Running fridge on generator

[djg]

I have been playing the fridge game for a month on the road and cannot keep it cold in the real hot weather.I keeps blowing the thermal coupler diode and then I get a E-3 error. On our last week of the trip when the thermal coupler blew I jumped it and still will not keep fridge cold, night time fridge goes down to 34 or so degrees but in the day if it is real hot above 90 (and then blow the coupler) it will climb as high as 55, we travel alot and sometimes go for 10 or more hours freezing ice blocks does keep the food cold but the temp on fridge still goes up been thinking about hooking my generator up and trying that does anyone have experience with this method and does it keep the fridge cold off the electric. This has been a problem since I bought this TC, temp always rise after about 4 hours of travel time right from day 1 very frustrating.

Dave

[NRALIFR]

Yes, according to The Dometic Guy, your fridge has a 325W AC heating element. That's what I remember mine is as well, which is a 15 year old model 3663.

:):)

[djg]

NRALIFR I already own a honda 2000 I got for free but to hook it up and have some sort of locking system it might become a pain although I was looking at a torklift sidekick, my fridge is a 7.3 cu ft is the heating element only 325 watts for that if it is than a 500 watt inverter hooked to the truck batteries would do just fine then use a heavy duty extension to not loose to much power and go through the vent and plug into the fridge direct at the back just might be the ticket just have to find a way to isolate the batteries and inverter when you shut off the truck so as to not drain the batteries.

Dave

[NRALIFR]

djg wrote:
NRALIFR Funny you say that about the roof vent because I had thought that exact same thing it was being blown out from the top, you say an inverter works but alot of work to beef up the truck charging system and money what about my generator on the back of the camper and run off ac into the camper, also get a better charge on the batteries

Dave

Yes, a generator will work, but I'd want it to be a small, very fuel efficient generator like my Yamaha 1000. I wouldn't do it with my built-in Generac 3.6kw LP generator. It would use up my propane too fast. The AC heat element in the fridge is only about 325 watts, and will run just fine off an inexpensive 500 watt modified sine wave inverter.

I guess another option would be to install the inverter on the truck, close to the truck batteries, and run an extension cord to the camper. In fact, I'd probably run the cord directly to the fridge, so nothing else would get power from it.

I've grown so used to having the heavy-duty charge circuit on the truck that I'm in the middle of installing one on my new truck. I don't even want to add up how many hours I've spent on this so far. This will be the third truck I've done this to. The first was a 1995 F350 CC dually similar to yours.

:):)

[djg]

Hey Old-Biscuit I got the baffle kit last year from dometic installed it and it didn't fix the problem, went with the tape the whole bottom row of vent then 2 bottom rows, fixed the problem but now keeps blowing the thermal coupler I think I'm going to try the upper vent flashing and see if that works and if not try the generator on the back step.

Dave

[Old-Biscuit]

Dometic has a lower vent & burner 'air foil baffle' kit'

This problem shows up on TCs (and Class C) due to 'disrupted' air flow downside of rig (rig sticks out past cab area)
Blocks off part of lower vent air slats and has a wind shield for burner area





KIT

[jimh406]

Interesting about being blown out from the top. I added tape over part of my side vent, and it stopped my Dometic from blowing out. Recently, I made an aluminum guard to go on the side. I thought it was just a matter of time before the tape gave out. Still to be determined is if my new baffle works or not.

[djg]

NRALIFR Funny you say that about the roof vent because I had thought that exact same thing it was being blown out from the top, you say an inverter works but alot of work to beef up the truck charging system and money what about my generator on the back of the camper and run off ac into the camper, also get a better charge on the batteries

Dave

[NRALIFR]

Dave- I had the exact same kind of problems you are having with my fridge, and tried several ways to fix it. I finally got tired of messing with it and installed an inverter just to run the fridge while we are on the road. The 12v mode is worthless in hot weather, so I wasn't going to mess with that. Running the fridge in AC mode from an inverter WILL fix this problem, but you will also have to upgrade the 12v charge circuit from the truck so the camper battery won't be run down by the inverter.

Without going into all the details (and there are many) upgrading the charge circuit takes a lot of work, and a few hundred dollars. The cost of the inverter, heavy gauge wire, wire lugs, solenoid, CB's, new RV plug and receptacle that can handle the heavier wires and the higher amperage, a crimping tool big enough to crimp 4 gauge lugs, and all the time to install it. It's not a small undertaking.

A couple of years ago, I had an idea that maybe the wind that was blowing the propane flame out wasn't coming in through the lower door nearest to the flame, but down through the top vent. I made a little shield to go in front of the roof vent out of some aluminum flashing, and now the reefer stays lit about 95% of the time. Every so often, the wind will be hitting the camper from an odd direction, and it will still blow the flame out, but most of the time I can run it from propane while on the road now.





When I made the shield, I intended it to just be temporary, and that I would make a more attractive one later. I haven't yet. It also looks like it's helped protect the vent from a few limb strikes, so it's helping in that respect too.

The shield is a cheap, easy fix that will probably fix most of the problem. If you tweak it and adjust it, it might even fix all of the problem. The inverter will fix all of the problem, but like I said, it's a bigger project.

:):)

[djg]

Well I have a few things to try now so I'll have to get at it and try them.

[ISBRAM]

I had cooling problems with my brand new Dometic for the first several months; I finally took it to the service center. They bypassed the thermostat for testing and told me to record the inside temperature every 6 hours or so for several days and get back to them.
It never did get close to freezing and several times it was in the high fifties. They replaced the entire unit and the new one has worked perfectly for over four years now.

I run it on LP all of the time unless I’m at home cooling it down before a trip, then it’s on AC. It can always maintain a temperature below forty degrees, even in daytime temps in the nineties.

[narcodog]

djg wrote:
Well I have been running on propane, so that rules out that problem, the TC is brand new also checked the flues, no blockage, the only time it heats up is when we are moving, when stopped the fridge works like a charm tried the trap in the drip tube, also tried plugging one end in case it was sucking the cold air out. Narcodog when you say you put fans in the fridge compartment are you talking about the outside where the burner and flu are. As for the flame being blown out when you stop and open the fridge compartment the tubes at the bottom are hot running up to the boiler but the boiler doesn't feel real hot though but don't know if it should be that hot it's definitly warm though, as I said it cools great when stopped. Also even when the out side temps are in the 70's it still raises the temps in the fridge but usually only into the high 40's, weird problem though because it only happens when moving and you would think that there is enough air flow with the wind blowing in through the vents to move the air through the flues. tried blocking the bottom vents in case the flam was being blown out still no go, even though that worked a bit but the outside temps were in the 60's, as soon as they got up into the 70's doesn't matter what I do the temps still rise, thats why I thought about the generator, no flame to blow out, even thought about going to a threeway fridge and run with a inverter and the genny.

Yes I put one fan below the tubes and the other at the top of the compartment, just under the exit vent. When I removed the top vent on my Lance I found that there was a huge gap between the roof and top of the frig. This allowed, I suspect, an incomplete flow of air through the coils.

[djg]

The fridge is a dometic model 3762 Beagle I have tried to block the vents first bottom 1/3 rd then 2/3rds, seemed to help but now all it does is blow the thermal coupler, I think I will try the thermomitor next, keep calling Dometic on this they keep telling me to take it back to the dealer but they can't figure it out either

[HMS_Beagle]

I guess they aren't all the same, my Dometic runs better on 110 than propane (faster cool down). The Norcold in the class A I had seemed to run better on propane. But it should run either way.

If it is only happening when you are moving, I strongly suspect there are some airflow problems with the outside (condenser) part of the fridge. Something is stagnating the flow up through the condenser when you are moving. I would try shielding the front 3rd of the exhaust vent as a start - you will need to experiment. One thing that would help is to know the temperature in the condenser space when moving and not moving. A suggestion would be to get an inexpensive remote temp sensor (the kind with an outside temp sensor on a wire) and put it up near the coils til you find the hot spots. See if there is any difference between stopped and moving, if so then experiment with venting to make it better.

[Old-Biscuit]

What Brand and Model of fridge is this????