I posted this on FB but no usable suggestions. Hoping someone here has fixed a similar problem. I have a 2011 x 13 Scamp. Problem is with my dometic 2193 3-way fridge. Its hot here in Oklahoma, 95-100 days. On AC the fridge maintains about 38-40 degrees cold. When switch to propane, the temp raises to about 50-55 degrees even on the coldest setting. I have cleaned the jet, the tube, and baffle. Propane pressure is 11 inches to the fridge. I already have a fan kit in the back of the unit. It just seems the flame is not hot enough. What am I missing? Is there something that can go wrong inside the control unit that would restrict the propane? I don't see a filter. This 2193 does not have a thermostat for propane, just high, med, low settings. Maybe I just need to go through all the cleaning steps again? Looking for any suggestions. Thanks
Mark
Were both the electric and the gas test at the same ambient temperature? If you are getting 50 degrees with 100 Degrees ambient, that is very good. All four of my RV refrigerators ran about 35 - 40 degrees under ambient at best.
Thanks for commenting and I appreciate knowing of your experience. This is my first RV fridge as I have owned this Scamp for about a year. Both tests were the same or similar ambient temperatures. Today as another test I ran AC all night last night and measured 38 degrees about noon today, ambient was 95. I switched to propane and within 3-4 hours it was up to 50 degrees and maintained 50 all afternoon as ambient increased to 100. I have tried it several ways and AC consistently cools 10 degrees colder than propane. Its still running on propane and I will check it in the morning. Ambient in my shop will likely "cool" to 90 tonight and be about 95 around 10:00 am tomorrow. From your experience I should be happy with this performance. I expected propane to cool as well or more than AC.
Mark
Mark
Theoretically the fridge could cool to similar temps if you can get the heat out of the enclosure ( your added exhaust fan ) . I added insulation above and on the sides of the fridge that was minimal on ours as installed. The flame sadly adds a ton of heat to the enclosure and only ads to the cooling issue. I do not remember the exact temps at the upper vent but it was as much as 20 deg hotter on LP than electric. and this added high heat is being absorbed thru the fridge back and walls. The flame size is critical. Too large or small is not good but I do not know how to Quantify what is good. I know poking any thing thru the Gas orifice disk can change the size and affect operation.
2019 Scamp 13 standard
Thank you. Learning as I go here. My first two trips were in October and March and I did not pay it much attention. All was well. A trip in the Kansas Nebraska area this past late spring I could see that the refrigerator was dangerously warm when I did not have access to AC for a few days of travel. That's when I started measuring temperatures and decided to pull the refrigerator to add the fans and clean the gas orifice and chimney. Also I installed insulation and improved the sealing where water pipes and propane line penetrated the upper compartment area above the refrigerator. Performance improved on both AC and propane. I will observe the temperature today and switch to medium flame size and see if cooling improves. My next trip is north so its kind of moot at this point but I'm just wanting it to work as well as it can. These 100 degrees days make for a good opportunity to test.
Mark
Mark
I've been following this with interest because my experience with the 3 way Dometic fridge in my 2022 Scamp is that when running on shore power, if the ambient temperature (the temperature inside the trailer) gets up to around 100...then the fridge will only cool to about 50 degrees. If I run the air conditioner to cool the interior of the trailer to a temperature in the 70's...then the fridge will cool into the 30's. So, the inside (ambient) temperature of the trailer directly affects the cooling of my refrigerator on shore power. I have not run my fridge on LP yet...just shore power and 12 volts when towing. The orginal poster mentioned ambient temperatures of around 100 degrees...but it is not clear if the trailer had air condtioning and if the inside temperature was 100 degrees or if that was the outside temperature. It stands to reason that the increased heat from the LP flame will raise the ambient temperature, thereby reducing the cooling efficeciency of the fridge. I need to run my fridge on LP to see what my results are.
Scamp is in my shop no AC. This morning the fridge temp was 55, ambient was 95. This after being on propane (high setting) all night. I tried medium propane setting and the temp increased so I'm likely not overdriving it with too much flame. Not sure where to go from here. My exhaust fans do a good job keeping the rear refrigerator compartment only slightly above ambient temperature.
Mark
Our experience with our fridge on LP is that it freezes everything! We were not in as high ambient temps. as you guys. Maybe 70s to 80s degrees. We have never had to worry about freezing food when the fridge was on 120v or 12v.
I am going to pull the refrigerator again and go through the cleaning steps in case I missed anything. This summer in Kansas was my first warm weather boondocking and the previous owners only camped in RV parks so the propane system was rarely used. I have heard of many who indicate their refrigerator cools better on propane so something definitely is wrong with mine. More to come. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.
Mark
I pulled the refrigerator and rechecked everything. First thing I noticed to my embarrassment was the fitting where the propane line connects to the burner was not fully tight. Then I cleaned the burner and jet in alcohol again and blew them clean. I used a small sewing needle to poke in all the burner holes and into the jet. Not trying to change its size, just to make sure it was clear. Then, thinking there might be some obstruction in the propane supply line leading to the valve, I blew compressed air backward through the burner tube and valve. A small piece of material came out that looks a bit like a miniature cigarette filter.
I will try to find a source for that filter and replace it in case it is stopped up.
I decided to leave that filter out and reassembled the system making sure everything was tight. I set the refrigerator on propane max and let it run all night. About noon today I checked it with the shop ambient temperature about 95 and the refrigerator was cooled to 38 degrees. As the shop temperature increased to over 100 today, the fridge temperature increased to about 40 or 41. I'm good with that.
I don't know which of the things I did fixed the problem. The flame is noticeably hotter, but the maximum temperature I have above the chimney area is only about 125 degrees. I have two computer type fans mounted to direct air over the condenser fins and they also of course help remove the heat from the propane flame. All in all I'm happy with the results. Thanks to all who offered comments and suggestions.
Mark