Are there any tricks to rapidly cool the refrigerator in a trailer that has been sitting? I currently store my trailer at my house and the day before we head out camping i plug in the trailer and turn on the fridge using shore power. I put a frozen 1 gallon water jug in the fridge and a frozen 1 liter water bottle in the freezer and both are ready the next morning for food. I have been thinking about storing my trailer near where i usually camp to save me from pulling it up the mountains. I am thinking i will not have my fridge to use if i do this as it will take too long to cool off so i will be back to using coolers. Are there any tricks to cooling down the fridge?

Absorption fridges are slow to start the process............First have to heat up the perk tube which then has to heat the coolant up enough for ammonia to turn to vapor then ammonia has to condense into a cold liquid which has to absorb the heat from freezer section......by then not much absorption available for food section.Then coolant flows back down to absorber section and back to perk tube.As freezer gets colder and colder more cooling effect can take place in food section.So placing frozen gallon water bottles in fridge can help.....time is needed typically 8-12 hrs for cool fridge.

A little dry ice will tide you over

As long as your food is all cold as you start the fridge it should be fine.If you get some solar (200w?) you could just let the fridge run on propane in storage.

As long as you start it out with cold food, you should be fine. Just don't open the door much for the first couple hours.

You didn't mention if you start it off on propane or electric.Propane will cool quicker than electric.

Any tricks to rapidly cool refrigerator? | Good Sam Community

JiminDenver
Explorer II
Apr 26, 2015
We find out we can go at the last second all the time. I go out and start the fridge, put a few frozen jugs of water in that we keep in the bottom of the deep freeze and go to the store for food. Once I have the food, I pick up Honey and the dogs, put the food in the fridge around the jugs and take off. The fridge is barely cooling off but the jugs keep everything cold until it catches up.
MitchF150
Explorer III
Apr 26, 2015
I only run my fridge on gas.. Cools down faster and stays/recovers faster, especially when it's warm outside.

Besides, I've got the Dometic fridge that was recalled for the electric element causing the tubes to crack, but the recall fix did nothing to fix this from happening... So, I don't use the electric element. :)

Anyway, no other suggestions, other than ice or dry ice initially to cool down the space faster.

Good luck!

Mitch
CavemanCharlie
Explorer III
Apr 26, 2015
wnjj wrote:
TenOC wrote:
qchunter wrote:
I am thinking i will not have my fridge to use if i do this as it will take too long to cool off so i will be back to using coolers.

The refrigerator is simply put a large cooler -- with additional cooling . . . :S

So how are your carrying your food to the RV? In coolers with ice? Simply transfer to your larger cooler (that is the refrigerator)

Where do you pour the ice?

Put the ice in a large water tight bag (like a high quality zip lock) and put it in the fridge with the food.
RDMueller
Explorer
Apr 25, 2015
Here's what I would do. Get one of those digital thermometers with a remote sensor. Put the remote sensor in the fridge allowing you to monitor the temp without repeatedly opening the door, then test it out. I had one of those small 3-way fridges in my pup and it did seem to take quite a while to cool off, especially in the summer. On the other hand, the Dometic fridge in my new TT really cools off fast. Haven't done it in the middle of summer yet, but on a moderate day, like 75 degrees, 3 hours was plenty. I know too from the pup that having a fan on the cooling unit will definitely help.
wnjj
Explorer II
Apr 25, 2015
TenOC wrote:
qchunter wrote:
I am thinking i will not have my fridge to use if i do this as it will take too long to cool off so i will be back to using coolers.

The refrigerator is simply put a large cooler -- with additional cooling . . . :S

So how are your carrying your food to the RV? In coolers with ice? Simply transfer to your larger cooler (that is the refrigerator)

Where do you pour the ice?
TenOC
Nomad
Apr 25, 2015
qchunter wrote:
I am thinking i will not have my fridge to use if i do this as it will take too long to cool off so i will be back to using coolers.

The refrigerator is simply put a large cooler -- with additional cooling . . . :S

So how are your carrying your food to the RV? In coolers with ice? Simply transfer to your larger cooler (that is the refrigerator)
CavemanCharlie
Explorer III
Apr 25, 2015
My 20 year old fridge takes 6-8 hours to cool down all the way.

I'm just a weekend camper and I keep my TT at home so I just turn it on the night before I'm ready to go and then put food in it during the morning.

After work I hook up and go.
mpierce
Explorer
Apr 24, 2015
My last two, new, were a Dometic and a Norcold. 80deg, and cooled to 35 within 3-4 hrs empty.
dee74
Explorer
Apr 24, 2015
SoundGuy wrote:
qchunter wrote:
I currently store my trailer at my house and the day before we head out camping i plug in the trailer and turn on the fridge using shore power. I put a frozen 1 gallon water jug in the fridge and a frozen 1 liter water bottle in the freezer and both are ready the next morning for food.

The question I have in response would be - WHY are you bothering with all this? :h I've owned a number of trailers with a number of different gas absorption fridges and although the smaller 3-way versions commonly found in popup trailers can take quite awhile to cool any larger 6 cu ft 2-way fridge / freezer model I've owned begins to cool immediately and has always been cooled enough within just a few short hours that I can begin loading food into it. My current fridge is a Dometic DM2652 and if I turn it on at say 8am on the day we're leaving to head out on a camping trip it will have noticeably cooled by 10am and be totally ready for use no later than noon ... how much quicker than that do you need your fridge to cool?! If it doesn't I'd suggest there's something amiss with the unit you have.

I wish my refrigerator would cool down this quickly. I was a first time tt owner last year. My Atwood refrigerator took about 24 hours to cool down each trip before it was safe to put food in. I tried filling it with cold food to cool it down but it did not cool down any faster. I plugged my tt in two days before each trip just to get the refrigerator ready. I have a new tt now and I do not know yet how fast it will cool down.
qchunter
Explorer
Apr 24, 2015
SoundGuy wrote:
qchunter wrote:
I have been thinking about storing my trailer near where i usually camp to save me from pulling it up the mountains. I am thinking i will not have my fridge to use if i do this as it will take too long to cool off so i will be back to using coolers.

OK, so I've re-read your post once again and have to wonder - if you're not storing your trailer at the house and instead picking it up along the way to where you're camping would you not already have to use coolers anyway to get your cold food from the house to the trailer? Assuming so, wouldn't you just then leave that food in the coolers, fire up the fridge when you first get to the trailer and let it run while you're completing your trip, then later transfer the food from the coolers to the fridge once it's sufficiently cooled? Maybe I'm missing something here? :h

Yes, i would have coolers with the cold food. I was thinking it was going to take half a day to cool but that appears too long? I will see the next time I plug it in. I am not sure how much propane is used to initially cool the fridge either, and if it's worth it? I figured half a day to cool fridge then i would need to load up on ice for the cooler and if I'm doing that then i might as well use the coolers.