I will be heading south in January traveling at very low outdoor temperature's. I do not plan on staying in the trailer until far enough south to de- winterize. However I would like to take some frozen and refrigerated food items to have when we arrive. My Norcold owner's manual states the use of a low temperature heating unit installation which seems like a lot of work that I do not want to do at this time. What do you regular snowbirds and full timers do regarding the use of your refrigerators while traveling in cold weather. My Norcold owner's manual states the use of a low temperature heating unit installation which seems like a lot of work that I do not want to do at this time.

We load / run refer as normal except fresh fruits... only takes 1.5 days to get below I 10... no probms so far.

We have traveled many times in cold weather, December, January, and March with our previous travel trailer. The refrigerator was petty much a standard gas-electric RV refrigerator with the freezer compartment on top with it's own separate door.First, the refrigerator in all our previous campers are never turned off. We leave our campers plugged in 24x7x365 and the refrigerators have always been set on Auto, so if electric power goes out they would run on propane.We never had problems running the refrigerator while traveling. It would flip over to gas once unplugged from shore power and just keep things nice and cold. I never tried to analyze it, I just did it.I do know, that if the inside of the trailer gets really cold ... like 20 degrees below zero ... which did happen a few times over the years ... the refrigerator just quits running. Not because there is anything wrong, but because the thermostat in the refrigerator is reading temperatures that have penetrated the inside that colder than the refrigerator settings.If the ambient temperature is zero degrees and your refrigerator is set for 38 degrees, well, it's just simply not going to run, because it's already cold.This was fine for the refrigerator section. But for the freezer section, the ambient temperature had to penetrate below the refrigerator setting before it stopped working. In other words, it had to be really, really, really cold a long time for the outside temperature to penetrate to the inside of the camper, and then the temperature of the trailer to penetrate to the inside of the refrigerator before the refrigerator thought it was already cold. So, basically what I'm saying is, if you are taking any frozen foods or cold foods with you and you are leaving from a snow, very cold location, just turn your refrigerator on a day before heading out. If you have heat on inside the camper, the refrigerator will run as normal.Load the refrigerator once is good and cold, unplug shore power, let it flip over to gas and hit the road. Things WILL stay cold and frozen. If the ambient temperature inside the camper hovers freezing or below, the refrigerator and freezer simply won't run very much, but it will stay cold and frozen. Once the ambient temperature inside the camper reaches above the temperature settings on the refrigerator, then it will kick on. Either way ... your ice cream will not melt ... been there ... done that.Now, our current camper has an all electric residential refrigerator in it. The camper is closed up right now, but still plugged in. The outside temperature is 20 degrees or less at night now. The inside of the camper is COLD! I've checked the temperature in the refrigerator, both the freezer and the refrigerator section. It's staying right on 38 degrees and negative 2.I'm curious what it will do when temps inside the camper get down to zero (which will probably happen soon enough here in Indiana).Long story short, turn on the refrigerator on an Auto setting (gas-electric), or just electric if it's residential. Let it cool down. Load it, and take off! No worries.

Our front cap was covered in a sheet of ice and icicles were hanging off of our mirrors and our fridge ran as normal. We didn't think to do anything different with it.

Just buy your “frozen and refrigerated food items” upon arrival. The Sunbelt has grocery stores, Walmart’s etc. even restaurants.

We stay in our trailer. Just bring a few gallons of water to drink, wash or pour into the toilet to flush. Put our foods in a cooler until we turn the fridge on. Usually only takes a day or two to get to warmer temps.B.O.

Snowbird Question | Good Sam Community

DutchmenSport
Explorer
Dec 11, 2018
Just checked mine again, parked at home.

Heat has been off in my 5er for a couple weeks now. Temps got down to high teens last night. Currently the outside temperature is 32 (at 12:00 noon). Inside temperature of the trailer is 30 degrees. Refrigerator is 34 and freezer is -2.
Super_Dave
Explorer
Dec 12, 2018
The easy answer sounds like to leave the frig door open and not turn it on. Lol!
stus__family
Explorer
Dec 12, 2018
Thanks for the reply's. I may be overthinking but at $3400 for a replacement 12 cubic foot 2 way fridge I don't want to take any chances. For the last ten years in our travel trailers I did like most folks just turned it on and hit the road.
Now with being retired and no second income I tend to be more careful. Also now that google probably reports my movements to the manufactures I don't want to give them more excuses to deny any claims.
RVman3252
Explorer
Dec 14, 2018
We go to Florida every February and use the 5th Wheel on our way down. Depending on the weather, we spend 2 or 3 days to make the trip, and like mentioned above, we carry water with us to drink, clean-up and flush the toilet... We use the Norcold Refrigerator as we always do... and have never had a problem.

Once we get out of the freezing weather, we un-winterize the water system, put some water in the freshwater tank... Has worked fine for us for 10 to 12 years!

Enjoy your trip!
RVman / John

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