running Refrig on LP only or AUTO

rjsurfer wrote:
Another reason you might want to keep it on gas mode is during periods of high outside temps. I have always thought that my fridges cooled better on gas than electric.

I believe the thermal output from the gas flame is higher than the 112V AC heater.


Ron W.

When we got our old Komfort in '04, that was pretty much the rule-of-thumb; running on gas cools better than electric. One time, I switched my fridge to gas while in a full-hookup when it seemed to not be working well, and it =did= cool better.

Lyle

Another reason you might want to keep it on gas mode is during periods of high outside temps. I have always thought that my fridges cooled better on gas than electric.

I believe the thermal output from the gas flame is higher than the 112V AC heater.


Ron W.

What Auto does is if it senses A/C power available, it runs the fridge on electric. If the A/C power drops, it switches to gas and you don't have to pay attention to it.

If the generator is no being pushed to the limits, just leave it on Auto and the fridge will take care of itself...the amount of additional fuel used by the generator will be insignificant and you don't have to do anything different.

Where you may want to consider manually forcing the fridge to Gas only mode is if the generator is being pushed to the limits. If you have an undersized generator that just barely starts the air/con with nothing else running that 150-200w going to the fridge may push it over the generators limits and you will have the generator overload switch tripping regularly. Then forcing the fridge to Gas only mode could help you out.

Depends. If only overnighting 1 night at a CG leave it on propane. Dry camping with genny use leave it on propane. Multi nights at a CG switch to AC. Just back from an Alaskan trip. Lots of dry camping. Increase in propane use was minimal.

I run on gas if dry camping so it doesn't add a load to the generator when running, or my batteries when I am using the inverter

I leave it on auto when plugged in. Just a precaution so it will switch over to gas if the power goes off when we aren't around.

Propane only while dry camping.

I leave ours on Auto when I have shore power, including when stored here at home. But if I am dry camping, as soon as I park I put the fridge on Gas Only.

I also run my water heater on gas only, and the AC switch stays off permanently.

The reason for these 2 things is simple - I want the maximum my converter charger can put into my batteries when it is running. The fridge uses minimal AC, but does use some, the WH uses a LOT of AC, and you can hear your genny throttle up when either of these AC items turn on.

Propane is so small an expense that I don't even give it a thought about using a little extra.

My fridge is only on electric or auto when plugged during a campground stay which are few and far between. Propane works great.

When dry camping, I use solar to charge the batteries with the trailer's umbilical cord plugged into an inverter. I turn off the charger/converter and run the fridge on "gas only" to prevent them from draining the batteries (auto on the fridge would switch it over to 110 AC from the inverter).

Depends on what you use the generator for. We dry camp only a couple times a year. I switch the refer to LP. My Honda will run all night on a tank of gas with only running our cpap machines and maybe a fan or two. However, if refer is on auto, the gen will not run all night.