refrigerator does not cool while driving

[roscofrmh]

we recently purchased our first motor home, a used 2015 Forrest River Forrester with 10,000 miles on it. We are learning about using it but so far the refrigerator does not cool while driving. It is a Dometic model 13 50 french door with an ice maker. When plugged into power, it works fine. Works fine on LP also, but we leave the automatic setting and it does not cool while driving. I thought if you left the setting on auto it would choose the source for cooling? Aren't RV refrigerators 3 way power?
Also, as far as winterizing the RV, I feel I know how to accomplish this except for the ice maker.
Any suggestions, personal experiences or suggestions would be appreciated

Thank you, J.T.

[AllegroD]

dahkota wrote:
We have the RM1350. It works on 120V or on gas.

When driving, we run the fridge on gas. FYI, when the vehicle engine is switched OFF in Auto mode, the fridge will automatically turn off for 15 minutes. This is a safety feature to ensure that propane is not running while fueling (the fear is that gas fumes may get into the vented area and ignite). So, running your RM1350 while on the road is safe as long as Auto mode (not Gas mode) is engaged. This is called "Temporary Gas Lockout and can be found in the manual.

During the summer, the fridge runs warmer while driving than while sitting and can get up to 38 degrees. During the winter, this is not the case and we typically see no rise in temp.

Yippers. Page 7. Always run with LP and our RM1350 on.

[chuckftboy]

I never quite understood why some people have a greater fear of propane than gasoline. I have always traveled with my LP tank on. When I had a gasser, I was sitting on 80 gallons of gasoline that would probably burn hotter anyway.

[usersmanual]

I agree with doug 100%

[dougrainer]

Canadian Rainbirds wrote:
Years ago we stopped in Los Mochis for fuel and lunch. As soon as we stopped I got out to turn the propane on. I was hit in the face with a blast of propane. A bronze (or brass) fitting had ruptured.

Now we have a good inverter, good batteries and 420 Watts of solar so run the inverter for the fridge while we are driving. With reasonable sun there is always a slight gain in Amps to the batteries.

I have yet to meet a professional fire fighter who runs with the propane ON.

There are 10's of millions of Rv'ers out there and almost all run with LP on and refers on LP. If it was a danger, there would news bulletins every day about the so called dangers of LP in an RV. Could care less what a Firefighter thinks or does. HE is not a professional RV Tech and has not designed the RV LP systems that have been in use for 50 years. If you feel safer with LP OFF, that is your choice. Doug

[Canadian_Rainbi]

Years ago we stopped in Los Mochis for fuel and lunch. As soon as we stopped I got out to turn the propane on. I was hit in the face with a blast of propane. A bronze (or brass) fitting had ruptured.

Now we have a good inverter, good batteries and 420 Watts of solar so run the inverter for the fridge while we are driving. With reasonable sun there is always a slight gain in Amps to the batteries.

I have yet to meet a professional fire fighter who runs with the propane ON.

[toedtoes]

J-Rooster wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
I believe nowadays most RV fridges are 2-way. That means they only run off propane or electrical. If you are shutting off the propane when you drive, then the fridge has nothing to run on.

Any fridge that I ever owned is or was a 2 way!

Mine is 3-way. But it is 40 years old. 🙂 Since I haven't researched this, I didn't want to say ALL are 2-way since I don't know how long since they changed from 3-way.

[rk911]

J-Rooster wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
I believe nowadays most RV fridges are 2-way. That means they only run off propane or electrical. If you are shutting off the propane when you drive, then the fridge has nothing to run on.

Any fridge that I ever owned is or was a 2 way!

we had a 3-way in our '85 Winny Chieftain but everything since has been 2-way.

[J-Rooster]

toedtoes wrote:
I believe nowadays most RV fridges are 2-way. That means they only run off propane or electrical. If you are shutting off the propane when you drive, then the fridge has nothing to run on.

Any fridge that I ever owned is or was a 2 way!

[dahkota]

We have the RM1350. It works on 120V or on gas.

When driving, we run the fridge on gas. FYI, when the vehicle engine is switched OFF in Auto mode, the fridge will automatically turn off for 15 minutes. This is a safety feature to ensure that propane is not running while fueling (the fear is that gas fumes may get into the vented area and ignite). So, running your RM1350 while on the road is safe as long as Auto mode (not Gas mode) is engaged. This is called "Temporary Gas Lockout and can be found in the manual.

During the summer, the fridge runs warmer while driving than while sitting and can get up to 38 degrees. During the winter, this is not the case and we typically see no rise in temp.

[toedtoes]

roscofrmh wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
I believe nowadays most RV fridges are 2-way. That means they only run off propane or electrical. If you are shutting off the propane when you drive, then the fridge has nothing to run on.

Thank you for your responses. Yes, I was told not to leave the gas on while driving, so if it is a two way frige, it only makes sense it won't cool while going down the road. I will follow up with a dealer when I can and confirm this.

Whether you drive with your propane on or off is a personal choice. People believe strongly both ways. For me, I normally drive 3-4 hours to a dry campground and then set up for 4-days. So, I cool the fridge on electric at home, then fill it with food. The day I depart, I unplug right before I leave and then turn on the propane as soon as I arrive at the campsite. I find the fridge stays cold during that travel time without issue. If I were traveling longer or several days in a row, then I would be more inclined to run the propane while I drive.

[usersmanual]

crasster wrote:
RV fridges have caused so many problems for us that we went with a dorm fridge that only ran on A/C. They really do freeze ice and keep ice cream cold. They also have rock solid insulation. What works is to get several cold packs, freeze them solid, and when you drive just leave the cold packs around the fridge & freezer. When you get to your destination and plug in, it's cold again and will freeze the cold packs.

This really only doesn't work if you plan to boondock.

the op has no such problems just a misunderstanding of how it works
cold packs LOL at that all one does is run on invert or run on lpg in the op situation and it will cool perfectly
dorm fridges have almost zero insulations and are useless as a main fridge in any decent RV

[crasster]

RV fridges have caused so many problems for us that we went with a dorm fridge that only ran on A/C. They really do freeze ice and keep ice cream cold. They also have rock solid insulation. What works is to get several cold packs, freeze them solid, and when you drive just leave the cold packs around the fridge & freezer. When you get to your destination and plug in, it's cold again and will freeze the cold packs.

This really only doesn't work if you plan to boondock.

[10forty2]

The first few trips we took, I let the fridge run off of LP. After that, I decided to run the genset every time. It's good for the generator to run under load and it saves your LP for heating if it's needed.

[usersmanual]

roscofrmh wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
I believe nowadays most RV fridges are 2-way. That means they only run off propane or electrical. If you are shutting off the propane when you drive, then the fridge has nothing to run on.

Thank you for your responses. Yes, I was told not to leave the gas on while driving, so if it is a two way frige, it only makes sense it won't cool while going down the road. I will follow up with a dealer when I can and confirm this.

If you had a decent sized inverter and had fridge plugged into it then it will cool while driving but as u have learned best to just use LPG for fridge while driving