6.7 Fridge Leaking Cold Air!!!

[John G.]

Driving west from Virginia in Mid July I had the freezer door removed and was getting around 37 at 5 bars. Once we hit Colorado with temps sometimes near 87 it was doing better so I put the freezer door back in. I only measure the fridge and get down to 29 by the morning and up to 32 during the day. If we open the door a lot and are putting in new food it will go up to 34. The fridge side has been south for the past two weeks. I have stated turning it down to 4 bars at night and then up to 5 during the day. We have fresh peaches in the freezer and they freeze hard as a rock. I am bascally satisfied with mine. Our 6.7 is stock and we use a small block fan.

[Dave Walter]

Originally Posted by LeonW

...Is there anyone out there who has a 6.7 fridge and is happy with it? or is the discontent universal?

We live in northern Alberta where hot temperatures are definitely not the norm. However, we did spend 3 weeks this past summer in SW USA (mostly WY, UT, AZ, CO) with daytime highs varying in range of 33°C to 43°C. Our fridge operated on propane most of that time, with about 1/3 days at sites with electricity. We had no issues with our 2013 6.7cu ft fridge not keeping up with the cooling. We never noticed any problems, food stayed cold in fridge, food froze and stayed frozen in freezer (my wife passed out freezies to heat suffering neighbor kids in Devil's Garden CG in Moab). So for us, I would have to say that up until now, we have had no negative performance issues with ours.

[cpaharley2008]

I'm still holding 37/3 with it being 87 inside camper and 91 outside, on electric, setting #3, interior fans on.

[Klem]

Hi Jim, Reace said that AC electric does work better then gas. I wonder if you can do any gas testing, like switching for a day?

We dry camp whenever possible so I have disconnected DC and AC to force the refrig into gas for my tests. I know I can switch to 'gas' but want to trick the AES system into 'thinking' there is only gas to allow it to use it's logic (if it has any..).

Mel

[cpaharley2008]

I'll be using gas next week for a 18 hour drive to Michigan and report my findings.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by Klem

Hi Jim, Reace said that AC electric does work better then gas. I wonder if you can do any gas testing, like switching for a day?

We dry camp whenever possible so I have disconnected DC and AC to force the refrig into gas for my tests. I know I can switch to 'gas' but want to trick the AES system into 'thinking' there is only gas to allow it to use it's logic (if it has any..).

Mel

Hi: Klem... We have stopped travelling on propane with our 5.0TA and we now use 12V. with the 160W solar panel. Now I'm glad we went solar!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[cpaharley2008]

Alf, you never did answer me, is your refer the 6.7 with the door slots?

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Alf, you never did answer me, is your refer the 6.7 with the door slots?

Hi: cpaharley2008... Sorry!!! We're not at home and I haven't had time to get inside the 6.7's door to see. So far we just stopped using the MaxxFan with the trailer closed, and running 12V. while towing. Tonight the fridge is at 34*F@ 5 bars... outside temp was 80*F using 120V. all day. I'll open up the door skin when I get home Mon. and report what I find then. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[tractors1]

I have to wonder if ETI is picking up this thread about the door air leakage. Has to be a very big hammer to use with Dometic - cool the fridge, then lose that due to a poor design? Seems like a significant design flaw IMHO; as a retired design/project engineer I'd be busting my buns were I working at Dometic to figure out how the flaw made it into production...........

[Kountrykamper]

I was having some fridge discussions with Reace and sent him the link on this thread when it was discovered. Im sure he has made Dometic aware of it.

Some engineer is sitting at his desk holding his head in his hands.

[Kountrykamper]

This is a 6.7 belonging to a friend (Parker) that was completed around 6/2013 and it does not have the exposed latch or rod channel. It does have the hole in the bottom of the door leaking air.

I have a lot of build photos saved and none of the 6.7 fridges I have pictures of have the latched exposed. All of the 4.3 fridges I have pictures of do have the latch exposed with the door rod channel.

[tractors1]

Originally Posted by Kountrykamper

I was having some fridge discussions with Reace and sent him the link on this thread when it was discovered. Im sure he has made Dometic aware of it.

Some engineer is sitting at his desk holding his head in his hands.

LOL - Been the engineer doing that when I melted $24,000 worth of aluminum tooling in a furnace because I forgot to switch the controls from Centigrade to Fahrenheit............

[cpaharley2008]

Most SOB's are not as airtight as Escapes and this may not be prevalent elsewhere.

[padlin]

Got a point there, my hybrid was nothing but one big air leak. Never would have noticed if the fridge leaked.

[azjack]

Last week we had some cooler weather, come on monsoon, it was down in the upper 80's during the day and into the 70's at night for a couple of hours and I decided to test the fridge with different fans and 120 or propane. I believe I'll get by with it now and only use two blue ice packs when it is 100 or more for almost 24 hours. I had the box down to 30*, trailer about 80, fan blowing out and one window cracked, used my IR temp gun all around the fridge door, the read was consistent at 72*. I thought that seemed reasonable as I know the metal door and frame allowed some transfer of temps.
Jack

[cpaharley2008]

Today it is 92 outside, 82 inside trailer. 37/1 are the remote readings, full sun.

[Kountrykamper]

What setting? Fridge full or empty? Are you opening the fridge as you would if you were camping? Put it on propane and see if you can maintain those temps.

[cpaharley2008]

Setting #3, fridge is 50% full, not opening. My purpose is to show that given time, the refer can keep a proper temperature on 120v. Propane test next week with open and closing.

[Parker]

And then how about towing it for a few hours!

[Parker]

Ours is actually doing pretty well today while towing. Outside temp is mid 60s and inside is 35.