Baffeled by my baffel

[ChopperBill]

Installed baffle mod in my 1350 fridge at home. It ran on AC and gas equally for two days. Outside temps in the upper 90's. Fridge stayed at 33*. Took our trailer to a boon dock park at aprox. 9000 feet with outside temps in the high 70's. Running on gas only the temp climbed to 40* and the fans ran non stop. I took out the baffle and a few minutes later the fans quit running and started cycling on and off. Later the temp went down to 33* and even went down to 32* after a chilly night. Of course the temp climbed a couple of degrees after opening the door several times and then came back down. I came to one conclusion that at that altitude that the gas burning did not have near the oxygen and did not get as hot to circulate the ammonia. But I am perplexed why the fan kept running all the time with the baffle but not without but cooled better without. I will add I really never had a cooling problem before the mod but just wanted to stay ahead of the game.

 

[TandT]

Bill,
According to Thetford, I believe your theory sounds correct.

Here is a quote from their FAQ's about their refers;

What effect will high altitude have on my refrigerator when it is running on propane gas?

Altitudes higher that 5500 feet above sea level may cause reduced cooling performance and may cause burner outages. Norcold recommends you operate the unit on AC when altitudes are higher than 5500 feet above sea level.

Here's a link to their FAQ's. http://www.thetford.com/HOME/CUSTOM...frigeratorsFAQ/tabid/433/Default.aspx#propane

Although I have not checked, I would imagine it is probably similar for Dometic units. Trace

 

[CactusTwo]

Are you talking about the deflector mod over the top of the cooling coils? 2 things, if you are venting the refer through the roof, the mod doesn't work so well. It would be better to add batt insulation on top of the refer box so as not to impede the heat flow but to insulate the top of the freezer from that heat transfer. Second the deflector metal should not touch the coils too much. You said fans, meaning more than 1 which in itself is a good thing

 

[ChopperBill]

Fridge in a slide with a topper. Baffle mounted just to the front lower edge of the cooling condenser with a clip, barely touching. Camper next to us said there milk freezes on high at 5000 ft. but wont at 9000. Figured it was lack of OX but can not figure out why it cools better without the baffle. Could be that it is running hotter without the baffle and makes up for the cooler flame. However it worked great at 5000ft. Always cooled great on electric at 9000 ft, no baffle.

 

[Willym]

The only thing that I can attribute this to would be that the baffle is choking the air flow at high elevation due to it's lower density. Possibly, with the baffle removed a greater air mass flow rate is achieved, and although a lot of it bypasses the condenser fins, overall heat transfer may be better. Try your baffle mod at lower elevations and see if there is any gain from them.
My RM1350 seems to work well without any mods, although I am tempted to try the baffle mod to see if the cooling efficiency is improved.

 

[ChopperBill]

The only thing that I can attribute this to would be that the baffle is choking the air flow at high elevation due to it's lower density. Possibly, with the baffle removed a greater air mass flow rate is achieved, and although a lot of it bypasses the condenser fins, overall heat transfer may be better. Try your baffle mod at lower elevations and see if there is any gain from them.
My RM1350 seems to work well without any mods, although I am tempted to try the baffle mod to see if the cooling efficiency is improved.

Yep, that was what I was doing. Mine work great just thought I could improve. If it aint broke, dont fix it.