Also I bought a hand held infrared heat gun and a remote thermo display (comes with two sensors) so will put one sensor in the refer and the other in the exterior compartment so maybe I can see the science of the results of the different fan/stat/jump options.

BTW, thanks SuperTrooper, for the reminder. Seems I got off track on the best use of the freezer.
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Old 05-22-2022, 07:32 PM   #15
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Interesting Though

Is is that the fridge after operating in the beating sun just shuts down under the cooler night temps?

On the grid- I remember years ago the brown outs that were predicted from electric cars from charging at work, so cars plugged in all day were supposed to donate juice back into the grid on peak demand and then cut off with enough range to get home in exchange for super low rates charging at home at night-


Quote:
Originally Posted by richard5933 View Post
Just read an article seeing that Tesla has asked customers to not charge during peak use hours, 3-8pm. Maybe you're seeing the results of voltage drop where you are due to increased energy use during these peak time?

Have you got a EMS unit to protect against low voltage? Do you have a way to measure your 120v voltage during the evening hours? Would be interesting to see what the power is doing during the times when everyone is returning home and turning on their a/c units at the same time.
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Old 05-29-2022, 12:09 PM   #16
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I did this to mine a solved my problems. I’m hooked to shore power while stored with fudge on 24/7 and still works great
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Old 05-30-2022, 05:58 PM   #17
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I did this to mine a solved my problems. I’m hooked to shore power while stored with fudge on 24/7 and still works great
Do fans run constantly or run off thermocouple?
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Old 06-09-2022, 12:51 PM   #18
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Do fans run constantly or run off thermocouple?



I connected it to the factory temp sensor.
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