Gas/electric fridge

[charlie75]

Hello everyone. We are getting ready for the upcoming season and I have a question about our Gas/Electric fridge. We bought a 2022 Cougar 5th wheel brand new last season, the dealer where we bought it has an attached campground so we were able to stay a couple of nights to test everything out. One of our concerns was that when our fridge switched from hydro to gas and back to hydro the fridge warmed up from 34 * to 43*. We were running the fridge on auto while hooked up to hydro, I was switching out our hydro cord to a shorter one so I unplugged it, switched the cord and plugged it back in, so it went from hydro to gas and back to hydro in a short period of time because it was in the auto mode. We asked the tech about it and he said that this was normal as the fridge goes into a defrost cycle after being plugged back in. We kept an eye on it and it appears to happen every time it switches modes. It doesn’t make sense to us that this is normal, if the power flickers food in the fridge would warm up if it goes into a defrost cycle. Any Ideas would be appreciated.

[chuckster57]

Make and model of Fridge would help.

[charlie75]

Dometic, RM1350 or RM1350SL

[chuckster57]

You can start with this:

https://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/Serv...,%20RM1350.pdf

[jasin1]

hydro????…are you running an extension cord directly to a hydroelectric dam?…..interesting…and i thought onboard solar was kinda cutting edge….whatta they gonna think of next

[NH_Bulldog]

In Canada most power is generated by hydroelectric, thus our friends North of the border tend to call electric power “hydro”.

Anyway, I have found ours reacts the same way, although I don’t tend to open and close the refrigerator a lot to check the temp. Understand that unlike a compressor driven cooling unit like at home or on the newer 12v DC models, a gas/electric refrigerator takes a lot longer to recover temperature and as a result has wider temperature swings which is “normal”. Pre-cooling for a day before a trip, loading only with pre-chilled items and keeping the refrigerator full will limit temperature fluctuations

For whatever reason, mine seems to cool better on gas than electric (or hydro if you are so inclined to call it that).

[ChuckS]

This pic should explain the defrost cycle that occurs 60 hrs after fridge is turned on and what the best t8me of day is to restart fridge to get defrost cycle occurring during non peak high temps

I have the RM1350 fridge .. mine is now ten years old.. it cools as good on 120 AC mode as it does on LP mode

[charlie75]

Thanks for your help, and thanks for explaining to those who didn’t understand what I was talking about on what “hydro” is

[ChuckS]

Video from my YouTube channel.. This shows the RM1350 running on 120 Elec mode getting ready for a trip..

Fridge is STUFFED to the gills for a 14 days trip we were headed out to..

I show you the inside temp of the RV at 90 degrees and it was warmer than that outside.. No air conditioning on since we were packed up getting ready to head out..

I show you the indicated temp on the RM1350 eyebrow panel as well as actual inside temps of fridge and freezer sections

https://youtu.be/P-caUemL-Ig?si=NquBCAa2-ozzw48b

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

In Canada most power is generated by hydroelectric, thus our friends North of the border tend to call electric power “hydro”.

Anyway, I have found ours reacts the same way, although I don’t tend to open and close the refrigerator a lot to check the temp. Understand that unlike a compressor driven cooling unit like at home or on the newer 12v DC models, a gas/electric refrigerator takes a lot longer to recover temperature and as a result has wider temperature swings which is “normal”. Pre-cooling for a day before a trip, loading only with pre-chilled items and keeping the refrigerator full will limit temperature fluctuations

For whatever reason, mine seems to cool better on gas than electric (or hydro if you are so inclined to call it that).

[QUOTE=charlie75;556281]Thanks for your help, and thanks for explaining to those who didn’t understand what I was talking about on what “hydro” is[/QUOTE



I knew what you meant It was just an overwhelming urge for dad humor today lol

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

This pic should explain the defrost cycle that occurs 60 hrs after fridge is turned on and what the best t8me of day is to restart fridge to get defrost cycle occurring during non peak high temps

I have the RM1350 fridge .. mine is now ten years old.. it cools as good on 120 AC mode as it does on LP mode

Originally Posted by ChuckS

Video from my YouTube channel.. This shows the RM1350 running on 120 Elec mode getting ready for a trip..

Fridge is STUFFED to the gills for a 14 days trip we were headed out to..

I show you the inside temp of the RV at 90 degrees and it was warmer than that outside.. No air conditioning on since we were packed up getting ready to head out..

I show you the indicated temp on the RM1350 eyebrow panel as well as actual inside temps of fridge and freezer sections

https://youtu.be/P-caUemL-Ig?si=NquBCAa2-ozzw48b

Thank you for posting. I was buried under the hood of a 2014 MDX 3.5 changing the timing belt and water pump.

[ChuckS]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

Thank you for posting. I was buried under the hood of a 2014 MDX 3.5 changing the timing belt and water pump.

Glad it was you and not me.. Had to change the serpentine belt, both idler pulleys, tensioner and then after wife and I got that all changed had to replace the alternator on my 2007 GMC LBZ..

Alternator was still working great but started seeing red dust all around the alternator so bearings were about to give way..

Not too bad at 195K miles... first items "knock on wood" that I have had to replace other than routine items...

At age 70 nice to still be DIY.... the labor rates are insane for auto and RV work.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

...

... the labor rates are insane for auto and RV work.

Yup. I just had new rear brake pads, calipers, rotors and the parking brake shoes replaced on my truck at the dealership. $1168 later, I drove it home.

Even with the garage (which is heated) this time of the year, last week it was 0F - 15F and the floor in the garage is COLD !!! So, this 76 year old "spry but slowing down" old fart ain't crawling around under a truck that's dripping melting ice off everything underneath it .....

Parts and labor are outrageous !!!!!

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Yup. I just had new rear brake pads, calipers, rotors and the parking brake shoes replaced on my truck at the dealership. $1168 later, I drove it home.

Even with the garage (which is heated) this time of the year, last week it was 0F - 15F and the floor in the garage is COLD !!! So, this 76 year old "spry but slowing down" old fart ain't crawling around under a truck that's dripping melting ice off everything underneath it .....

Parts and labor are outrageous !!!!!

Had the DWs f150 in the shop Friday. New front pads, one rotor, one caliper, one front brake line. $885. Just outrageous.

[chuckster57]

Been working on autos “on the side” for over 45 yrs now and my labor rates are about 1/3. Still making decent money, I try to help the people who don’t have the budget for dealership rates.