My 13' Scamp has a three-way refrigerator (Dometic 2183, I think). I use the 120VAC to cool it down before we start a trip. I get it down to between 35 and 40 deg. F. This is usually somewhere around 3 on the dial. When we hit the road, I switch to 12VDC, and set the setting as high as it will go. With outside temps in the 60s (most recent trip), it warmed up to 45 after 2-2.5 hours. Once in camp, if there are no hookups, I turn on the propane. This works, but the downside is, I have to keep fiddling with the setting. It seems as if the knob setting tells it how hard to work. The results of the work, in terms of refrigerator temperature, are greatly influenced by outside temperature. On this last trip, during the day, with ambient temp. of about 70, I turned it way up - between 4 and 5 on 5-number scale. That maintained 40 or a little less. But as the outside cooled, my refrigerator went down too - to 35, then 32, then 30. I kept turning the dial down. Finally, at 1, with an outside temp of 40, the fridge stabilized at 40 for the night.
Is this just the way life is, working with a propane refrigerator? What experience have others had? Are there tips and tricks to make this easier?
Thanks,
Randy
Two things.
1. It sounds like you fridge is not working or just barely working when on the road. The temperature rise you quoted while on the 2 hour trip is close to what I might see with the fridge off completely. While I truly like to avoid running the fridge on propane when on the road, if I have valuable food in there I sometimes turn on the propane when the temp starts to rise (~2 hours depending on conditions) because I do not have a charge line. I know when the temp rise because I use a remote thermometer.
2. Yes the fridge is very much affected by changing conditions. Outside air temp, amount of sun, temp of food inside, available air flow in the fridge, etc. So I monitor the temps and make adjustments. Experience will help you get an idea what setting you need for what conditions. (with 40 degrees outside, you don't need much cooling to keep the fridge at 40 ;))
A small batt fan inside can help with air flow and a small computer type box fan on the outside can help move air over the coils... all that info is online.
I believe Scamp uses a Dometic 2193 (Dometic doesn't make a 2183). On that model, 12v is either on or off (the thermostat setting has no effect) and uses 10-12 amps, more than most TV wiring can keep up with. We find that running 2 hours on and 2 hours off when on a long trip keeps things cool without killing the battery.
On propane, there are 3 settings that control the flame size only, and therefore, cooling capacity. Light it on high and keep it there if ambient temp is 80 or above and if the door is opened often. Use medium or low as temps or usage change. Ours won't stay lit while driving.
Use AC whenever available. Setting 4-5 is usually good.
This has worked for us over the last 10 years.
Lynn and Pam
Randy,
There are already several good replies, but take solace in the fact that we all do the RV refrigerator dance. We found with all the different refrigerators we've had on our trailers over the years not one worked like the others. What worked on our 81 Scamp 13, didn't work as well on the next one.
Our 13's have always run best on propane and we usually went ahead and left it running on propane all the time even when AC hookups were available. We got 27 days on avg on our 13's out of a 20lb tank of propane so the cost was non-existent.
Some of the fridges have run minimally better on AC.
All of our fridges performed the worst on 12v if it was a three-way and drained TV battery too fast.
You just have to experiment with your particular fridge and try the different suggestions until you find the optimal settings for yours.
One thing that I've done in all the Dometics is to remove the Thermistor from the cooling fins on the inside of the fridge and let it hang free. This has helped the performance on all of them. Also, how you pack the fridge can affect the performance as well. Make sure you have a good fridge thermometer to be monitoring the temps with as you make the changes.
Here is the response on Dometics site:
The food in my Americana unit doesn’t seem to stay as cold as it should, what should I do?
Cool the refrigerator before placing any food inside (24-48 hours). Never put hot food or drinks into the refrigerator – cool them first.
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