We turn the fridge on a few hours prior to departure or the night before. We stick bags of ice from home in the freezer to help cool it quicker, hadn't thought of putting it in the fridge to cool it quicker too. We would have to remove it when we load it though due to lack of space. 3 1/2 yrs of camping in nc, va, sc, and fl summer heat. We never had an issue with keeping the fridge cold but then again we use our AC as well so it's cold in the tt too. And yes our single 13.5 btu AC kept up well for our 30' tt in those temps too.