Refrigerator not cold

[pakuma]

Just got back from a 3 week trip that ended with very high temperatures and humidity. My Dometic DM2852 refrigerator would only stay at 50 degrees. Needless to say we lost some food. I contacted Dometic and they said that this was normal for this refrigerator under those circumstances. I am thinking of adding a fan in the back to try and push some more air over the rear cooling fins. Has anybody tried something like this? If so did it help?

[Hoojs12840]

How warm? I've camped/travelled in 100deg. Never had it not stay cool and the freezer frozen. I will say when it's in the 90's+ it would take 8-10 hrs from the time I turned it on to get to where it should be. Gas seemed to cool faster. "Seemed", meaning I never did any real fact gathering

[gearhead]

Is the refrig in a slide with no roof vent, and has the 2 vents on the side of the trailer? You may need to add a fan. Be sure the galvanized sheet metal at the top (and backside) is not preventing hot air from moving out the vent. Be sure the doors are closing against the seal.
Dometic has been no help to me.

[chuckster57]

I have a fan on my refer compartment that turns on at 100 degrees. I never really had a problem in high heat keeping things cold, but since I had one on my old unit ('97 Jayco) I put one in this unit ('12 copper canyon). They do help and I have seen some higher end trailers and motor homes install them as standard equipment.

Also, where the sensor sits on the cooling fins can affect how cold it will get. Putting it higher up on the fin will make it colder.

[pakuma]

The outside temperature was 110-116 with 80 to 90% humidity.

[Hoojs12840]

Originally Posted by pakuma

The outside temperature was 110-116 with 80 to 90% humidity.

Wow. That's toasty!!.

[chuckster57]

That's what I was thinking. In '09 I stayed 4 days in BullHead city, Az. It was 120+ during the day and in the 90's at night. As I remember it, my fridge struggled.

[bsmith0404]

I always turn my fridge on the day prior to leaving on a trip to let it get cold before loading. This last trip it was at 36 when we got to our site, I made the mistake of going to buy soda and water and loaded it up, not thinking that it was 100 outside and the soda/water had been sitting in the back of the truck. The fridge quickly jumped to 60 degrees, but it did catch up and dropped back to 36 by the next morning. It took about 14 hours.

[chuckster57]

I start mine a couple of days before departure. But I have heard from different sources (none confirmed) that RV refrigerators start losing the ability to cool effectively at about 100 degrees ambient.

[pakuma]

This was at the end of 3 week trip where the fridge had been working perfectly. I am going to try the fan, but I need to find a thermal switch to control when it goes on.

[Javi]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

I start mine a couple of days before departure. But I have heard from different sources (none confirmed) that RV refrigerators start losing the ability to cool effectively at about 100 degrees ambient.

If that were true... us folks down here would be SOL

My Dometic fridge keeps my beer cold and my ice frozen all summer long.

Two mistakes folks seem to make with RV fridges is that they put warm/hot stuff in them and they tend to stuff them full.

RV fridges for the most part have poor air flow because they have no fan inside the "cool" part of the fridge so the cold air sits at the bottom and the hot air rises to the top. They make a small fridge fan that runs on "D-cell" batteries and they really help a lot.

Another is opening the door a bunch...

[chuckster57]

Yeah, I figured it was more of an urban myth. I have one of those fans. Put it in the drip tray when I start the fridge.

[bsmith0404]

Originally Posted by Javi

Another is opening the door a bunch...

Yeah, that is my daughter. For some reason she needs to open both doors and stand there looking at the contents for 5 mins. I finally had to tell her she wasn't allowed to get anything out of the fridge unless she could tell me what she was getting. We don't put much in the dang thing anyway so I don't know what she's looking at.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by bsmith0404

Yeah, that is my daughter. For some reason she needs to open both doors and stand there looking at the contents for 5 mins. I finally had to tell her she wasn't allowed to get anything out of the fridge unless she could tell me what she was getting. We don't put much in the dang thing anyway so I don't know what she's looking at.

My DW has that same "gaze at the grand scenery" concept of "shopping in the reefer".... I've been telling her for years and years to "open the door, get what you need and close the door".... She still will stand there, look for a while, get one item, walk to the counter, set it down, go back and look some more, get one more item, put it on the counter, then with the door open, start talking to me, asking if I want anything out of the refrigerator. When I say, "no thanks" she'll go into her "motherly, are you sure" mode.... all the time, holding the door open.....

We always seem to have "soft creamy ice cream" when camping and she always remarks that the "trailer just won't keep ice cream frozen"....

Over the years, I've learned to just smile and say, "Maybe the next one will be better."

[chuckster57]

I wonder if it's a genetic thing...kind of like a "sale" sign at the store LOL!!

[bsmith0404]

Ohh the soft creamy ice cream.....I had that brand in our ice cream sandwiches on the last trip. Take a bite, it just mushes all over the place and the cookie outside sticks to your fingers. Gotta love em!!

[pakuma]

We call that being a penguin!