Refrigerator woes again - so frustrating

[ncitro]

This is what is behind my top vent - has four cooling fans below.

Attachment 21362

Mine was similar to that, but was sheet metal and had an angle at the top to direct air away. I was hoping when I pulled the fridge away I would see a way to improve it, but it did not look like the gain I would get would make enough difference.

[FatTire]

Yeah I was really expecting (and hoping) to see a shoddy install I could point to when I pulled mine out, but it was wrapped in insulation, and had sheet metal on the rear wall to direct the airflow. Also I had four fans wired to the rear of the fridge from the factory and all were running properly. All in all it looked like it was installed as intended, I just think that when I was in a lot of sun and heat (pretty much every day I was on the road this last trip) it got up into the low 40s. After having some chunks in my milk one morning I decided enough was enough and installed a residential fridge. Granted I already had the inverter and solar panels to make this an easy change. The hardest part was figuring out how to seal up the access holes behind the fridge. I settled on black spray foam, so I could keep the access in case I needed it. Other than that its bigger than the RV fridge, way better organized, and has drinking water and ice. Plus it cools down in almost no time, and I assume is capable of holding the temperature lol. My first trip out with it will be for 10 days in a couple of weeks, so I will report back then.

What is the purpose of the inverter and solar? Are these used to charge a battery for use while traveling -or just when no power is available? We don't camp off the grid so would just need power while going down the road. What did you use for a fridge?

[ncitro]

What is the purpose of the inverter and solar? Are these used to charge a battery for use while traveling -or just when no power is available? We don't camp off the grid so would just need power while going down the road. What did you use for a fridge?

Yeah the inverter powers the 120V fridge off of my batteries when not hooked up. The solar recharges them. I have 4, 6V golf car batteries (soon to be lithium), so if we did no dry camping, it would probably be enough to run it just driving, but the solar gives a nice buffer, and allows me to dry camp if needed/wanted.

I started off looking at the Samsung Grand Design installs from the factory, and it would have fit in the best, but in my unit the fridge is all by itself away from the counters and cabinets. That allowed us to completely remove the fridge cabinet and get pretty much whatever counter depth fridge we wanted, so I went with a little bigger unit with more space and a lot more organization. I found an open box unit with a couple small dents in it we picked up, it was a Samsung RM22KREDBSS.

If you do not dry camp at all I would think you could get by with a small inverter behind the fridge that just runs it while you are driving (this is what the factory does on the residential Solitudes). I would definitely recommend it in that case, the only negative I see to a residential is not being able to run it on propane when dry camping.

[TheLexx]

Mine was similar to that, but was sheet metal and had an angle at the top to direct air away. I was hoping when I pulled the fridge away I would see a way to improve it, but it did not look like the gain I would get would make enough difference.

Mine is sheet metal as well. Therefore I can’t get access to the fan that is below. I’ve thought about removing the plastic shroud surround that the vent clips onto but I have no idea of it’s also glued in or just held in with screws. Don’t know if that will give me any more access.

Otherwise i I will resort to installing fans in the bottom vent area.

[ncitro]

Mine is sheet metal as well. Therefore I can’t get access to the fan that is below. I’ve thought about removing the plastic shroud surround that the vent clips onto but I have no idea of it’s also glued in or just held in with screws. Don’t know if that will give me any more access.

Otherwise i I will resort to installing fans in the bottom vent area.

Yeah we have the same rig, and about the same age. I can tell you the shroud is screwed in and siliconed. I can also tell you that the sheet metal is simply screwed to the wall from the inside, but I do not think you could get access without removing the fridge. It was pretty easy to do. Two screws in the front into the floor, two in the top up, and two or three in the back down into the floor. Then it just pulled right out. Was easy for two of us, one pushing from the access hole and one pulling from the front. If you had a four wheel dolly you could probably go right onto that.

I would be genuinely curious if additional fans helps you. I found I was getting really good airflow out the upper vent when the fans were running (which was most of the time), and after opening it up I just did not think more fans would make much of a difference.

[minnow101]

Depending on how many hours you travel a day, you might not need an inverter at all. The residential will keep things cold for many hours after its cooled down without being powered.

[TheLexx]

Yeah we have the same rig, and about the same age. I can tell you the shroud is screwed in and siliconed. I can also tell you that the sheet metal is simply screwed to the wall from the inside, but I do not think you could get access without removing the fridge. It was pretty easy to do. Two screws in the front into the floor, two in the top up, and two or three in the back down into the floor. Then it just pulled right out. Was easy for two of us, one pushing from the access hole and one pulling from the front. If you had a four wheel dolly you could probably go right onto that.

I would be genuinely curious if additional fans helps you. I found I was getting really good airflow out the upper vent when the fans were running (which was most of the time), and after opening it up I just did not think more fans would make much of a difference.

Yeah, I figured it was siliconed in. So it'll be kind of a PITA to get off, just like the windows are.

I'm not sure it's worth the effort for me to pull the fridge out to access the back. My inclination is to just add some fans from the bottom vent. I'm going to do that and also add some fans inside the fridge. If those two things do nothing to improve the performance then I'm going to have to resort to replacing the fridge with a residential unit.

I'm really sick and tired of stressing out over the internal temps of this unit. Every time we travel, we're running into the trailer at rest stops to monitor the temps. It's such a waste of mental energy!

[ncitro]

Thats exactly why we changed it out. Last year at the rally I was stressing out cause the temperature kept climbing. We had the Dometic guy stop by and he said everything was fine and explained the defrost thing, and after that it seemed fine. Then this last trip it was get up to the 45-46 range while we were travelling and I was just done. Especially given what a residential cost vs eventually having to replace the cooling unit or something anyway. On top of that the organization was terrible in the RV unit, with the freezer on top anything in the drawers was impossible to get to, and stuff was always getting lost in the back. I just thought this would be a better way to go.

[JKellerJr]

Depending on how many hours you travel a day, you might not need an inverter at all. The residential will keep things cold for many hours after its cooled down without being powered.

I don't necessarily agree with this. I have a residential and on my last trip I forgot to power the inverter and after about an 4 1/2 trip it had already started to warm up a few degrees. I don't remember exactly how much, it wasn't a lot but it was in the low 40's and it set at 38. It was a 90 degree day.

[ncitro]

I don't necessarily agree with this. I have a residential and on my last trip I forgot to power the inverter and after about an 4 1/2 trip it had already started to warm up a few degrees. I don't remember exactly how much, it wasn't a lot but it was in the low 40's and it set at 38. It was a 90 degree day.

That was my thought too. I know the advice at home was always that if you kept it shut your fridge would hold temp for a long time in a power outage, but given how hot the RV gets during travel I would not want to bet on that.