Ice cream?

[Super_Dave]

Why won’t RV freezers keep ice cream frozen? Meat freezes, ice freezes but ice cream is always mush.

[NRALIFR]

I almost forgot that not all ice cream is created equal. I only buy Blue Bell at home, because it’s still sold in full half-gallon tubs, and they don’t whip a bunch of air into it before filling them. It freezes hard as a rock if your freezer goes low enough. I don’t even look at all that other phony stuff next to it in the grocery store.

If your favorite brand is sold in three pint containers, it’s not REAL ice cream, and it will always be soft. Every ice cream connie-sewer knows this.

:):)

[Walaby]

Guess Im in the minority. My freezer won't freeze 'scream' either.

Freezes everything else quite nicely.

Mike

[Allworth]

Entrained butterfat!

[pianotuna]

Hi,

If I understand you correctly, you added a fan in the food part of fridge and not the freezer?

The working medium passes through the freezer first, so adding a fan seems to me to do nada for the freezer. I know it makes no difference in my freezer whether the fan is "on" or "off".

Adding a fan to the "back" (chimney) of the fridge does improve cooling time and freezer operation.

philh wrote:
I added a computer fan inside the fridge. Freezer easily keeps ice cream frozen.

[fj12ryder]

That's the carrageenan, and guar gum they put in there to add "body". Good ice cream has neither, but getting harder to find.

That's why the cheap stuff never melts completely, and there's a lump of "stuff" that's left.

[the_bear_II]

Our Dometic Refrigerator freezer compartment has three zones- the top will freeze anything hard as a rock, the next two shelves will keep frozen food solid but takes a day or so to freeze items not already frozen. The bottom shelf keeps items colder than the refrigerator but rarely will freeze anything.

So we keep ice cream at the top and it stays hard.

It does seem though that some ice cream now days doesn't seem to freeze hard even at home in a residential fridge. We currently have a 3 gallon bucket of ice cream from Kroger that has stayed soft for about two weeks so far. I experienced this with other ice creams as well (usually the cheap stuff).

[camper1013]

I have heard it has to be on the bottom left. Must be the way the coils are that it's colder in that spot. We usually have ice cream along and it has always worked for us.

[ppine]

I am always on the lookout for huckleberry ice cream when traveling up North.

[PNW_Steve]

I have owned three absorbtion refrigerators. None of them would keep ice cream well in hot weather.

I have spent a lot of time in AZ and TX. I gave up on buying ice-cream any time it was over 80-90F outside.

My solution was to replace them with 10.8cu.ft. residential refrigerators. No problem keeping ice-cream solid and ice "dry" if you know what I mean.

My 5'er has two golf cart batteries, a 1000 watt PSW inverter, 300 watts of solar and a 25 amp shore charger.

This setup has served me pretty well for almost four years and 6000 miles. The batteries have lost some capacity over time and will probably be replaced next year. This season I have had to run the generator a bit more than past seasons.

We are working on our "new to us" rig that will sport 1800 watts of solar and a much larger battery bank (24 volt 430 a/h). No more generator needed! Well.. Not unless it gets cloudy 🙂



We love the space of the 10.8 fridges. They seem enormous inside compared to the absorption fridges they replaced.

[laknox]

Jayco-noslide wrote:
Ours does in our 15 year old motor home. Most of the time is is quite solid but less so if we crowd the frig. It has a cold setting from 1 to 5 and we adjust from 3 to 4. I think having our burner replaced helped even more. I don't have an answer but I think something is wrong if it doesn't keep ice cream edible?

I've used one of those little 2" battery fans in my fridge for years. I do think it helps keep the air stirred up enough so that I'm able to drop the setting down one and I rarely have anything freeze.

Lyle

[laknox]

Gearitis wrote:
No problem here keeping Ice Cream. Suggestion is to freeze a couple of small butter tubs of water and place those in the freezer after 24 hour cool down on the fridge. I know it takes up space but it will help take down the temp a few more degrees. We keep sugar free popsicles and a half gallon of Blue Bell in ours when we go camping. 105 degree weather like now.

Better yet, get some freezer gel packs and put them in the deep freeze at home (assuming you have one). A deep freeze gets well below zero and the gel packs will hold that temp for a long time, especially when in the freezer. Will also help to stabilize the temp when the door's open.

Lyle

[Jayco-noslide]

Ours does in our 15 year old motor home. Most of the time is is quite solid but less so if we crowd the frig. It has a cold setting from 1 to 5 and we adjust from 3 to 4. I think having our burner replaced helped even more. I don't have an answer but I think something is wrong if it doesn't keep ice cream edible?

[Terryallan]

Super_Dave wrote:
Why won’t RV freezers keep ice cream frozen? Meat freezes, ice freezes but ice cream is always mush.

Do you have fruit in it? Many times. Home made ice cream with bannas, strawberries, or pineapples, will not freeze solid

[NRALIFR]

Your fridge is in a slide. I’d bet there are some improvements to the installation clearances, baffling, insulation, and airflow assist (fan) on the backside that could be made. Manufacturers just don’t take the time and effort necessary to maximize the performance of absorption fridges.

Is there any difference in performance when the fridge is running in AC mode vs LP mode?

:):)

[JRscooby]

Gearitis wrote:
No problem here keeping Ice Cream. Suggestion is to freeze a couple of small butter tubs of water and place those in the freezer after 24 hour cool down on the fridge. I know it takes up space but it will help take down the temp a few more degrees. We keep sugar free popsicles and a half gallon of Blue Bell in ours when we go camping. 105 degree weather like now.

One month the host site I was on was in direct sun, and the outside temps stayed over 100. I realized how much cold air fell out when I opened the door. I started to store the MT containers in the fridge. Put leftovers in a container, and switch it for one like it that was full of air. Use the last of milk? Put the jug back in until get back from store. Looked like the temp would drop back to normal quicker after door was closed. After a while, spent less time with the door open, because I knew where it would fit.