How long does it take the fridge to cool off.

K3WE wrote:
... Today, the wife kicked the fridge on at 4:00 and at 6:00 the fridge was incredibly warm (while the freezer was very cool). And the fins were not cool at all.

But, an hour later, it was kicking in quite nicely. ....

Yup, that first 2 hours I watch my wireless thermometer and it does nothing then an hour later it is starting to cool. That first 2 hours always make me wonder if it is going to fail.

if you're expecting it work like a residential unit, then you'll be wrong.
RV fridges/freezers work on absorption. the chemicals remove heat, rather than blow in cool air like residential ones.
that's why it takes longer and why the freezer gets cooler first, cause it's a smaller space to remove heat from.
that's why it's important that the RV fridge has good seals and is airtight.

We always start ours up the night before, so in the AM ready to take on food. Takes a while for the ammonia to cycle an do its thing.

wbwood wrote:
...I will normally do it overnight...I've turned it on at 8am and within 4 or 5 hours its good to go...

(and the post above)

Exactly- it's not a big deal, overnight is probably a good idea, but a few hours is good too- just be aware that 2 hours in you might wonder if it's working at all.

Overnight if we have a plan to leave the next day, really only takes about 4 hours to get cold, maybe 6 to get real cold.
I normally swing by the storage yard, after work to turn on the batteries and turn on the frig.

My Norcold 1200 in an ambient temp of 90F takes about 14 hours to produce the first ice cubes on AC. LP is faster.

Your fridge is normal. None of them come down fast. To speed it up some if you like you can stick a gallon of ice cubes in the fridge and one in the freezer and that will help it come down faster. Turned mine on about 6 the other morning. It was 97 inside. Was down to temp when I checked 10 hours later. Truth is thats not bad for 100+ days.

It takes about 8 hours (without opening the door) before I put any food in mine. I do a quick check of the freezer bottom after about 2 hours to make sure it is working then I leave it.

These types of fridges uses heat on one side to create cooling on the other side of the system, since a propane flame is a little hotter than the electric element is, it cools a little faster on propane than it does on electricity.

Since we pack drinking water from home anyways we use 2 liter pop bottles and freeze a 4 or 5 of them. When we turn on the fridge we put 2 in the freezer and 2 or 3 in the fridge.

It speeds the process up considerably.

wbwood wrote:
Depends on how you are cooling it. If plugged in and on electric, then yes it takes a little while. I will normally do it overnight. If you put it on lp, it will cool a lot faster. I've turned it on at 8am and within 4 or 5 hours its good to go.

Why is lp faster at cooling it off? We start ours off on AC and don't bother putting stuff into it until the next day.