Fridge Performance

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Zardoz

I must have missed something. Is the door now considered to be the cause of the refrigerator's failure to adequately cool in warm weather?

It's a retrofit suggested by Dometic as part of the 'ongoing saga' of the fridge issues and Reace working with them on a fix. Dometic apparently had to "retool" a factory in order to produce it. They say it will help. Time will tell.

[LeonW]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Having owned 2 trailers with 12v compressor refers I do not like them. They are noisy and because they are attached to the trailer once can feel and hear while it is operating. The absorption refer is silent.

Jim,

Currently sitting in Organ Pipe National Monument with my back against the fridge listening to the burner on the fridge. It ain't totally silent, that is for sure. The fridge isn't really noisy, but just thought it was funny to read this as I was noticing the burner noise.

Our daytime temps have been in the high 60's to the low 70's. We have kept the fridge on 5 bars all the time. The fridge temp stays in the high 30's unless we open the door. Then it goes to the low 40's.

All temps in fahrenheit for the metric impaired. ;-)



Leon

[float5]

I can hear the burner on the water heater but not aware I have ever heard the fridge.

[cpaharley2008]

Another reason why I refuse to get a hearing aid, I miss a lot of noise........

[Jubal]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Another reason why I refuse to get a hearing aid, I miss a lot of noise........

I resigned myself to hearing aids and was surprised how much I was not hearing. Now if I only can get the wife to stop shouting. There is evidence that untreated loss of hearing contributes to the early onslaught of Alzheimer's disease.

[cpaharley2008]

Say what....

[Rockhound]

Originally Posted by Jubal

I resigned myself to hearing aids and was surprised how much I was not hearing. Now if I only can get the wife to stop shouting.

Hahaha!

[captmath]

There may be something to the door theory. Last week at Topsail the outside temps were low 70's and my freezer was holding -5 and the refrig was upper 30's. Yesterday in Gainesville the outside temp was 80. The freezer was still -1 but the frig was 57.

[Jubal]

The proposed updated door would only insulate the refer from the temperatures inside of the trailer. Not improve the heat exchange when the outside ambient air temps are high.

[PGDriver]

Well back on the fridge news topic, I was reading another forum the other day and ran across this interesting post.

"Yesterday we picked up our Silverline that has been in at the Jayco factory for the past month having some warranty issues addressed . In parallel with the warranty work being performed by Jayco, Dometic have been investigating the performance of our RMD8555 fridge following feedback from ourselves and other Silverline owners. Another Silverline fridge was also addressed at the same time for another owner at the factory, with the same mods applied except that our fridge also has the internal circulation fan I’ve previously mentioned.

I will state up front that I have been impressed with the commitment and effort that Dometic personnel have demonstrated over the past few weeks. The fridge analysis was driven by the Dometic National Service Manager out of Varsity Lakes in Qld and I have had the opportunity to discuss progress on a number of occasions with him over the past month. Communications have been both open and insightful and I thank Dometic for their support.

To meet my expectations of freezer performance, Dometic removed some of the thermal insulating paste from behind the cooling fins and moved the thermostat from the RHS of the fins to the LHS (the warmer side of the fridge as the flu runs up the back of the fridge on this side). This was done to both fridges.

Data loggers were used to monitor/report the impact these two changes made. Preliminary results look promising. Before these mods our fridge struggled to get much colder than -12c in the freezer, while the fridge compartment only kept foodstuffs and drinks “cool” at best. After the mods, and with the fridge set at the max setting (5 bars) and ambient daytime temp around 22c to 24c, the freezer was cycling between -18c and -24c. Only issue with this was that the fridge compartment was too cold, cycling between -2c to -4c. A further test was then conducted with the fridge set at the 4 bar setting and the results were a lot more encouraging, freezer cycling between -14c and -22c, with the fridge compartment cycling around 0.2c and 2c. These tests were conducted with an empty fridge. I’m advised that with a full fridge these results should improve and the cycling variations flatten out somewhat.

Our fridge has been fitted with data loggers and over the next 3 weeks we will be traveling which will provide the opportunity to capture real world understanding of how the fridge is now operating. We will try different temp level settings and will operate with internal fan on and off. Data loggers will be returned to Dometic at end of trip away for analysis.

So, in summarizing quite a long post, Dometic have been very focused on our fridge expectations and have made substantial progress with the mods that they have made to the two fridges. We are heading off on our next trip optimistic that the fridge will meet our expectations. Firm ice cream and a cold drink at the end of the day are looked forward to."

I found it interesting that they moved the thermistor to the opposite side and removed some thermal paste. Hope quoting a post from another forum is OK here.

Cheers
Doug

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by PGDriver

(the warmer side of the fridge as the flu runs up the back of the fridge on this side).

I found it interesting that they moved the thermistor to the opposite side and removed some thermal paste. Hope quoting a post from another forum is OK here.

Cheers
Doug

What I find interesting is that the heat from the flue is showing up inside the fridge. It's also interesting or disappointing that while Dometic has a kit to vent the flue to the exterior they don't seem to be looking at that as part of the solution.

At any rate, at some point I'll be venting my flue to the exterior. I'll also be wrapping the whole assembly with insulating wrap, the kind you wrap on exhaust pipes. The last thing the fridge needs is more waste heat in that area.

Ron

[tractors1]

PGDriver, when you get a chance could you post a pic of where the thermistor is mounted on the LHS? I wonder if there is enough wire to move it over there or a new thermistor with longer wires is needed.

Nice to hear data logging is finally part of the process. I borrowed one from work once to calibrate my home oven.........

[GerriJ]

I note that the Silverline Trailer in the post is located in Queensland Australia, (on the Gold Coast). Do the Australian Dometics have the same climate rating as ours?

[PGDriver]

Sorry Charlie there are no pictures in the post I read.
Also the climate rating was T.
The Aussies are having fridge problems it appears with the T rated fridges also.
Here is a good read about fridges the post I quoted is on page 11. This will give you a good idea as to how wide spread the problems are.
Caravaners Forum • View topic - New 190 Litre Dometic fridge not cold enough

Cheers
Doug

[fudge_brownie]

I have gone through the 12 pages of posting and it does appear the Silverliner owners are having similar problems. I was taken aback by the official notice from Dometic in Australia that there was not a problem. It seems some (two) owners had their issues solved but there is not any published solution.

At the same time there has not been a posting on this very active topic since Dec 24 of 2014 and this is now their hot season when more problems are likely to occur.

[LeonW]

We are just back from about 5 weeks in the southwest. Temps were either chilly (low around 25 F, high in the 50s) or moderate (lows in the 40's high from 65-70). I kept the fridge on 5 bars the whole trip. The freezer was always well below freezing. 2 or 6 above, ranging up to 14 degrees on a hot day. The fridge, on the other hand, was often just below 40 with temps going to slightly above 40 when we opened the door. We use the accu-rite wireless thermometers to monitor the temperature

I would have expected to be able to comfortably run the fridge on 3 bars in this weather. I think that when it gets warmer the fridge will be more problematic -- maybe there will be a solution by then.

[ejhatt]

I just sold my 17' Casita in anticipation of delivery of our 19' Escape in July. We never had any fridge problems no matter where we camped from Ohio to California. Maybe you are correct that its a parts issue and not an installation issue. Our Dometic was always left set at the 4th out of 5 setting.

[MyronL]

For what it's worth department:

[cpaharley2008]

Great info Myron, good to know that the truck can keep up with the draw down.

[Rossue]

On our last trip the door gasket started hanging loose at the bottom 1/3 of the door down & around the bottom of the door. I push it back into place for the door to lock, but it keeps happening. Anyone else? Fix?