We had a family emergency this past week, which is now requiring us to spend 10+ days about 4 hrs from home. With the blessings of the local Episcopal church, we got permission to dry camp in their parking lot while we are in town.Last night was a killer at 10*, but the Honda 2000 kept the batteries charged and ran a little 1500w heater too.Looks like the weather is warming up and I'm planning to water up the camper so we have running water (and hot water) and also fire up the fridge. I'm not worried so much about the tanks freezing, but from what I've read the lower limit of fridge operation is 20*. Here's the weather for where we are:So, what's the opinion about lighting the fridge? I have read the tricks about using a 100W light bulb by the coils, but don't want to run the generator all night in the church parking lot, that would not be fair to the neighbors, as quiet as the Honda is.

Put a light bulb in the outside refrigerator access area.

Wolfe, thanks but you missed the last sentence of my post:burbman wrote:I have read the tricks about using a 100W light bulb by the coils, but don't want to run the generator all night in the church parking lot, that would not be fair to the neighbors, as quiet as the Honda is.

I've run my fridge a little below 10 degrees on propane and haven't had any problems. Never used any heat in the fridge area. At 10 & below I do winterize. I use bottled water and flush toilet with RV anti freeze. Although we put water in the grey tank I also add RV anti freeze. I keep furnace on. My MH and previous TT did have tanks heated with the furnace on. I winterize by blowing out my lines with air. When temp gets above 10 I de-winterize and use everything again. I winterize and de-winterize as necessary. Only takes a few minutes. I use the Vair compressor.

I am not sure about the refrigerator question. I would be very worried about frozen water lines on those 20 degree nights. If you are not going to run generator how are you going to keep trailer warm enough to keep waterlines running along outside walls and inside closed areas from freezing.

BurbMan wrote:Wolfe, thanks but you missed the last sentence of my post:burbman wrote:I have read the tricks about using a 100W light bulb by the coils, but don't want to run the generator all night in the church parking lot, that would not be fair to the neighbors, as quiet as the Honda is. Yup, sorry, I didn't read below the picture.Perhaps partially block off the lower refrigerator vent to contain the heat.

Too Cold to Run Fridge? | Good Sam Community

23 Replies

BurbMan
Explorer II
Jan 12, 2015
Turned the fridge on last night and looks good. Went out today and got some groceries, including a bag of ice for the freezer, and all is staying at the right temps. Almost hit 40 today, lows predicted in the mid 20's this week, so all should be OK. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences, helped me a lot.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Jan 11, 2015
Hi jhilley,

It is likely the fridge is getting a little more damaged each time it freezes up. I have no hesitation restricting air flow. I do have thermostatically controlled fans that would cut in if the temperature goes too high.

In your shoes I'd block off all but the bottom vent.

I will be adding the ARP overheating device this spring.
TucsonJim
Explorer II
Jan 11, 2015
You could forget all about the refrigerator and go old school. Use an ice chest.
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Jan 11, 2015
Turn the fridge on.

IF and that is IF it doesn't cool then start blocking off some of the lower vent.

We have been in -14*F temps and fridge continued to operate.
jhilley
Explorer
Jan 11, 2015
I can lend first hand experience. We have been living in our motor home in NE North Dakota since the middle of October, while our new house is being built. It has been very cold with many days below zero for a high and lows to -14F over night. The refrigerator works normally with temps above 20F. Below that the refrigerator section gets colder and the freezer gets warmer. Refrigerator gets down to 30F and freezer gets up to 25F. This is directly proportional to outside temp. I have been hesitant to block any vents.
SeaDog_BRR
Explorer
Jan 11, 2015
I have camped in the winnie in very cold Idaho winters and never had a problem with the fridge, I have had my water lines freeze when I used electric heaters instead of the furnace which heats the basement. Use the fridge and don't worry about it.
dougrainer
Nomad
Jan 11, 2015
wa8yxm wrote:
Some RV fridges come with a LAT switch (low Ambient Temp). This switch simply turns on the interior light.

The way the system works the outside will be kept warm by the cooling system's heater (I know that sounds weird but, well, that's absorption cooling for you).

Have never had a problem that needed heat outside,, Have seen commercial Absorption cooling units that survived -40.. My own survived several Michigan Winters when NOT in operation, and 11 degrees operating.

The LAT just leaves the INTERIOR 12 volt light in the refer ON. Nothing else. This fools the Temp thermistor to continue running the refer in freezing temps to keep the INTERIOR of the refer cold. Otherwise the refer would shut off due to the lack of heat it is trying to overcome. There are 2 different parameters going on here. The OP asked about sub 20 degree temps. Sub 20 degree temps will cause the Ammonia mixture to NOT percolate correctly and cooling will be degraded. You install that 60 watt light bulb at the rear coil area to warm up the cooling coils to help the Ammonia to percolate correctly. Lack of that light bulb will NOT cause any damage to the cooling unit. The cooling unit just may not perform to its best. Doug
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Jan 11, 2015
Some RV fridges come with a LAT switch (low Ambient Temp). This switch simply turns on the interior light.

The way the system works the outside will be kept warm by the cooling system's heater (I know that sounds weird but, well, that's absorption cooling for you).

Have never had a problem that needed heat outside,, Have seen commercial Absorption cooling units that survived -40.. My own survived several Michigan Winters when NOT in operation, and 11 degrees operating.
DutchmenSport
Explorer
Jan 11, 2015
Never had a problem running the refrigerator in any of my campers, even when the outside temperatures were near zero degrees. I think as long as the inside temperature of the camper is warm, the refrigerator will cycle on and off, regardless of the outside temperature. Now, if the inside temperature drops to, like, 20 degrees, it won't run. No need to ... the ambient air around the refrigerator is already cold.

I say, go ahead and turn on the refrigerator. I think you'll have no problems with it working. BUT ... for a secondary precaution, why not take along a camping cooler you can just set outside the door of the camper. If the outside temperatures are colder than your refrigerator gets, then why not just keep it in a cooler outside (or in the back of your tow vehicle if you are concerned about someone, or something raiding the cooler). In cold weather, we use an outside cooler for everything! Shoot, at home, when temps are below 45 degrees, we keep all our soft drinks outside on the back side of the house (it's shaded there), right outside the door. Keeps them colder sometimes than the refrigerator in the house does. Just a suggestion.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Jan 11, 2015
Hi BurbMan,

Restrict the air flow by leaving only the lowest vent open.

Use a small inverter and a TC-3 thermocube with a 40 watt light bulb.

BurbMan wrote:
Thanks guys, 30 now and going to 25 tonight, just fired up the fridge on propane and will see where we are in the morning, hopefully pick up some groceries. Thanks to all for the good replies!