Cold weather effects on Refrigerators

[Jim4929]

I don't know if this has been covered previously, it's crunch time and I don't have time to research. It has been in the low 20's at night and the 30's for the last few days. Heading for Florida tomorrow and my refrigerator is not performing as in the past. It is struggling for the freezer to get below 20 deg. Does cold weather have an impact on the performance of gas/electric refrigerators? Thanks in advance.

[murphy38]

We are camping where the temps have been around 8 and 9 degrees the last few nights. We have a small light bulb ( 40 watts ) in the fridge compartment and no problem so far.

[time2roll]

Poor freezer performance is normal in very cold temperatures.
Just load up and go. Freezer will improve as you go.

[WE-C-USA]

^^^ Good advice...

[MFL]

CloudDriver wrote:
The thermostat sensor for the refrigerator is in the refrigerator section, not in the freezer section.

If the RV heating system isn't running to keep the inside of the the RV warm, the refrigerator section will stay cool due to the low winter temperature inside the RV and the thermostat won't turn the cooling unit on very often, if at all.

Try turning the heat on to warm up the inside of the RV, which will then warm up the inside of the refrigerator section, which will cause the thermostat to turn on the cooling unit, which will bring down the temperature in the freezer.

Good post. Yes OP, you need to have some heat going inside the coach, for best fridge operation.

Jerry

[Coach-man]

We are enjoying our visit to the Pocono's, temps at night have been as low as 9, averaging 18, and 34 during the day, Fridge, dometic, is working just fine. So I doubt the cold weather by itself is causing any problems! Unit may be on its last legs, and the cold is stressing it!

[CloudDriver]

The thermostat sensor for the refrigerator is in the refrigerator section, not in the freezer section.

If the RV heating system isn't running to keep the inside of the the RV warm, the refrigerator section will stay cool due to the low winter temperature inside the RV and the thermostat won't turn the cooling unit on very often, if at all.

Try turning the heat on to warm up the inside of the RV, which will then warm up the inside of the refrigerator section, which will cause the thermostat to turn on the cooling unit, which will bring down the temperature in the freezer.

[pconroy328]

The coolant has to essentially boil and evaporate to make the fridge work. Cold weather can absolutely impact performance.

Google "rv refrigerator cold weather"

[MFL]

Yes, if outside temps are cold enough, it can keep your RV fridge from cooling properly. It may work better on gas (heat better), it's worth a try. A light bulb, like mentioned, may help too.

Jerry

[missourijan]

We put a small light bulb in the back of our Dometic to keep the cold weather from affecting it.

[Jim4929]

Dometic switched over to gas to see if that would help. Have read on other places that some heat was necessary to help with the evaporation process of cooling

[N-Trouble]

Cold weather shouldnt affect performance. How old is the unit? Is this while on gas or electric or both?

[donn0128]

Norcold or Dometic?
Sounds like an impending cooling unit failure.