couple specific fridge questions

[steamboatscott]

Never used the fridge in our popup but getting ready to do so in a new hardside travel trailer. A few questions for the crowd so I'm educated instead of guesing out in the middle of nowhere while boondocking:

1. Is AC or LP faster for cooling, or are they about the same? This would be for pre-cooling the night before, or more importantly the day of departure if I forgot the night before. Would love to hear how long you've noticed it takes to get to proper temps on either setting (ours is a 6 cu ft model).

2. How level does a new Dometic RV absorption fridge need to be? And, does that apply to AC and LP, or just LP? The manual doesn't say, but just mentions something about the floor looking straight/even. My street is fairly steep (bubble level off by 4 - 8 levels depending on exactly where I park). Driveway is even worse.

3. I'd like some clarity on the little tstat that clips onto the silver grates in the back of fridge. Is it purely the position of the end of that hose? Or, does the little clip that attaches it to the grates matter at all?

4. Do any of you travel with food in the fridge/freezer? I'm NOT talking about leaving it running on LP, but rather having food and pre-frozen ice packs in there during transit. My concern is items bouncing around while on bumpy roads and cracking the inside of the fridge.

Many thanks in advance for your answers/advice.

[bikendan]

1. LP is faster but for pre-cooling, use the electric side.
2. Needs to be no more than 2 bubbles off.
3. It's called a thermistor. Read your fridge manual for usage.
4. Most of us travel with food in both.

[Wiscampsin]

You can use some pieces of pool noodles to keep things from bouncing around.

[larry2c]

My previous TT with a Dometic absorption fridge's manual said no more than 3 degrees from level. Our new TT says something similar to yours - comfortably level. Like you, our driveway is sloped and when I tried to run the fridge in the new TT at about 4.5 degrees (front to back) the fridge never cooled down. Now we pull the TT out into the street in front of the house and can get the level at about 2 degrees.

No issues cooling things down with that set up. I also bought one of these battery operated fridge fans. It seems to cut the cool down time in half and I've been using it for a years worth of camping on the original batteries. As bikendan stated, we leave the fridge run while we're driving to the CG so between the precooling in the street and the trip, we're at a good temp by the time we pull into the CG.