running fridge in cold weather?

DutchmenSport wrote:
We kept all our previous TT's with ammonia absorption RV gas-electric refrigerators running 24x7x365, on both gas and electric (depending).

What we found out, after doing this for almost 20 years, is when the ambient temperature around the refrigerator gets colder and colder, the refrigerator has to run less and less. When the outside temperature get's colder than the inside, there is a point when the refrigerator will not run at all. Why should it? The inside is already cold, below the set temperature.

Now this worked ok, except for when the ambient temperature got around to 38 to 28 degrees. It at that stage the refrigerator doesn't need to run, to make things colder. It's already cold.

The problem is ... the freezer! The ambient temperature is still above freezing slightly, but the refrigerator is now colder than the setting. Result: the freezer doesn't run. So if you have nothing in the freezer, no problem at all. But if you anything that you don't want melting ... like ice cream ... well, the freezer is now not running either, but still not cold enough to retain things in a frozen state.

Once the inside of the freezer reaches 32 degrees or less, then things will start staying frozen again.

So, it will be fine if you have nothing in the freezer. Otherwise, you have to leave some heat on in the camper so the refrigerator warms up enough to run.

Now, what about household refrigerators and what about Coca-Cola vending machines? What keeps them from freezing in the dead of winter sitting outside? They actually have heaters built in them that will keep things from freezing when the ambient temperature drops below freezing.