Thank you all for your thoughtful and helpful replies! DH talked to the dealer Friday and the sensor wire was moved in the fridge, which they said has helped. BTW, our freezer was doing a good job; it was just the fridge that wasn't cooling. Also, they've replaced the smoke detector battery to see if that was a contributing factor. The camper is still at the dealer. They left the fridge running on gas over the weekend to see if their "fix" maintains a cool temperature in the fridge over time.
The comment about high humidity setting off the smoke detector caught my attention big time. It's on the ceiling right across from the a/c unit, so I'm wondering if that's a factor. We were in FL at the time, which was really hot and humid. I could see where that, coupled with an excessive heat build up from the fridge and hot water heater could trigger it. We'll definitely turn the hot water heater off between uses - not worth the risk in this cheap trailer.
We were actually impressed with how well the a/c unit worked in the heat and humidity. Granted, we had to crank it as cold as it would go, but we have no complaints with it. We put the silver car shades between the windows and the pleated shades, which helped, and we also put a cushioned vent cover to block sun/heat in the living area roof vent and also the bathroom roof vent (when not taking a shower).
With the comments about the lack of insulation in these cheaper TTs, I'm thinking that the heat build up from the fridge, the a/c unit, and the hot water heater could be the culprit in the heat we felt under the bed, which is on the same wall and all near each other.
Taking the back off the fridge vent outside the trailer may be something to consider, to let some heat escape, maybe combined with a fan facing away from the camper to suck heat out and away from it. We'll try it on our Labor Day trip, as long as the weather cooperates. We may also take our dorm fridge, just in case. By the way, we set that fridge up OUTSIDE, plugged into the power post using a heavy duty extension cord, not into the camper (and the fridge was not inside the camper), to avoid overloading the amps used. We didn't need any more problems than we already had... We're still perplexed by the problems we had since we had the same size fridge in our Aliner and had zero problems with it. Now, the one in the Aliner had a fridge vent that we turned on while camping (I'm guessing it was a built in fan venting hot air outside?), which this camper doesn't have. I guess that's the difference.
Our main concern still centers around the odor we smelled under the bed on the same side as the a/c and fridge. The dealer insists that they haven't detected any odor, which is very frustrating to us. The thought of a fire terrifies me. I think we'll call tomorrow and ask that they check the wiring, but how do they do that w/out taking the trailer apart?
Again, thanks for your replies!
