How long will a Dometic Gas Absorption Refrigerator stay cold?

[farupp]

We plan on taking a several month trip this spring and summer towing our Heartland 24BHS and staying in it. The Dometic refrigerator will run off of electricity or propane when we are stopped. What has others done when we are driving to keep the food in the frig cold or cool?

Thanks.
Frank

 

[cookie]

It's recommended that you do not travel with your refrigerator running on propane.
I always have ours running while we travel. Many others do as well.
If you do not open the refrigerator door it should stay cold.
You decide.

Peace
Dave

 

[NP_Chief]

I don't run with mine on. We usually turn it on a day or two before we head out and let it get cold. The night before we leave, we stock it with whatever we are going to put in it and leave it on. Then right before we leave, I'll turn it off and unplug from power. After 4-6 hours of driving everything is still good inside, but we don't open the door during that time.

 

[farupp]

Thanks, Dave. About how much propane is used by the Dometic? I believe ours is a 6 cubic foot model.
Frank

 

[avvidclif]

FWIW. My fridge is either running on electricity when parked or on propane when traveling. It's never turned off. That covers several rv's back into the 80's. Current one is a nevercold 1210 4 years old.

 

[Silverado23]

The refrigerator uses approximately 1500 btu/hr
a 20lb tank usually lasts me about 2 weeks running just the fridge off propane.

On AC power the fridge would use AC and DC combined of about 450 watts/hr.

Battery power may be a bit more of an issue. Depending on your battery size and how often you plan to charge your battery.
The fridge uses around 100 watts per day of 12v power on propane.
The real problem comes with all the parasitic loads that are drawing 12v power. I have about 260 watts per day of parasitic load. This includes anything that does not 100% shut off such as the Propane alarm.

I have solar and use propane to keep my fridge running. I go through about 20 lbs of propane every two weeks running the fridge alone.
I keep mine running all summer and have a dometic refrigerator. mine might be the 8 Cu Ft one but has the same consumption specs as the 6.

 

[cookie]

Thanks, Dave. About how much propane is used by the Dometic? I believe ours is a 6 cubic foot model.
Frank

Our refrigerator it's a bit larger and the only thing I can say about propane usage is that it uses very little. It's basically a pilot light.

Peace
Dave

 

[farupp]

Thanks for the responses about how much propane it takes to run the frig; i.e. not too much.

Frank

 

[JWalker]

We generally pre-chill the refrigerator a day or so prior to leaving for a trip. Our basic rule of thumb is, if the trip is under 5 hours, we shut the refrigerator off when we travel. We have never had an issue with the temperature when traveling that amount of time. Granted, we do not open the refrigerator at all.
If the trip is over 5 hours, we leave it on and hit the road.

Safe Travels.

 

[wdk450]

The biggest concern with the refrigerator on propane heat when travelling is that there is now an exterior open flame, a real hazard at a fuel stop with gasoline vapors floating around. And, yes, the ammonia/hydrogen refrigerant itself is flammable. The modern propane refrigerators have a meltable thermal link in series with the 12 volt controller power. This meltable fuse is located near the flame/boiler and designed to cut off the 12 volt DC power in the event of a fire. Cutting off the 12 volt DC power cuts off the electrically energized propane inlet valve removing this possible fuel from a fire.

I also bought a self deploying halon fire extinguisher which I have mounted in the external refrigerator compartment.

Most all of our big 5th wheel RV's are towed by diesel trucks. Diesel fuel does not have many vapors, as compared to gasoline. Otto Diesel's first engine ran on vegetable oil.

I leave the refrigerator on "Automatic" mode when travelling. That way it is on AC when plugged to shore power, and on propane when travelling. I fuel up the truck unhitched from the trailer each day. This eliminates the fuel vapor hazard. Also, many owners have had collisions with posts, awnings, etc. at gas stations when trying to maneuver a big hitched up 5th wheel rig around the gas station.

I had some problems with the 12 volt DC line to the refrigerator blowing its fuse, due to an intermittent wire short. I was towing in 100 degree plus weather from Oregon to Sacramento. I saw my refrigerator heat up on the road during those days.