How long will refrigerator stay cold when in travel?

time2roll wrote:
IMO 6 hours will be fine for cold soaked fridge and food if the door is never opened.
However I run my fridge in transit.

The way I read the OPs post is he's taking the food from his house refer that he's set as cold as it will go and then putting into his RV refer that he says nothing about it being cold, so I have to assume he's putting the cold food from the house into a warm (possibly hot if it's been in the sun) RV refer to set for six hours.

Bill

Something my husband and I have gotten into a habit of is freezing the bottled water we are going to take anyway. The solid mass of ice keeps everything around it cold and doesn't make a water mess when it melts. Maybe you could stick a few frozen waters in there.

We had an electric only frig. in our travel trailer years back. If you pack it the night before, unplug it when you are ready to leave, and don't open the door till you arrive at your destination you will most likely be okay. We did this in the summer going from MN to Branson, MO about 12 hours with our lunch and potty breaks.
Enjoy, Brian

Yes, I will pre-chill the RV fridge for a couple days before the trip. I did state that, but it may not have come across that way. It is a small RV fridge (21ft trailer) think college dorm fridge. It does not have propane ability, hence why I posted my situation.

Never thought of inverter, but right now that is not option. So meats (hot dogs, hamburger, eggs) will be OK, but I should just buy milk locally? I think the forecast this weekend is high 70's, low 80's.

IMO 6 hours will be fine for cold soaked fridge and food if the door is never opened.
However I run my fridge in transit.

I'm curious ... why isn't your RV's refrigerator running while traveling?

FWIW, my DW would never allow our RV's propane refrigerator to NOT BE turned on and cooling continuously whenever there's food in it we intend on eventually eating. This applies except for when fueling up at a gas station - the refrigerator's ignitor circuit gets temporarily turned off for safety while that's happening.

We once owned a 1969 motorhome in which when traveling the wind would sometimes blow out the propane refrigerator's pilot light, but our modern propane RV refrigerator always keeps operating when underway. However, I guess that folks who use a 120V AC residential refrigerator in their rig would need an inverter powering it in order to keep it running while going down the road.

Yes, if the RV refer has to be completely cold when you left the house. Just taking cold food from the house refer and putting it in a warm or hot RV refer for six hours isn't going to work.

Why are you not traveling with the RV refer on or at least pre-cooled?

Bill

OK, I'll be the first to start the debate!

First, what kind of refrigerator do you have? Is it a residential or an RV style.

If residential, why can't you run it on an inverter powered through your camper battery?

If an standard RV type, why don't you run it on gas?

So here now starts the great "to run or not to run your RV refer when on the road debate!"

We have an RV refer and never shut it off. It runs on gas when traveling. We have no problems. Ice Cream stays frozen that way!

But, to answer your question a little closer, assuming you have an RV refrigerator and you choose to not run it when in transport, how long will food stay safe?

Bottom line, that depends upon the outside temperature.

More than likely, things in the refer will be OK after 6 hours. Even without refrigeration, meats can usually sit unrefrigerated over night, sometimes 10-12 hours. Eggs can go for days without refrigeration. Milk will go get warm, and spoil within a couple hours. Ice Cream will melt immediately. Frozen foods will be pretty much thawed out in 6 hours, even a 20 pound frozen turkey will be almost thawed in 6 hours.

So really, if you have no power to your refrigerator at all, it really depends upon the outside temperature and how much cold-loss the refrigerator suffers before the inside gets above a safe level, and then it will take a few hours before things begin to spoil.

No one can really say. You can test the refrigerator with a sacrificial cup of milk inside a cold refrigerator, then kill the power. See how long it takes to spoil.