Keeping Things Cold on the Road

THANK YOU to everyone for so kindly taking the time to reply to my question. We learned alot from your comments and really appreciate all of your advice. This is our first TT although we don't actually have it yet. Picking it up in Indiana at the end of November and our old bones are excited to be done with tents!

common sense trumps experience

Don't buy that at all..The point I was trying to make is there are tons of modern day RV refrigerators out there that the owners either did not want to replace with a new $1,000 dollar or more unit or buy the cooling unit itself, usually for less than $500..I have replaced a few cooling units in my day and done what I say below..

What they do is use the gas/electric refer as an icebox like the RV's of old.Put in an ice tray on top and a drain to the outside as they did for years and kept stuff safe and cold.

Even the freezer can be used for frozen stuff with dry ice which last very well.All without electricity or propane!Lot's of loggers and forest service people do it this way.

Bottom line is 8 hours without an RV refer running is nothing if the correct measures are taken.

As others have said here,I don't care how anyone else does things,I just try and share what I have done and seen over the years of mostly living in tin cans!I was 60 when I first bought a real house on a foundation,the prior years dwellings all had tires under them at one time or another.

propane is great for us, now its all happy-camping

Jaycocreek wrote:
Maybe it's just me but answering a question without having tried it,just somehow doesn't seem right..I think we are all looking for experienced answers instead of I doubt or have never tried it but

Give me a break - in my case, education, powers od deductuion, comprehension, and above all, common sense trumps experience. It doesn't take 50 years to deduce that a typical TT fridge is no better insulated than a common cooler and gee, I may have used those a few times and I have been using my TT for some time as well, and I might also know how fast it cools off. Congragulations for making my blocked list.

I seriously doubt my fridge is insulated enough to keep things at a food safe temp over an 8 hour trip.

Maybe it's just me but answering a question without having tried it,just somehow doesn't seem right..I think we are all looking for experienced answers instead of I doubt or have never tried it but...

The question was:

Interested to know how long things in refrigerator stay cold while traveling and if anything in the freezer thaws out if we're on, say, an 8 hour road day. Just bought a TT and haven't used it yetInterested to know how long things in refrigerator stay cold while traveling and if anything in the freezer thaws out if we're on, say, an 8 hour road day. Just bought a TT and haven't used it yet..

My experience is if the refrigerator is cooled down prior to leaving and a frozen milk jug or bottle or bottles is used in the refer and an ice pack in the freezer,the stuff stays cold and frozen for at least 8 hours just as it would in a portable cooler we all use.

Of course like a portable cooler,the more you open and shut it lowers it's ability to stay at that temp.

We tow with our refrig off.

BUT... the vast majority of our trips are within a couple hours.

We cool down the refrig a couple days before leaving. We usually precook and prefreeze one or two dinners (stew for example) and put those in the refrig just before we leave. We also usually have a few water bottles that we freeze at home and again put them in the frig just before leaving. Most times, when we get to the campground we have to remember to remove the frozen dinner in order to let it thaw enough to be ready for heating up!

On our really long trips (to Florida), we just didn't put perishable food in the frig. This was convenient because a couple places on our trip required the propane to be turned off (bridges and tunnels), and the nice lady at the toll booth did ask us if the propane was turned off.

So... in my experience, our refrig keeps things plenty cold on short trips while turned off. On long trips, it would warm up a bit, but still keep things cool.

It really doesn't bother me if other people tow with the frig on or off.

NRALIFR wrote:
I would recommend that regardless of whether you run your fridge while travelling or not, that you put a thermometer inside the fridge section so you know for certain what is going on in there. On a hot day, a fridge that has warmed up to 55 degrees will still feel "cold enough" to most people. But, that's actually well into the danger zone for meats and dairy products.

I use a wireless thermometer in my TC fridge, and keep the base unit in the cab so I can monitor it while we drive. With the sensor unit placed close to the cooling fins I can tell when the fridge is cooling or not, as the temperature will generally rise and fall within about an 8 degree range.

Whatever you do, remember that food safety is important too. It would be a shame to make yourself or a member of your family sick (or worse) from eating spoiled food because you felt running the fridge on the road was a safety hazard. Preventing food-borne illnesses and deaths isn't just the responsibility of those big evil agri-businesses. The consumer is responsible for practicing safe food handling procedures as well.

:):)

I do the same thing with a remote reading therometer and even have one in the frig and in the freezer and like you see similiar rises and falls and would never think to leave my frig off for more than like 2 hours for fear of the temps rising too high to keep food especially in the front near the door in the "safe zone". This is especially true on warmer days and these frigs just aren't that well insulated and I wonder just how many folks actually monitor and know temp wise what happens inside their refers. Also, even internally they don't have any sort of forced air movement like a lot of home refers and depend totally on convection circulation from temp deltas to circulate the cold air. I have one of the remote units that has the high/low memory and alarm and mainly have it since DW keeps her insulin "supply" in the frig and I want to know what is going on and not just be guessing and hoping things are all right. Lastly my frig is usually full enough that trying to stuff any sort of sacrifical cooling addition like ice packs etc. in there is for us a real waste of valuable refer space.

Since I bought a trailer with things like a toilet, holding tanks, water pump and other conveniences I consider using the refer normally just a matter of what I bought the "entire package" for and don't see why I need to do anything special for it. I guess this is sort of like those that never do a #2 in their black tank for whatever reason they give, it's their preference and that's O.K, but don't suggest others do the same for some actual real reason.

Larry

I seriously doubt my fridge is insulated enough to keep things at a food safe temp over an 8 hour trip. And I know it won't keep my beer as cold as I like it to be. I also looked in my manual, and it doesn't mention running it while traveling is unsafe, so I leave it on propane.

Multiple told me that standard practice is to leave it running, and of course you can't miss the multi page threads on here about the subject if you read the forum regularly.

The OP didn't ask if it was safe - just wants to know how long things will stay cool if off. It really depends on how well his fridge is insulated - it isnt a Yeti cooler... Now he knows that the option to keep it running is available, he can make his own choice, but the advice to place a thermometor inside should be taken. The true test would be performed while at home, letting it cool down, the turning off and monitoring the temperature over 8 hours. I imagine it would only take one case of food sickness to change anyone's mind about this.

We run ours on propane all the time. So far as amount of propane used, it's very small. As far as staying cold it does if the outside temps are not too high. It will keep things safely frozen,gas or electric, but won't keep ice cream hard and keeps the fridge part cool enough. If temps are 90 to 100 it really struggles, no matter what fuel is being used. Enjoy the new rig!

I would recommend that regardless of whether you run your fridge while travelling or not, that you put a thermometer inside the fridge section so you know for certain what is going on in there. On a hot day, a fridge that has warmed up to 55 degrees will still feel "cold enough" to most people. But, that's actually well into the danger zone for meats and dairy products.

I use a wireless thermometer in my TC fridge, and keep the base unit in the cab so I can monitor it while we drive. With the sensor unit placed close to the cooling fins I can tell when the fridge is cooling or not, as the temperature will generally rise and fall within about an 8 degree range.

Whatever you do, remember that food safety is important too. It would be a shame to make yourself or a member of your family sick (or worse) from eating spoiled food because you felt running the fridge on the road was a safety hazard. Preventing food-borne illnesses and deaths isn't just the responsibility of those big evil agri-businesses. The consumer is responsible for practicing safe food handling procedures as well.

:):)