Fridge not cold enough

[rollingrock]

wife loaded the camper today, she said it was 38.

I suspect we are on the right path now. It's 107 today and I won't have the AC on in the camper until 6-7 pm.

More later

[Stan]

38 fridge and 107 outside sounds pretty good. When you cool the camper down, it may drop even more.

[avvidclif]

Here is the latest test. Aug 10, 2011

RV is in the shade, AC on and set at 80 deg, refrigerator empty, the door has not been opened in over 24 hrs.

Time Ref Temp Outside Temp

8:30 AM34.5 84

10AM35.5 90

11AM36.5 97

12 N 37 99.5

1PM 39.2104.8

2PM 39.9105.3

3PM 41.2106.2

4PM 41.7104.9

5PM 42.1104.2

9PM 43.696.1



Am I a happy camper, NO

[rollingrock]

Originally Posted by Stan

38 fridge and 107 outside sounds pretty good. When you cool the camper down, it may drop even more.

not a happy camper. Fridge is 51 degrees and about half full of food including milk etc.

Thinking pulling the thermoister off the board and making it go to max cold.


Thoughts?

[ClassicHammond]

I always turn on the fridge and as soon as I notice the temp is dropping I load it. The freezer is nearly full as I bring bagged ice from home...from my reverse osmosis filter...plus I'm cheap and rarely buy ice. (Allows me to buy Tankeray and those really large olives I keep the fridge somewhat full adding extra drinks, beer, milk, tonic and oh yeah...the olives. The fuller the fridge...the less air....and the less air to chill back down after you open it. So less temp change.This has always worked for me including the last few weeks in NC with over 100 degrees most of the time. When I packed up and left, drove 8 hours, reconnected in upper 90 degrees, opened the fridge a bit later, and STILL my tonic had ice in it. My past 2 refers worked similarly. I hope this helps and sorry if others already mentioned this.

[Stan]

Clif...both you and Jason could try removing the Thermister plug and see what happens. I would not do it without checking the temp every 2 hours or so though. Not sure if you are trying both gas and elec but sometimes gas burns hotter than the elec heater which may help.

[rollingrock]

I have pulled mine as of 5 min ago. Crown and Diet is helping the situation but will not be happy to throw this food out before my family even shows up on Friday to enjoy the camper.

We have a large cooler sitting in the camper right now. Its 36 inside it, so looks like I will be moving my food too the cooler soon.

Stay tuned....

I may be demanding my dealer for a new fridge that is adjustable. Never had this issue on our Jayco. Our friends who are camping next to us right now have their fridge on "3" and its 34 inside.

[fixit5561]

Yes there has to be something wrong with that fridge. I checked my fridge a few hrs ago. It is 70 degrees outside, the knob is only turned to the halfway point and the fridge was down to 33 degrees.



The dealer can say anything they want, I think it is a bad fridge you have maybe it wasmade on a Friday.



That mod has worked for others here on the board, and I dont see why it wouldnt work for you Jason. So it must be something in the fridge that wont let it get colder for you. You also may have a bad thermistor. There is a way to test it out but I dont remember how. Maybe do a search on the net.

[rollingrock]

Morning ya'll....with the Thermistor out left over night, it is 37 inside.

So here is the big question. Will it hurt the unit to run it without the thermistor?

[Stan]

I have no idea but with the Thermister out, I would have thought it would have been much colder than 37. I am not sure what that does to the heating element. The thermistor is what tells the fridge to cycle on and off. Without it, it may be "on" all the time. See how the temp progresses throughout the day.

[avvidclif]

This morning mine was back down to 34.8 with 85 outside.



I sent the chart to Dometic and here's the reply;



Thank you for the precise data. Our technical dept has been trying to get in contact with Athen's RV to see what specifically is going on with your fridge. Do you have the serial number of your fridge?



Duh, we're an hour behind them, wonder why the dealer doesn't answer?

And I sent the SN, etc...



It seems mine is fine as long as the outside temp stays below 90.



And the dance continues...

[avvidclif]

Jason and others, here's the e-mail for Dometic. They usually respond in less than an hour.



customersupportcenter@dometicusa.com



Throw another log on the fire....

[rollingrock]

thanks for the info, I just got off the phone with dometic...they said there is nothing wrong with leaving the thermistor unplugged however, since mine is technically working with it unplugged...they said the cooling unit is working properly. That said, they feel I have a bad Thermistor so they are sending me a new one...at my cost btw b/c in order to get a warranty claim done I have to set an apt with my dealer and that is something I don't have time for as I am in the camper now and will be in it again in 2 weeks for another trip.

If after that trip it is still not working, I will take back to dealer and go from there.

In addition, the tech told me that the thermistor doesn't go to the far right between the last fin and the wall, it is supposed to be in the the middle of the last two to the far right.

He also dispelled the myth of lowering the thermistor to rob the freezer of cold to push additional cooling to the fridge.

[rollingrock]

Originally Posted by Stan

I have no idea but with the Thermister out, I would have thought it would have been much colder than 37. I am not sure what that does to the heating element. The thermistor is what tells the fridge to cycle on and off. Without it, it may be "on" all the time. See how the temp progresses throughout the day.

yeah its pretty darn hot here. 105 will be the high today. It is still at 37 even after I had the door open for a few min talking to the support rep at Dometic. It went up to 39 and quickly back to 37. I did place a cup of water in there and will test that later today.

so to Stan and Fixit (Brian) what if I now plugged just the pop up in P2 withouth the thermistor connected? Meaning wire the pop directly into the board then turning it all the way to the left counter clock wise? What would that do?

Thoughts on that ideal?

RR

[Hunter11]

Ain't Texas great this time of year......

[Stan]

RR, that won't work. Installing the Potentiometer into P2 by itself will not allow the fridge to cycle. That's why the POT is wired in parallel to the existing Thermistor. You must have a fluctuation of resistance for the main board to "see" in order to know when to turn on/off the cooling unit. The POT is mounted outside the fridge and is not a thermistor.

[avvidclif]

That was their first response to my dealer, bad thermistor. Ordered the part and replaced it. Check the chart I posted.



I don't care what Dometic says, it still isn't right. What are they going to do, put a disclaimer on every refrigerator they sell that it won't work when the outside temperature exceeds 90 deg. That should do real well for RV sales in the south....

[avvidclif]

Got a response from Dometic;



Cliff



We have contacted the service center and have determined that your fridge is running to specs. Please see the attachment below.



The gist of the PDF attachment is a refrigerator must be able to maintain 43 deg in the refrigerator and 15 deg in the freezer after a 12 hour cool-off period. THIS IS AT A ROOM TEMPERATURE OF 90 DEG.



I am not a happy camper.

[fixit5561]

Now that just downright sucks. That isnt even within the safe range for food storage.



Did you mention to them the fact that food has to be stored below 38 degrees give or take to be considered safe?

[rollingrock]

Originally Posted by avvidclif

Got a response from Dometic;





Cliff





We have contacted the service center and have determined that your fridge is running to specs. Please see the attachment below.





The gist of the PDF attachment is a refrigerator must be able to maintain 43 deg in the refrigerator and 15 deg in the freezer after a 12 hour cool-off period. THIS IS AT A ROOM TEMPERATURE OF 90 DEG.





I am not a happy camper.

Cliff, do disconnect your thermister from the board. 2 wires on a little connector, under the larger plug... also labled P2 Sensor on the board.

Pull it off and put the board cover back on...you'll get to 37 ish by morning.

Per Dometic, it doesn't hurt the unit to do this...when ti cools down in the south, plug it back in. That is my plan .
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