Residential Refrigerator Temp Settings

klindgren

Retired Virginia Chapter Leaders
Question camp up last night as we sat here for 7 hours without power (bad weather). What is the highest setting that is safe to keep food cold in the refrigerator? Not knowing how long we were going to be without power, I was wondering if I should raise the temp in my refer/freezer to reduce the draw on my house batteries. My normal settings (set at dealer before I picked up the rig) are 0 for the freezer and 37 for the refrigerator. Just wondering how much help it would be to raise the temps and what a "safe" high-end temp would be? Anybody got any thoughts? Fortunately for me, power came back on before I was done "figuring" what a safe temp would be.
 

AAdams

Well-known member
We have our res fridge at; freezer -5, fridge 38. If we set the fridge any lower it starts to freeze the water bottles and other drinks in the fridge. As far as the fridge, everything I have read says to keep it below 40 degrees in order for the food not to start spoiling.
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
Every RV should be equipped with a multimeter with a thermal coupling accessory. Know what is going on with your AC, DC, A/C, and fridge/freezer, with one simple tool available from Southwire at Lowes.
 
Your refrigerator manual probably has recommended temperatures. Also, recommended temperatures can be googled on-line. Recommendations are based on the assumption that you will be opening the refrigerator doors from time to time; so, if you limit access to the refrigerator, you can get away with higher temperatures. I believe the Frigidaire refrigerator used in newer model Bighorns has a feature that adjust temperatures and/or defrost cycles if doors are not opened for 24 hours.
 
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