Refer temps

I have a Dometic Refer, can some of you folks out there tell me what the Temp. is in your Dometic Refer. We have our refer set on #4, that is next to the highest setting. Dometic is telling me that their Refers only cool to 40 degrees.

Mine runs about 38-39 degrees on the middle setting. It will freeze my beer if I turn it all the way up.

Ours on the warmest setting of 1 is from 38 to 40 degrees. If you have a center flap, be sure it is fully closed. Not sure why Dometic says they only cool to 40 degrees because I am sure if I set ours to a colder setting it would freeze! Also be sure the doors are sealing. We have found an infra-red thermometer to be invaluable in checking the fin temps and the temps around the doors - we have had major refer problems since we picked up the rig over a year ago, but must say that Dometic did step up and make it right.

It REALLY depends on the outside temps. Here in the PNW ours stays at 36* when on setting #3. Last year in the 104* temps of Uvalde, TX we had to hot wire the fans and set it to #5 just to keep it at 38*. If it is hot outside and if your refer is in a slide, hot wiring the refer vent fans makes a night and day difference in cooling performance. We also found running on propane provided better cooling than electric.

We have to turn the AC down a couple of degrees when it is near 100 outside to maintain the 34-36 target we like.

Our fans tend to stay on when the fridge is cooling under a heavy load. On occasion they take a while to kick on though. I think the slide awnings help as well.

Watching the time the freezer doors and fridge doors are open makes a lot of difference as well. With 90 or so ambient you can get it down to 34 easily. The large fridges take quite a bit more time to cool down than the 9 cubic feet do, or at least ours does.

My double door icemaker model freezes the condensate drops on the internal fins on the middle (#3) setting. Our refrig thermometer registers the temperature as just above 32 degrees. The wife is a worrier about food safety, so that is where we keep it.

From the "Evaporator" section of the webpage link page following explaining how the RV refrig works, I get a theoretical maximum low temperature for the freezer of -20 degrees F., and a theoretical maximum low temperature for the refrigerator section of +15 degrees F.
http://www.rvmobile.com/tech/Trouble/cooldoc.htm

A Dometic reefer will easily cool down to the low 30's. My typically runs 33-35 degrees (per the digital indicator) and I leave it on 4 or 5, depending upon how cold it is getting. If items are packed such that air can circulate, and you get one of those little battery-operated fans to help move the air, it does great.
Jim

azbound said:

I have a Dometic Refer, can some of you folks out there tell me what the Temp. is in your Dometic Refer. We have our refer set on #4, that is next to the highest setting. Dometic is telling me that their Refers only cool to 40 degrees.

Click to expand...

I envy all of you, the best we get is 38 to 40 and that is first thing in morning the first time I open the refer door. During the day 39 to 42 is the norm. The dealer has been working with Dometic and they have replaced everything, cooling unit, thermocoupler, circuit board and hot wired the fans to run 24/7. nothing has helped. This morning we called Dometic ourselves and was told by their rep. that their refers were designed to cool to 40. I think the whole deal is they can't get it to cool and they don't want to replace the refer.

www.rvmobile.com/Tech/Trouble/vent.htm -I think you will need to type this in

Read this article on venting of refrigerators, especially in slideouts. This could be your problem.

We have just begun loading and checking out our 2011 BH3670 and it appears that, in our model, this problem has been resolved, there is even a fan to blow the air around. There have been other threads regarding the refrigerator cooling problems.

Wharton said:

www.rvmobile.com/Tech/Trouble/vent.htm -I think you will need to type this in

Read this article on venting of refrigerators, especially in slideouts. This could be your problem.

We have just begun loading and checking out our 2011 BH3670 and it appears that, in our model, this problem has been resolved, there is even a fan to blow the air around. There have been other threads regarding the refrigerator cooling problems.

Click to expand...

I am not sure when you say there should be a fan to help in venting if the fan they hot wired is the same fan.

Most refrigerators don't come with a fan to blow the air across the coils. This is usually an add on by the owner to assist cooling. Since hot air rises if the refrig is not in a slideout the vent is usually on the roof for the refrig and since hot air rises the problem of adequate air movement is minimal. Since the refrig is in the slidout and the upper vent is in the sidewall that presents a potential problem. If there is not enough air movement the refrig gets warm. This has been a problem with some of the refrigs. The article(I think near the end) talks about the best way for a slideout. Sometimes baffles need to be installed at the top of the refrig compartment to force the air out and a fan is installed about midway down the aid in the air circulation. This generally resolves the warmth condition of the refrigertor.

If your exterior fans are blowing in the back of the refrig that is good.

Also, these refrigs seem to cool better on propane the electric.

Check your upper vent to make wure there isn't a big gap at the top of the refrig. If there is, all the hot air is getting trapped up there and a baffle needs to installed.

Have you installed one of those battery operated fans inside the refrig to blow the cold air around?

Other questions is what are your outside temps and how many times do you open the refrig. Do you have the thermoistor(sp?) set to max and the temp control set to max. Do you have a slideout awning?

Dometic is just brushing you off with the cooling to only 40 design statement..............

For a home refrigerator tems in the low 40's is normal.

A quick question regarding our refer unit... i picked up the camper today (it was in for repairs) we started up the frig on the gas mode and when we got to the C/G about 4 1/2 hours later - the temp was 46 deg. I then set the mode to electric, we put a few thing it the frig and we were in the frig about 1/2 dozen times while cooking dinner. within about 2 hours the temp went from 46 to 53 deg?? I just now turned it back on the gas mode to see if that would help? All last year and this year (until we took it in for repairs that had nothing to do with the refer) the frig worked great in the electric mode. Are we not allowing enough time to pass while in the electric mode?

tom

imchud said:

A quick question regarding our refer unit... i picked up the camper today (it was in for repairs) we started up the frig on the gas mode and when we got to the C/G about 4 1/2 hours later - the temp was 46 deg. I then set the mode to electric, we put a few thing it the frig and we were in the frig about 1/2 dozen times while cooking dinner. within about 2 hours the temp went from 46 to 53 deg?? I just now turned it back on the gas mode to see if that would help? All last year and this year (until we took it in for repairs that had nothing to do with the refer) the frig worked great in the electric mode. Are we not allowing enough time to pass while in the electric mode?

tom

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Hi again, Tom.
I was glad to hear your A/C problems were resolved.

Temperature recovery on the refrigerators isn't great, and is hard to predict due to indoor humidity, and outdoor temperatures, etc. I've read where users have seen an hour to recover just from opening the door for a few seconds. Yours was none too cold to begin with at 46 degrees already. When you added stuff to the fridge and had the door open a half dozen times, I assume for more than few minutes to load your groceries, 6 degrees rise doesn't surprise me.

The switchover from gas to electric shouldn't be noticeable, but I believe that gas operation is a little bit more efficient than electric.

I'd suggest you enjoy your trip and keep an eye on the temps to see what it does over the next couple days.

Rickhansen said:

Hi again, Tom.
I was glad to hear your A/C problems were resolved.

Temperature recovery on the refrigerators isn't great, and is hard to predict due to indoor humidity, and outdoor temperatures, etc. I've read where users have seen an hour to recover just from opening the door for a few seconds. Yours was none too cold to begin with at 46 degrees already. When you added stuff to the fridge and had the door open a half dozen times, I assume for more than few minutes to load your groceries, 6 degrees rise doesn't surprise me.

. The switchover from gas to electric shouldn't be noticeable, but I believe that gas operation is a little bit more efficient than electric.

I'd suggest you enjoy your trip and keep an eye on the temps to see what it does over the next couple days.

Click to expand...

Thanks Rick... I was getting a bit gun shy... you know when you have a problem with your rig, you get it fixed and bring it home, only to have something else go wrong. Well thats what i thought was going on when i saw the temp climbing and not falling.... Anyway this morning the temp was at 39 deg... and falling. thanks again Rick, you and Jan have a great 4th..

Tom