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Old 08-23-2012, 12:26 PM   #41
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Re: Refrigerator not cooling on the road

Quote:
Originally Posted by cpaharley2008 (jim)
Back to the drawing board...maybe just a piece of screen, metal not plastic?
This possibility of using screen had occurred to us, too. We did a calculation that indicates a common screen reduces the area of an opening by about 37%.

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Old 08-24-2012, 06:42 PM   #42
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Re: Refrigerator not cooling on the road

After all the wondering about whether our flame was blowing out on the road, that appears to NOT be the problem at all. We did a road test up to 60 mph with me riding inside the Escape so I could watch the yellow ignition light. It never flashed.
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Old 08-24-2012, 07:01 PM   #43
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Re: Refrigerator not cooling on the road

Quote:
Originally Posted by rvomaha
After all the wondering about whether our flame was blowing out on the road, that appears to NOT be the problem at all. We did a road test up to 60 mph with me riding inside the Escape so I could watch the yellow ignition light. It never flashed.
Not to change the subject but how does it ride back there.
Does it bounce or rattle much.
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Old 08-25-2012, 08:31 AM   #44
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Re: Refrigerator not cooling on the road

I put remote thermometers in the frig and freezer. 2 F in the freezer, 44 in the empty box, 68 in the RV. I would have thought the box should be colder. I guess that explains the 58+ I had driving back from Oregon in July. Any ideas?

Dick
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Old 08-25-2012, 08:41 AM   #45
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Re: Refrigerator not cooling on the road

Quote:
Originally Posted by captmath
I put remote thermometers in the frig and freezer. 2 F in the freezer, 44 in the empty box, 68 in the RV. I would have thought the box should be colder. I guess that explains the 58+ I had driving back from Oregon in July. Any ideas?

Dick
Dick by "empty box" do you mean the main frig was empty? If so, I believe it is harder to maintain cool in the frig when it is empty then when it is full of cold food. The cold food helps mitigate temp changes, whereas just air inside can change much more rapidly. Maybe try the same experiment with the frig full.

As side note, when we are getting ready to go on a trip, I put a bunch of frozen water containers in the frig when I turn it on and it helps get it cold in there much faster.

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Old 08-25-2012, 12:40 PM   #46
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Re: Refrigerator not cooling on the road

Quote:
Originally Posted by D. Priestley
Quote:
Originally Posted by rvomaha
After all the wondering about whether our flame was blowing out on the road, that appears to NOT be the problem at all. We did a road test up to 60 mph with me riding inside the Escape so I could watch the yellow ignition light. It never flashed.
Not to change the subject but how does it ride back there.
Does it bounce or rattle much.
Hee hee. I am not surprised to get this question! I was sitting on several layers of folded blanket on the floor, leaning into the corner against the kitchen cabinets and the end of the bed with no padding on my back. I thought the ride was not half bad. There was ongoing rattling of dishes, but overall, I thought the ride was not too noisy and not too jarring, except over a portion of road that I later learned was quite bumpy even in the car. I did not want to get nauseated, which happens easily with me, so I locked my view onto that yellow light location, only turning my head forward twice. Then I was surprised to see that the inside face of the front window cover acted like a large rear view mirror and I could see the reflection of traffic approaching from the rear. More than one semi passed on our left, and I felt no buffeting from them. I also noticed no wind noise, so I guess the Escape 19 aerodynamics are pretty good.

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Old 08-25-2012, 12:47 PM   #47
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Re: Refrigerator not cooling on the road

Quote:
Originally Posted by captmath
I put remote thermometers in the frig and freezer. 2 F in the freezer, 44 in the empty box, 68 in the RV. I would have thought the box should be colder. I guess that explains the 58+ I had driving back from Oregon in July. Any ideas?

Dick
Was the 44 degrees while sitting still before the drive, and the 58+ immediately after highway miles? Was it really hot outside? --Liz & Jay

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Old 08-25-2012, 01:57 PM   #48
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Re: Refrigerator not cooling on the road

Quote:
Originally Posted by rvomaha
This article about flame blow out is very interesting: http://www.rvmobile.com/tech/trouble/blowout.htm

Here are a couple of quotes worth noting --

"One common, but not good, practice for solving a blow out problem is placing a furnace air filter over the louvered access door at the rear of the refrigerator. Don't. This can dramatically limit the air flow for the cooling unit and may eventually damage it."

"The ideal solution is just the right baffle(s) in just the right place, because although your intentions are to prevent a flame from blowing out, you're also tampering with the venting system for the refrigerator which could lead to more serious and costly problems with a bad cooling unit."
I'm not sure I agree with the RV Mobile point - Dometic sells (well, if you email them complaining about the flame blowing out they mail it to you free) a kit includes baffles that blocks off at least 50% of the lower air intake. Unfortunately, I couldn't use it since Escape uses a different lower grill from the one the kit is designed for. In any case, the filter I use blocks far less than 50% and seems to help, although not completely.

I also use a small fan inside the refrigerator, and, when it is over 90°F out, a 12V computer fan attached inside the top grill to help with air movement.

Over the last week or so, with 90°F - 100F days & 70°F nights & the thermostat set on 7, the freezer gets up to around 2°F during the late afternoon & goes down to -7°F by morning. The refrigerator lower door (what I've found to be the warmest part of the inside) gets to the mid 40°Fs during the afternoon (while driving), and after stopping, down to the low 40F. By most mornings, it is around 36°F. When the outside temperatures are more moderate, say in the 60°Fs, the refrigerator temperature doesn't go above 34°F with the thermostat set on 4.

One other point - the refrigerator doesn't start to do much cooling from the afternoon highs until the freezer temperature drops below 0°F...
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Old 08-25-2012, 03:14 PM   #49
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Re: Refrigerator not cooling on the road

Quote:
Originally Posted by rvomaha
Quote:
Originally Posted by captmath
I put remote thermometers in the frig and freezer. 2 F in the freezer, 44 in the empty box, 68 in the RV. I would have thought the box should be colder. I guess that explains the 58+ I had driving back from Oregon in July. Any ideas?

Dick
Was the 44 degrees while sitting still before the drive, and the 58+ immediately after highway miles? Was it really hot outside? --Liz & Jay
The 58 was after driving in 98 degrees. The 44 was this morning about 8 AM sitting in the carport with an empty refrigerator. On the road the freezer was getting up to about 18 in about 8 hours of driving.
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Old 08-25-2012, 04:27 PM   #50
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Re: Refrigerator not cooling on the road

One additional point - if I leave my MaxFan on with the windows closed (I've done it a couple of times by accident) while driving, the refrigerator temperature gets much higher than with it off. I suspect the vacuum created by the fan sucks air around the door seals...
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Old 08-25-2012, 10:59 PM   #51
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Re: Refrigerator not cooling on the road

I find the opposite with the 5cf. fridge in my 5.0 ......... I wonder why the dial goes past 4! My first fridge froze everything on setting 1 and was replaced so when I got the new one home I did a lot of testing on it using a mercury min. and max. thermometer while it was sitting on the driveway.

The following is with the fridge empty:

With outside temps of 17C (63F) at night and 33C (91F) during the day I had fridge readings of minus 3C (27F) at night and 5C (41F) during the day with it set to #4

When the outside temps dropped to 15C (59F) at night and 28C (82F) during the day this same setting (#4) gave me fridge readings of minus 7C (19F) at night and minus 2 (28F) during the day while the #3 setting gave me 1C (34F) at night and 4C (39F) during the day at the same outside temps. We had a short spell of 35C (95F) weather and the fridge temp never went over 5C (41F) when set at #4.

I find I have to set the fridge at #2 1/2 to #3 to stop freezing the contents and only turn it up to #4 if the temp goes over 30C (86F)

I'm quite happy with this as I'd rather have ice in my beer than drink it warm.

I now have a small cooler in the pantry and all the veggies go in there.

I always drive with the fridge on propane and have never experienced a warm fridge ....... touch wood.

Barry
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Old 08-26-2012, 11:52 PM   #52
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Re: Refrigerator not cooling on the road

I took a trip from Washington to Wisconsin in July. On the way out our fridge would get really warm when driving and would cool when parked. On the return trip I tried closing the overhead vent in the trailer, just to try something. This seemed to help quite a bit. The temps did rise when on the highway but there was at least a chill in the fridge when we stopped. There may be something to the comment about pulling a vacuum in the trailer and it affecting the fridge temps. I do not have enough data to be sure but if your fridge is getting really warm when driving try closing up the trailer completly when traveling.
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Old 08-28-2012, 01:48 AM   #53
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Re: Refrigerator not cooling on the road

tao, I am not surprised that it helped to close up the trailer, as you found. People often think that in hot weather, they should open their (house) windows during the day. In fact, they should be closed all day and only open at night when the air is cooler. I would think that the same applies to the trailer. The trailer is being filled with hot air when something is left open in such weather.
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Old 12-15-2012, 02:50 PM   #54
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We started this thread back in July, 2012, telling how our refrigerator (Dometic 5 cf in an Escape 19) was not cooling during drives, but worked fine when parked. Since that post we took another 4-week trip in moderate to cool temperatures, and that trip again showed that the refrigerator didn't work at all when at highway speeds. We took detailed notes of the refrigerator temperatures for several days, and then compiled the data into a table, which proved that no cooling took place while driving.

After that trip, we took the 19 for service at an authorized Dometic repair center. The repair center consulted with Dometic on the phone and they sent a fan and baffle to install in the space behind the refrigerator. The fan operates on a thermostat and has an on-off switch on the left side of the refrigerator (over the bed) for enabling the fan to operate. The switch is labelled "refrigerator fan switch" which leads us to believe Dometic has repeatedly seen the need for this switch and fan. The Dometic baffle is somewhere near the top back of the refrigerator. We will not be able to conclusively prove the success or failure of the new fan and baffle system until warm weather, when their purpose is to move more air across the cooling coil than occurs naturally.

Rease told us that he consulted with a Dometic rep who approved the configuration of the 19 with this Dometic refrigerator, but after the problem we've had, it seems like other owners (at least of 19s) should be monitoring their refrigerator temperatures during drives to be sure they are really cooling. The problem we've had is apparently not the refrigerator itself, but the improper air flow behind the refrigerator when the camper is in motion.

Another modification made by our repair man was that he used sealant behind the upper vent cover when re-installing it. He was surprised this was not part of the camper as built, and he believes it is important to keep water from leaking into the cavity behind the refrigerator.
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Old 12-15-2012, 06:23 PM   #55
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rvomaha View Post
We did a road test up to 60 mph with me riding inside the Escape so I could watch the yellow ignition light. It never flashed.
You're lucky you didn't see any blue or red flashing lights either!
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Old 12-15-2012, 08:02 PM   #56
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rvomaha ,
When you had the exterior fridge grills off your trailer did you ever see any sign of water leaking into the cavity behind the refrigerator?

One a side note, does rain water penetrate your RV cover? I have never owned one before and was curious. I sure hope this recent fix does the trick for you.
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Old 12-15-2012, 10:54 PM   #57
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rvomaha ,
When you had the exterior fridge grills off your trailer did you ever see any sign of water leaking into the cavity behind the refrigerator?

One a side note, does rain water penetrate your RV cover? I have never owned one before and was curious. I sure hope this recent fix does the trick for you.
Signs of water leaking into the cavity? No.

Does water penetrate our RV cover? Yes.
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Old 12-16-2012, 09:41 AM   #58
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That is weird. I have never noticed any issue in our trailer. I will do a closer check next summer to be sure though.
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Old 12-16-2012, 02:14 PM   #59
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It would be very helpful to everyone else reading this thread that in your response, you mention the model or type of refer you have in your unit, there are about 3-4 different sizes being used now by Escape and if we want to determine if it is a specific unit problem or a install issue, knowing the refer and your trailer model would be very beneficial. Thanks...
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Old 12-16-2012, 05:36 PM   #60
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It would be very helpful to everyone else reading this thread that you mention the model or type of refer you have in your unit, there are about 3-4 different sizes being used now by Escape and if we want to determine if it is a specific unit problem or a install issue, knowing the refer and your trailer model would be very beneficial. Thanks...
Our refrigerator is the Dometic RM 2510, which is the 5 cubic foot size. Our trailer is an Escape 19, model year 2012.
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