Dometic Fridge not cooling fast enough

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

We typically turn on the fridge - on propane - and place some 1 gallon jugs of frozen water in the fridge a day or two before we plan to head out. It won't be cool enough otherwise. We do have the older Dometic 8 series european style fridge though, which doesnt work as well as the Dometic Americana line Escape now uses.

We do exactly the same with our 2015. That was a bad year for Dometic refrigerators.
--
Alan

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

We typically turn on the fridge - on propane - and place some 1 gallon jugs of frozen water in the fridge a day or two before we plan to head out. It won't be cool enough otherwise. We do have the older Dometic 8 series european style fridge though, which doesnt work as well as the Dometic Americana line Escape now uses.

Originally Posted by alanmalk

We do exactly the same with our 2015. That was a bad year for Dometic refrigerators.
--
Alan

I must say I have experienced the opposite. My trailer is a 2015 with the Dometic 8 series European refrigerator and even living in Florida, I typically pre-chill it on 120v and typically it is down in the low 30s within 4 or 5 hours with no assist from blocks of ice. I also spent a week in Monument Valley a few years back and never saw the remote thermometer read higher than 38°, and that was at the hottest time of the day (100° F +). The only modification I did was to move the thermistor off of the fins. That’s not to say I am praising Dometic. Dometic could easily improve its products. I refer to flimsy plastic shelves that are under stress And likely to crack if they are supporting more than two feathers and door latches that fall apart for no reason. Actually, if I had “my druthers,” I would have a 12v compressor refrigerator, rather than an absorption refrigerator.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

Reminds me of my college days in thermodynamics and heat transfer. There is no such thing as cold. Only absence of heat.

Hi: rubicon327... I agree to a degree. I just asked my wife!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[padlin]

Originally Posted by C&G in FL

I must say I have experienced the opposite. My trailer is a 2015 with the Dometic 8 series European refrigerator and even living in Florida, I typically pre-chill it on 120v and typically it is down in the low 30s within 4 or 5 hours with no assist from blocks of ice. I also spent a week in Monument Valley a few years back and never saw the remote thermometer read higher than 38°, and that was at the hottest time of the day (100° F +). The only modification I did was to move the thermistor off of the fins. That’s not to say I am praising Dometic. Dometic could easily improve its products. I refer to flimsy plastic shelves that are under stress And likely to crack if they are supporting more than two feathers and door latches that fall apart for no reason. Actually, if I had “my druthers,” I would have a 12v compressor refrigerator, rather than an absorption refrigerator.

I had problems with the RML, been pretty good since they swapped it for the RMD.


I had one of those flimsy plastic shelves break early last winter. used small angle iron, cable ties, and epoxy, to jury rig it for the rest of the winter. It cost me something like $80 for a new one when I got home, for $2 worth of plastic.

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by C&G in FL

I refer to flimsy plastic shelves that are under stress And likely to crack if they are supporting more than two feathers and door latches that fall apart for no reason. Actually, if I had “my druthers,” I would have a 12v compressor refrigerator, rather than an absorption refrigerator.

Ahh, yes. Those flimsy plastic shelves. Having replaced them multiple times after they fail on bumpy roads, at outrageous prices, I made some reinforcements out of strong plexiglass. Basically a square piece with numerous 1" holes. So far, so good.

Since I don't get "my druthers" any more, we take a large well insulated cooler for the meats and dairy when on long trips.
--
Alan

[Chowdagirl]

We are on A/C. It is super cold now. You guys rock!

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by yardsale

"Boy is it absence of heat out today!"

[Ronn]

Originally Posted by ChuckBC

Forgot to mention that a great tool is the wireless fridge/freezer thermometer. This way you don't have to keep opening to check if cooling down or where it sits when camping. I have the Acurite digital wireless fridge/freezer thermometer. Works great!

We had this one, worked great until we didn't remove it on our last trip and it fell off an upper cabinet. Now one of the monitors isn't accurate. We liked it and we are replacing with the same unit.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...MOT4TTPB&psc=1

[cpaharley2008]

Being OCD type I have the old fashion type inside which I use to verify the wireless for accuracy and found a variation. So I now have another set of wireless, different manufacturer to determine which of the 2 out of 3 are correct.... a work in progress.

[Vermilye]

And being an electronics geek, I have a Sensor Push sender in the freezer, refrigerator, battery box & my medicine storage box. It is handy that it keeps a hourly/daily/weekly/monthly record of temperature & humidity.

Bluetooth to your phone, or add the WiFi Gateway & check it on line.

[Bea]

Originally Posted by Ronn

We had this one, worked great until we didn't remove it on our last trip and it fell off an upper cabinet. Now one of the monitors isn't accurate. We liked it and we are replacing with the same unit.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...MOT4TTPB&psc=1

We use this one too, Ronn - works great! Has a pretty strong magnet that stays on the stove's hood vent nicely, and convenient to see what the freezer/fridge temps are at a glance. -Bea

[Ronn]

Originally Posted by Bea

We use this one too, Ronn - works great! Has a pretty strong magnet that stays on the stove's hood vent nicely, and convenient to see what the freezer/fridge temps are at a glance. -Bea

I didn't know about the magnet, thanks for the tip. We remove it when traveling, but in my "Covid-19 Boredom" I moved it to a different location and didn't pack it away. And so it fell. Might check out that hood vent location.

[Greg A]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

We typically turn on the fridge - on propane - and place some 1 gallon jugs of frozen water in the fridge a day or two before we plan to head out. It won't be cool enough otherwise. We do have the older Dometic 8 series european style fridge though, which doesnt work as well as the Dometic Americana line Escape now uses.

We have a 2015 as well and do similar with the freezer packs initially in the AZ heat.
One trait I’ve noticed is ours loves to run and if it has been sitting in storage for a bit it will hover in the 40’s for about 48 hrs then it kicks in and drops to the low 30’s and works at that level the rest of the trip. Kinda like my high school 67 Beetle, that car just wanted to run and hated to sit for long.

[dbailey]

Originally Posted by alanmalk

Ahh, yes. Those flimsy plastic shelves...

I replaced the flimsy plastic shelves with wire shelves cut down to fit in the plastic shelves' slots.


Not at all flimsy, and better airflow too.

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Chowdagirl

Hey all,
We have had the fridge on for about 24 hrs..We bought a thermometer and it is at 60 degrees..no food in it and we have opened it a few times. Saw some video that it takes 12-44 hours to cool. We just bumped it to 5. We have a 2020 Escape 19. Comments or suggestions??

Be sure the trailer is level both front to back and side to side.

[JamieT]

I thought I had the same issue. I was using a fridge thermometer but realized they can be inaccurate. I used a more accurate alcohol thermometer and discovered it was cooling fine. Ensure you have a good thermometer.
If that still shows you are not cooling then check to make sure you are level, that can affect efficiency of the system. Also blow out the flame element. This can get soot or dusty over time. It can be done by removing the access hatch, the gas line has a long square housing with a hole in the side just before the flame element (for air mixing with the gas). Using a compressed gas cleaner (the ones used for cleaning out a computer) blow out the flame element by blowing into the hole.

[Tam2004]

Unless you are trying to cool with the battery (we have little luck with cold refrigeration with battery as source of power) look inside to see in the thermostat has fallen off on the side - it is at the end of a white wire and is tucked on the side - but it can get knocked off.

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Being OCD type I have the old fashion type inside which I use to verify the wireless for accuracy and found a variation. So I now have another set of wireless, different manufacturer to determine which of the 2 out of 3 are correct.... a work in progress.

Are you sure you are OCD, and not CDO?

It’s the same thing but the letters are in the correct order, as they should be!

[cpaharley2008]

How about Dyslexic OCD?

[stever71]

https://www.princessauto.com/en/deta...or/A-p8692758e


I bought one of these. It helped cool things quicker