Refrig on Propane

Too late now I guess but: We stop by my daughters house in Jax on the way to the Keys. Park the TT on the street with no where to plug in. We have done this for 2-21/2 days with no problem, although I do keep checking on the frig as it does make me nervous. I battery that is in good shape and fully charged when we arrive.

Problem solved. There was no way to plug the TT in so we emptied the fridge into a fridge they had in the office where we stored the TT. They were very helpful given the situation. DW and I are back home safe and sound and should be able to head back to the TT by Thursday or Friday. Thank you everyone for your help and advice! Good forum GREAT PEOPLE!

I'm doing this experiment right now but just for the batteries. Not worried about the propane portion. I have 1 29HM and a pair of premium GC2's. Curious as we're going on a cruise in July out of New Orleans and wondering in the frig will last that long. I'm fairly certain with the heat and the amount the frig will run is going to be the issue. The battery hasn't budged a 0.1 over 12 hours at least.. but not a good test since it's cooler and short time frame.

You will be fine with 2 12v you are pushing it with one small one. We have left a unit running with 2 12v for 8 days and everything was fine our volts were down to 11.9 after 8 days of mid 80s temps

I did dry camp for a week once without being plugged in, a generator or solar and made out OK. I had two new 12V batteries and a 8 cu ft Dometic fridge. Other 12V loads such as CO and propane detectors and how much the fridge has to cycle can also have a big effect on battery life so it is hard to say how you would make out.

Wouldn't even try it with less than two batteries or older batteries.

We did a five day cruse one time with the trailer in the parking lot. We had plenty of propane and two almost new, fully charged 6 volt batteries with no problems.

Good luck.

A lot depends on the brand/model. Mine is a Norcold 811. It doesn't have a defrost heating element. Instead it shuts off cooling every 48 hours for a couple hours in order to defrost the fins.

None the less, it draws .8 amps. If we round that to 1 amp, then a standard group 24 battery (60AH) should roughly supply 1 amp for 60 hours (2 1/2 days).

And that doesn't include what the propane and smoke detectors, etc. draw.

Anmacc2 wrote:
To be sure I understand correctly: the refrig needs the 12 volt system to run off propane? And five full days on one battery is too long and the battery will go dead and the refrigerator will stop working? If I'm understanding this correctly I learned something new today. I've been camping for forty years but have only boondocked one night at a time and moved on the next day. I've never boondocked two or three days successively. Thank you! You saved me a refrigerator full of food spoiling and the mess it would have created.

yes, the fridge needs 12-volts for the control panel. prove it to yourself by disconnecting the 12-volt batteries and then try to operate the fridge. IF you have more than 1-battery and IF those batteries are in good condition and fully charged you MIGHT make 5-days.

your options are to figure out a way to keep the trailer plugged into shore power even if that means paying for the site while you're gone; hooking up a battery charger or off-loading the food into another fridge/freezer. good luck.

I tried this once. We put our TT in storage for 2 weeks while I had to return home. I thought the fridge would be find as I had enough propane. My wife went over to the storage lot after 3 days needing to get something from the TT. The food was already bad and smelling. She went back the next weekend to clean it out and turn it off. Yes, the battery was dead. I don't know how long it lasted, but it did not make it 3 days. I just had the standard battery that was put in from the dealer at that time (and only 1), so I imagine it was just a regular low end deep cycle. Don't do it unless you have more than 1 fully charged battery, or solar.

Anmacc2 wrote:
To be sure I understand correctly: the refrig needs the 12 volt system to run off propane? And five full days on one battery is too long and the battery will go dead and the refrigerator will stop working? If I'm understanding this correctly I learned something new today. I've been camping for forty years but have only boondocked one night at a time and moved on the next day. I've never boondocked two or three days successively. Thank you! You saved me a refrigerator full of food spoiling and the mess it would have created.

Searching_Ut wrote:
The refrigerator controller needs battery power, and you also have a gas detector, possibly CO detector and other items in the trailer that will be drawing battery power, even when you don't think you have anything turned on. My last TT used somewhere around 30 amp hours of power a day just sitting there when I had the battery switch turned on and the fridge running on propane. That will kill a single battery in just a couple days.

Unfortunately the OP hasn't provided any information at all about the make / model of firidge they have but an issue not yet mentioned that many owners overlook when dry camping is the 12 vdc power being drawn from the battery by the fridge climate control system which in effect is a 12 vdc electric heating element. On many fridge models this heating element can be turned off, thereby significantly reducing draw down on the battery, but on other models it can't be turned off. Those who own one of the latter models (as I do) can easily add their own switch to overcome this problem (pics are in my gallery) - well worth it if relying on the battery alone to supply 12 vdc so the fridge can continue running much longer. The OP would be wise to figure out just which fridge they have and whether it's climate control can be switched off.