Preset Refrigerator Temperature Control
Our new fifth wheel came with a refrigerator with preset temperature control. In the past I have turned up the refrigerator in hot weather and down in cold weather. Does anyone have experience with this?
Forum Discussion
5 Replies
bbaker2001 wrote:
dometic 2852
the refrigerator will get to 38-40, but the freezer will not go lower than 20. if the thermistor is set to 38, how can freezer get to 0.
The Freezer in a RV refer is NOT controlled by any tstat. The freezer in a RV refer should ALWAYS be below 10 degrees and most get to 0 to 4 degrees. The Cooling unit system is designed to transmit full COLD to the freezer FIRST and then down to the refer. That design gets the freezer to below 10 degrees regardless of the tstat setting. ALWAYS has been this way. Also, the TEMP of the Evap fins in the lower section will be 10 degrees COLDER than the actual temp. So, if the interior temp is 38 degrees the fin temp is 28 degrees. Doug- dometic 2852
the refrigerator will get to 38-40, but the freezer will not go lower than 20. if the thermistor is set to 38, how can freezer get to 0. - I have one of those small battery operated fans in my Norcold. When I first start it I put the fan in so it points directly at the fins (might be a few inches away). With the temp setting on the middle position it generally reaches 33 degrees within four hours. Try it. There seems to be a lot of money being made selling residential fridges and expensive after market devices to speed cooling when this is all I have to do.
- Picking up on what OB said, the fridge is reacting to its own internal temp, not what's going on outside. We installed Dometic RM(could be DM) 2852 which is auto temp and were completely satisfied. I don't think we ever even touched thermistor position. That said:
1. Performance if it's mounted in a SLIDE may be different. They use a different venting arrangement to the outside, and usually a helper fan in the venting scheme.
2. RV fridge can cool to only so-many-degrees below outside temp. And harder to cool if in direct hot sun. Setting to Colder isn't going to help with that. Fridge will only do the best it can. - Preset temp control is factory set to control food section temp at 38*F to 42*F using the thermistor on fin as temp sensor/feedback. (actually measures fin temp which is roughly 10*F colder then compartment temps)
You can make minor adjustments (4*F-6*F) to preset temp by moving thermistor/clip:
UP....for COLDER temps
DOWN...for WARMR temps
