Refrigerator Failing To Cool While Driving

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by Parker

Hi Tom....I didn't know you had actually installed one. I think I'd still try it if it didn't overhang the molded-in contour for the Dometic one. In this case, I think I'll let it go. I have heard of folks making a little dam of sorts by attaching an aluminum strip to the bottom leading edge of the existing cover. If (and a big IF) air is blowing down from above, maybe that would help.

Alf, you're probably on the right track, but I'm not sure how to execute that upper filter idea. I'm uncomfortable with things that permanently add to blockage of the airflow. Parked in the sun for example, I'd be worried about overheating without some way to control it. Keep us posted! If you're sure the one in the lower screen prevents blowouts, I think I might try that first. I think Tom had some success with that in his first Escape, along with many other mods to get his smaller fridge working better.

Hi: Parker... I'm not looking to block the air flow... just disturb it some. Being furnace filter material it is a loose weave. I'm going to attach it to the metal grid inside the roof vent. Just remove the 4 screws lift and add twist ties that project up through the filter and twist!!! Viola a habeas curb us. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Mike Lewis]

I don't know if my propane flame on the fridge is blowing out when I'm towing; I don't know how to tell. I haven't tried filter material in the lower vent. Good, that gives me something else to try. I enjoy problem-solving only if I think I'm making progress, but eventually I need to figure this out so I can transport groceries from one campground to the next.

I bought a Coleman Powerchill thermoelectric cooler this morning and let it run empty in the trailer while I was towing today. It seems to work pretty well; right now I'm camped at Balmorhea State Park in west Texas. Outside it's 90F, inside it's 88F, and a cheap thermometer in the Powerchill says less than 40F. So I put my beer in it. The Powerchill draws 5 amps at 12V and instructions say to let it chill down for three hours before loading it. When I start filling it with groceries I'll probably put it in the truck cab when towing.

[Kountrykamper]

Originally Posted by Parker

Hi Tom....I didn't know you had actually installed one. I think I'd still try it if it didn't overhang the molded-in contour for the Dometic one. In this case, I think I'll let it go. I have heard of folks making a little dam of sorts by attaching an aluminum strip to the bottom leading edge of the existing cover. If (and a big IF) air is blowing down from above, maybe that would help.
.

I only tried it one trip and still had problems so took it off. Seemed like more of a air scoop. I must have misplaced my tape measure that day but it was about 3/4" higher.

I think some sort of air dam would work better if this is part of the problem but I'm still not sure.

The thing I had the best luck with was a filter on the inlet and water in the drain cup. I am still of the opinion that while traveling air is being forced up the chimney and cooling it down which results in reduced cooling.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Kountrykamper

The thing I had the best luck with was a filter on the inlet and water in the drain cup. I am still of the opinion that while traveling air is being forced up the chimney and cooling it down which results in reduced cooling.

Tom,
What sort of filtering material is shown in your photo of the lower vent?

[elongest]

Thanks for the reply Kountrykamper. After looking at your pictures I wonder what the vent cover raised base is doing to the airflow. It appears the airflow is being forced up under the cover by the shape of the shell just in front of the vent. I need to go out and look at my trailer.
Eddie

[Kountrykamper]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Tom,
What sort of filtering material is shown in your photo of the lower vent?

It is 1/8" washable mesh. I am a Mechanical contractor and we order a lot of filters and I was able to special order them. This was not the finial version. The finial one I liked best was a little smaller than the lower vent and I zip tied it to the inside of the vent. Unfortunately I don't not have a picture of it that I can find. We did take several trips with it one of which was 4000 miles and the fridge worked fine while traveling.

[cpaharley2008]

If I remember correctly, I covered the top 2 openings with furnace mesh and left the bottom 2 open on my Escape 21 with the RMD8555 model. Just be careful to use non inflammatory mesh. I also covered the entire area with fine metal screen for bugs as well as air movement, worked like a charm.

[padlin]

What part if it worked like a charm, the filtering or the bug screen? Was just talking to a member here who tried the filtering at the lower vent as a cure for the temp rising, didn't help.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by padlin

What part if it worked like a charm, the filtering or the bug screen? Was just talking to a member here who tried the filtering at the lower vent as a cure for the temp rising, didn't help.

Hi: padlin... There are many causes of rising fridge box temps so one approach may not be the right one. An empty defrost drain cup can allow hot air to be sucked up into the box... This can raise the interior temp by up to 9*F, but keeping the drain tube in, and the little cup full, on our less than smooth roads is a challenge. The old style fridges had a drip tray needing emptying frequently and no tube for hot air entry. A less than robust door gasket, and a miss adjusted latch, will allow air in too!!! A multi pronged approach may be necessary. I too like to solve a problem but am in no way a "Mechanical" tech. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Parker]

Originally Posted by escape artist

A multi pronged approach may be necessary.

I certainly agree with that one. These things are so hard to quantify. The little water cup that blocks air flow into the fridge (when it has water in it) is interesting. Tom found it really helpful to keep the water cup full, but he did so many other really significant things to improve his fridge operation, including a whole new baffle job in the back. Just opening the door one time to make lunch somewhere on a hot day probably totally swamps the effect of any air that's pulled through the little drain tube, but it all adds up I guess. Everyone is looking for that one magic cure, which probably doesn't exist except perhaps to greatly enlarge the cooling capacity of the fridge.

[Kountrykamper]

Of the 101 things I did looking for a cure on the fridge the 3 sure things I found that would affect it was not adding water to the cup on a hot day. Within 25 miles the temp would start rising. I would pull over and add water and be able to drop the temp again. The second thing was removing the thermistor from the fins and letting it hang in the air. I know that don't make sense if the fridge is warm and it should be calling be it did and the only explanation I can give is the fridge may have been short cycling when it was on the fins. The third thing was installing a better propane regulator. I could never keep the pressure up with the 2 original type regulators. Speaking of that make sure you have 11" of pressure or it will never cool good on propane. Others may not find the same result because of all the other things I had also done.

Good Regulator and this is also what ETI is now installing.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

This is the one I had problems with
https://www.amazon.com/Marshall-Exce...over+regulator

[Parker]

That's crazy, but I can't argue with success! Oddly, we have the regulator you're showing as the better one, even though we got our 19 before you did. Maybe they went back and forth between the two for a while.

[escape artist]

Hi: KountryKamper... I moved the thermistor off the fins figuring that Dometic only put it there cause that's where the screw hole was. Problem with that locale is it's already cold so moving it to a warmer place seemed the thing to do. Our propane reg. works fine and my cup runneth over anyhoo!!! LoL Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[gbaglo]

I don't follow the "move the thermistor" theory.
If it's too cold attached to the fins, can't you just turn the fridge up and achieve the same thing?
Are you already at max?

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Kountrykamper

Of the 101 things I did looking for a cure on the fridge the 3 sure things I found that would affect it was not adding water to the cup on a hot day. Within 25 miles the temp would start rising. I would pull over and add water and be able to drop the temp again. The second thing was removing the thermistor from the fins and letting it hang in the air. I know that don't make sense if the fridge is warm and it should be calling be it did and the only explanation I can give is the fridge may have been short cycling when it was on the fins. The third thing was installing a better propane regulator. I could never keep the pressure up with the 2 original type regulators. Speaking of that make sure you have 11" of pressure or it will never cool good on propane. Others may not find the same result because of all the other things I had also done.

Good Regulator and this is also what ETI is now installing.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

This is the one I had problems with
https://www.amazon.com/Marshall-Exce...over+regulator

Besides insulating the cabinet , controling fans , moving thermostat off fins and letting it hang , and changing out the regulator very happy with the refrigator performance now . In the summer camping dealt with over 100 degree temps . Only on 4 and for summer fridge guard to hold temps if door is opened . The refrigerator isn't even suppose to work well over 87 but ours does . Pat

[Greg A]

I'm with Pat so far. We have a 2015 so I think they had beefed up the insulation in the fridge compartment by then. Hung the thermistor loose as that used to work well in the smaller dometics that are in Scamps. The fridge has worked well for the year and a half in AZ temps. I have noticed an occasional temp spike, but it wasn't the fridge it was issue with the wireless thermometer, fridge temp was fine when checked with backup thermometer.
I'll probably add the fan switch and check the cup just because that makes sense to do.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Greg A

I'm with Pat so far. We have a 2015 so I think they had beefed up the insulation in the fridge compartment by then. Hung the thermistor loose as that used to work well in the smaller dometics that are in Scamps. The fridge has worked well for the year and a half in AZ temps. I have noticed an occasional temp spike, but it wasn't the fridge it was issue with the wireless thermometer, fridge temp was fine when checked with backup thermometer.
I'll probably add the fan switch and check the cup just because that makes sense to do.

Hi Greg , funny I did notice the cup had water in it too . Probably helps too . I 'm better today . Linda told me to ignore which I did . Pat

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I don't follow the "move the thermistor" theory.
If it's too cold attached to the fins, can't you just turn the fridge up and achieve the same thing?
Are you already at max?

Hi: gbaglo... Having the thermistor in a warmer part of the fridge lets it sense the temp there. Where I put ours is susceptible to having a cold can of beer shoved under it... giving a false reading. Therefore I'm careful how I load the fridge. Keep the beer cans in the other corner!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Kountrykamper]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I don't follow the "move the thermistor" theory.
If it's too cold attached to the fins, can't you just turn the fridge up and achieve the same thing?
Are you already at max?

Like I said it don't make a lot of sense except they attach it to the coldest part of the coil. My fridge worked much better when I let it hang to the point I froze our lettuce a couple times and got in trouble from DW. I had to run it on 3 instead of 5. I am of the opinion that being attached to the coldest part of the coil the fridge would actually short cycle. On the new style fridge the sensor is mounted on the warmest part of the coil, go figure.

Granted I did a lot of other things that added to its performance but these items made the most change.

[Mike Lewis]

A few days ago I bought a range hood filter that has the metal mesh filtering material. I removed the mesh from its frame, cut it to fit the side vent on the fridge, and fastened it to the vent cover with zipties. The mesh did not affect refrigerator performance when it was stationary as far as I could tell; it worked fine.

Yesterday I traveled from Rockhound State Park near Deming, NM to Hyde Memorial Park near Santa Fe, with the fridge on propane. This was a typical six-hour towing day for me. The ambient temperatures climbed into the mid-to-upper 80s F until I neared my destination. My fridge stayed in the 30s, for the first time ever while towing. It now works! Yippee!

Of course, since I woke up to a snowfall this morning, I probably don't have to worry about fridge temps while I'm here.