How long to get cold!

[starsabove]

Hi! Hope some of you can help. I have just completed an overnight for the first time in my new TT it was great! Just have a question on the refrigerator though. I have a Dometic ref. it seems to work but how long should it take to get cold! I have a ref that works only on AC for the outside kitchen and that got cold real fast, but that is a standard dorm type frig. I understand that the one in the Trailer is a evaporator type and takes longer, but what is longer? Please help as I am sure you all have been here before, Thanks

[WandaLust2]

We turn our fridge on the day before we leave for a trip. By morning it's ready to load with food.

[starsabove]

Just want to say thanks for all the input new realized i have to prechill. Know better now for next time.

[JaxDad]

I've got a standard RV type fridge at our camp, there's no electricity (other than a generator) and no way to precook it.

Years back we came up with a method that works really well.

Freeze a several (we use 4) of the largest plastic (not glass) soda bottles full of water in your freezer at home, then stand them in the fridge and freezer (we put 3 in fridge, 1 in freezer) with one of those battery-powered fans in there.

We can have the fridge down to 45 deg in about 1.5 hrs. The food lives in the cooler till then.

Afterwards we put a little water in the cooler with the frozen soda bottles and use that to chill the drinks for the rest of the stay.

[time2roll]

If you pack it with cold food I would not worry about prechillin'

If you are packing with a case of warm beer you better not invite your buddies over until the next evening.

[drae0814]

Turn on Thursday ready to go by Friday i load it before work on Friday when i get home i unplug and hit the road for the weekend food stays cold while driving

[drae0814]

Turn on Thursday ready to go by Friday i load it before work on Friday when i get home i unplug and hit the road for the weekend food stays cold while driving

[Kurbennett]

Ditto, turned mine on about 7pm last night after making sure it was level and this morning (6am) it was very cold.

[bsinmich]

Mine normally gets cold overnight. Last year we had excessive heat when we were getting ready to leave. I went to our Meijer store and bought 3# of dry ice to help it get cool. That worked great. I have to park in the lot at our condo and out of sight so it didn't get opened to check until morning when DW loaded it up.

[Old-Biscuit]

JJ Spectre wrote:
Wow,
I know my TT is brand new and therefore so is the fridge, but I ran mine on LP and it was cold enough to load the groceries into it in about 3-4 hours. I guess as it ages I should expect it to take longer?

Time factor is a variable....

All depends on outside temp and inside temp/fridge temp prior to turning on.

One very important thing to remember......Off Level operation can cause clogging. It is an 'accumulative damage' so the more times operated off level the more clogging can occur.

Our fridge is 7 yrs. old and works very well....still only need to set on #2 for great cooling (#3 setting in really hot temps).

[JJ_Spectre]

Wow,
I know my TT is brand new and therefore so is the fridge, but I ran mine on LP and it was cold enough to load the groceries into it in about 3-4 hours. I guess as it ages I should expect it to take longer?

[mlts22]

To get mine to an operating temperature, I use propane, and I use either hard freezer gel packs, or frozen 1 liter bottles of water. One of those in the freezer compartment, and two in the refrigerator compartment do the job at keeping cold stuff cold as soon as it gets put in.

I also have a small fridge fan that uses two C batteries. This keeps air circulating around the inside.

I usually get the freezer to operating temperature within 8 hours. From there, I can take the freezer pack out of there and put it in the fridge, and by the time that warms up, the refrigerator is good to go.

[prolandsurveyor]

It takes a long time to pull heat out of a enclosed space.....usually TT fridges operate better of off gas...

[K3WE]

Gene&Ginny wrote:
I did my Spring test on a warm sunny day last week. It was 72 in the TT and 76 in the fridge when I turned on the fridge on electric. Fridge was empty. I have a wireless thermometer so I can watch the temp without opening the door. My Dometic RM2652 got to 35 at the end of 6 hours. As I recall, it took 2 hours to get below 70 and after that it started to make some progress. Hopefully that will give you some idea as to what to expect.

WOW...data!

2 hours to get below 70...that's interesting and insightful as to why we feel these things are so slow to cool down.

But looks like overnight, or 24 hours/whatever is adequate- especially if you are going to pile wamer food/drinks into it.

Thanks!

[wbwood]

Gets cold faster on propane.