Will Solar save my frig temp?

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
12-volt compressor refrigeration is far superior to any RV boondock alternative but you'd better grab your butt with both hands before thinking of changing.

12 volt refrigerators that are power efficient are hideously expensive. They are huge and heavy and even with all that a still a very large battery bank isn't an option it is mandatory.

To avoid generator use, a roof top of Solar panels is a must to support an 80 amp hour per day eating habit of a large 12 volt refrigerator.

I jumped through all the hoops for freon refrigeration and love -10F ice cubes and 37F temperatures throughout the refrigerator (even the door storage) provided on a 110F tropical day. Food lasts longer, like WAY longer at those temps.

But if there is an inexpensive way to gain all that I would sure like to know about it. When I shop for food, it is for 2 weeks in the refrigerator and weeks or months in the separate vertical freezer. I buy like 5 lbs of butter and 3 gallons of ice cream. Prepare 10 pounds of frozen corn and 15 lbs of steaks.

So my system is not typical. It cost a fortune 30 years ago and I traded a lot of free space for this luxury.

Maybe in Mexico but not here in the US. You can buy a Dometic replacement fridge (Damfoss) for around 700 bucks US. A replacement ammonia fridge is about 1200 bucks US. They are drop in btw. (I'm talking about a small unit that would fit in a TC or small trailer, not a double door biggie.

Sounds to me like you have a chlosterol issue. Butter and ice cream in those quantities promote heart disease and obesity.

doxiemom11 wrote:
We discovered that the cooling fans were not operating. Had never been in this hot of temp before with sun shining like it does in the desert. As ours our impossible to reach in the motorhome, wired a 12v computer fan in the exterior access area. We also put our awning out to help with morning sun ( it gets real windy here so hadn't had it out) and the frig is now operating normally. We had ours on electric and it couldn't keep up prior to doing these 2 things.

Lots of info on the net concerning adding extra forced air cooling to promote air flow across the coils.

I added a second muffin fan to my unit and it helper control the box temps. Like I said previously, my unit shuts down completely at night. Freezer temp stays at -6 and frig temp maintains 40. Don't matter what the ambient temp is or if the sun is beating on the fridge side.

Replace the burner. Be prepared to replace the propane supply tube as well because it will probably break when you try to loosen the fittings.

Tube

My lipids are low. My excursions were for A YEAR AT A TIME. Very remote areas where a trip to a real store was a 14 hour ordeal. My refrigerator is 18 cubic feet the freezer the same capacity. And energy use is 60 amp hours per day at 24 volts.

I wish my expensive gas unit was a miracle like your unit seems to be -- it would have saved me an enormous amount of time and money. But neither the Norcold factory rep nor Kool Fun could solve the problem -- go figure. The year I changed I spent a week on BURRO BEACH in BAHIA de CONCEPTION in June. We had a barbecue and there were seven or eight rig owners and we all seemed to have bad luck with our new gas refrigerators. Temps were 100/80F I came to the USA and tossed the Norcold out the back door. My units have insulation that is 5-1/2" thick

SidecarFlip wrote:

nickthehunter wrote:

Mar-d-mar wrote:
... but the frig has 3 settings. I use AC for when I am plugged in, DC for batteries and gas-gas. If I have solar panels, can I use the AC connection instead of DC, or is there a way to plug the AC into the inverter for panels and get more power?

If your frig has 3 settings, one is for 120V AC, one is for 12V DC, and one is for Propane. You should run it on propane then when not on 120V. This setting will be less drain on your battery.

If the control board is working correctly, the fridge will always default to propane (if it's available), if not 110 volt and if neither is available, then 12 volts which is the least efficient energy source.

My 3 way frig has a switch with 3 choices, gas, 110v, 12v. If you choose 110v and there is no 110v source the frig flat out doesn't operate. Same with the other 2 switch positions.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
My lipids are low. My excursions were for A YEAR AT A TIME. Very remote areas where a trip to a real store was a 14 hour ordeal. My refrigerator is 18 cubic feet the freezer the same capacity. And energy use is 60 amp hours per day at 24 volts.

That's consistent with the often reported 130Ah at 12V reported for inverter draw for the 18 cu ft Samsung refer that many are using for absorption replacement.

Not knocking DC motors at all. But newer 120V refers are very efficient, inverters not as much. I've read that the Samsungs use variable speed motors (DC?), start at low speed with no surge, MSW and PSW inverters OK, etc. And yeah they keep ice cream rock hard.

jplante4 wrote:
Replace the burner. Be prepared to replace the propane supply tube as well because it will probably break when you try to loosen the fittings.

This jogged the brain a bit. A fellow camper was having issues with his fridge not cooling. When he disconnected the propane line, oil ran out. After cleaning out the oil the fridge worked fine. Something to check.