Residential frig below freezing in very cold weather?

spud1957 wrote:
The dealer has been refused warranty coverage for this reason.

That seems reasonable.

This info came directly from an RV Dealer.

Do not expect to receive any warranty on a residential fridge installed in an RV. They were not designed or built to be installed in RVs.

The dealer has been refused warranty coverage for this reason.

S

Sometimes we haven't been living in our coach for a few weeks when we're getting ready to leave our upstate NY cottage in January. I fire up the furnace with an external 30 lb LP cylinder connected to our Extend-A-Stay and set the temp to 50 deg.F a day or so before we leave. The external cylinder easily supplies it for that period and then some, and only costs $14 currently to refill. I boost the temp to a comfortable 70 deg.F a couple of hours before we leave and switch to the full onboard tank. We've never had a fridge issue when doing that, but this will be our first winter with a residential fridge installed, so we'll see how it goes this time. I don't expect to see much difference though. If the temp in the coach is below freezing, then of course the fridge interior will be too.

Yes happen to me. A few years ago I left OH in Late Dec with snow on the ground. No heat in the TT. Put food in the frig, thinking it would stay "cool". Forgot that the frig is NOT a heater. The food in the frig froze before we got to "warm" weather two days later.

I'm with Mr. Wizard. At least warm the RV to about 40° (thermostat on very lowest setting). It takes very little energy to hold that low a temperature. You're talking about $1 worth of propane and it solves your issue.

I agree with DrewE, I'd load up the fridge just before you pull out. What's the worst that could happen? Things in there get seriously "chilled". :B

Once you get rolling your going to need some kind of heat, the temp inside should rise at least a little unless of course you kick the heat on while rolling making it a moot point.

Good luck, enjoy your adventure!

Dan

Turn on some heat..I would not want to drive off in Freezing RV
What is the problem with warming up the RV, in the scheme of things the cost of the trip etc.. Using some lp or electric to warm the RV doesn't cost much , provides comfort, and eliminates your too cold fridge problem

I wouldn't worry too much about it, if it were me. Put the food in just before you go, and let it work like an ordinary cooler. The thermal mass of the air in the fridge is fairly low; the food you put in will warm it up somewhat, and should keep it from a hard freeze. (This is doubly true if you're talking about the motorhome rather than the trailer—presumably you'd have the interior well above freezing not too long after starting out for your own comfort.)

Depending on the design of the fridge, it might have more trouble with the freezer not staying cold enough. On some designs, at least on typical older ones, there's only a thermostat in the fridge, and some sort of a scheme to alter the relative cooling of the fridge and the freezer by moving a flap between them or something. If the environment is around the fridge set temperature, the compressor never runs and the freezer never gets cooled to its proper temperature. At least some modern fridges have separate thermostats and some means of cooling the two compartments more or less independently.

If inside temp drops below fridge set point, then inside fridge will be same.
Electricity near by? Place a space heater in front of the fridge to help it to keep from freezing.