Fridge in cold weather

pittbull29 wrote:
Saw where gel in fridge can freeze up in low temps. We had -13 last Sunday night. My fridge is on but doesn't seem to be cooling now. Just noticed yesterday. Stuff in freezer thawed, etc. If gel freezes is there a way to fix this?

My experience is the refrigerator can stop working at about 0 degrees. To avoid it, as others have said, put an incandescent bulb in the refrigerator compartment (not the refrigerator itself). Blocking the vent can also help, but I block only about 3/4 of it if the refrigerator is on propane.

It's happened to us I think twice, and both times, once the light bulb warmed things up, it started working again. So now we go ahead and put the light bulb in if there's even a chance it's going to get below about 10 degrees.

I stuff insulation in the lower grill to block any air flow. Down to 7* and I still had the ice maker working.

There's no gel in the cooling system but at very low temps all fridges dont run enough to keep themselves cool, especially the freezer section.
The suggestions above will help.

Also saw the recommendation to plunk a lightbulb inside the outer fridge compartment. They covered the vents w/ duct tape to keep the heat inside.

I think I recall reading from some one who's fridge was damaged from trying to run it when the coolant had gelled.

My Dometic fridge has a button labeled LAC Low Ambient Condition.
When depressed it keeps the fridge light on all the time adding a little heat inside and the fridge runs much colder.

GEL :H

Place a 60W (or higher) INCANDESCENT light bulb in lower area of fridge compartment via bottom vent cover.

The heat from the bulb (that's why it has to be incandescent) will allow the fridge to function