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Old 08-18-2018, 01:46 PM   #21
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FT for 17 years and never traveled with the refrigerator on and never lost an ounce of food. As long as the door is shut it will hold the cold for a long time as will the freezer.
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Old 08-18-2018, 02:03 PM   #22
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We've been traveling with the fridge on propane, for 25 years.
We often drive 6-8 hours, so we need to keep it cold.
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Old 08-18-2018, 02:15 PM   #23
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One thing I don't remember seeing in this thread is asking the OP to listen for the fridge to light on propane. Apparently there are lots of different control versions that control/show what your fridge is running on but regardless of the system, when it switches to propane, you should be able to hear the tick, tick, tick, WOOSH of the igniter and then hopefully the flame coming on. And the WOOSH part is important because as I recently found out, the gas can light (and our indicator light said all was well) but with a very low flow which will not keep or get the fridge cold. Blowing out the burner area cleared out whatever was causing my issue and now I can very clearly hear the fridge burner when it is on.
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Old 08-18-2018, 03:02 PM   #24
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A two-way adsorption refrigerator can be made to work on 12V DC by adding a 12V DC to 120V AC inverter if desired. It will run the coach batteries down some, however if plugging into shore power when reaching a destination, the batteries will be recharged. Also, with a travel trailer, the normal battery connection between the tow vehicle and the trailer will help supply some of the 12V DC voltage to power the inverter, likely not all.
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Old 08-18-2018, 03:29 PM   #25
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FT for 17 years and never traveled with the refrigerator on and never lost an ounce of food. As long as the door is shut it will hold the cold for a long time as will the freezer.
Right now here in Yuma, Arizona the outside temp is 109 degrees.

You might get an hour out of your fridge here without it running on LP before you'll have to pull in to Walmart to get some ice for your cooler...and more food.
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Old 08-18-2018, 10:41 PM   #26
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One of ourshad a 3-way (DC, AC & LP)
This camper only 2-Way (AC or LP)
You can safely tow with it running on LP... some poo poo that, but it is a matter of choice. I tow with LP fridge running... never a problem in 25 years. The fridge on LP doesn't use much LP.
I did leave home with fridge fully cooled and all food cold or in freezer... fridge temp was 36F and freezer was around 18F.
Anyway disconnected from my home RV 30 amp plug and had turned LP valves off for some reason.
Hit the road, drove four+ hours, setup camp and realized LP had been shut off the whole time on road. Plugged in shore power and went right inside to check fridge.
Everyrhing was great, fridge temp was about 39 and freezer still about 29.
So I'd say your safe either way. You could put a block of dry ice in freezer and fridge. Just make sure dry ice doesn't touch anything your don't want frozen solid. It will turn a pack of bologna into a solid meat sicle that will take a while to thaw on the counter.
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Old 08-23-2018, 07:55 AM   #27
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One thing I don't remember seeing in this thread is asking the OP to listen for the fridge to light on propane. Apparently there are lots of different control versions that control/show what your fridge is running on but regardless of the system, when it switches to propane, you should be able to hear the tick, tick, tick, WOOSH of the igniter and then hopefully the flame coming on. And the WOOSH part is important because as I recently found out, the gas can light (and our indicator light said all was well) but with a very low flow which will not keep or get the fridge cold. Blowing out the burner area cleared out whatever was causing my issue and now I can very clearly hear the fridge burner when it is on.
I have heard the tick, tick, tick. Thought I heard the woosh. I will have to pay more attention next time. And will light a burner to make sure there is no air in the line.

Here is my control panel.

I appreciate all of the comments. I used to provide lots of info on popupexplorer.com, but now the tables are reversed.
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Old 08-23-2018, 07:58 AM   #28
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Originally Posted by larry2c View Post
One thing I don't remember seeing in this thread is asking the OP to listen for the fridge to light on propane. Apparently there are lots of different control versions that control/show what your fridge is running on but regardless of the system, when it switches to propane, you should be able to hear the tick, tick, tick, WOOSH of the igniter and then hopefully the flame coming on. And the WOOSH part is important because as I recently found out, the gas can light (and our indicator light said all was well) but with a very low flow which will not keep or get the fridge cold. Blowing out the burner area cleared out whatever was causing my issue and now I can very clearly hear the fridge burner when it is on.

I mentioned that in response #6.
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Old 08-23-2018, 02:06 PM   #29
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Let's see if the pic showed up this time.
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Old 08-23-2018, 02:27 PM   #30
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Also, I have a small indoor/outdoor temp monitor and I put the outdoor sensor in the fridge and the digital readout in the truck when rolling so I can monitor the fridge temp.
I would NEVER have thought to do that!! I also have a WX system for my trailer. I like to know these things, and that's a brilliant secondary use!
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Old 08-27-2018, 08:52 PM   #31
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Here's the reply from Dometic.

Thank you for contacting Dometic. It is not recommended that you run the refrigerator on gas while traveling. In many states it is illegal. We recommend that you run the refrigerator on electric. It will stay cold up to 6 hours provided the doors are kept shut.
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Old 08-27-2018, 11:44 PM   #32
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Here's the reply from Dometic.

Thank you for contacting Dometic. It is not recommended that you run the refrigerator on gas while traveling. In many states it is illegal. We recommend that you run the refrigerator on electric. It will stay cold up to 6 hours provided the doors are kept shut.
It's NOT illegal in most states.
In fact, the only places I've read where it's illegal, is tunnels and ferries. Never heard of any state that bans it throughout their state.
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Old 08-28-2018, 07:57 AM   #33
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Of course they will say that. Everybody is looking for some extra money when anything goes wrong! Call a lawyer, they said I could run it going down the road and I got a ticket going through the Baltamore tunnel!
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Old 08-28-2018, 08:17 AM   #34
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Here's one of the few articles on this issue. It's from 2010. Sounds like there are very few restrictions.


https://www.goodsam.com/article/defa...icleID=2377513
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Old 08-28-2018, 08:23 AM   #35
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JohnD10....iiitttss allll YOUUURRR fault.....now I have another mod to do! I think that is a great idea. I had a bit of trouble last trip out with the fridge losing the propane flame intermittantly. (Turns out it was a regulator going bad, not the fridge/pilot) Also, didn’t get the door shut all the way, not latched, so it popped part way open. (That leg of the trip was only about 45 mins, so do not know how long it was actually open). Could have lost most of our food had we been longer.

I can see using that to drag into the cab, and moving it back to monitor when setup. I was going to do the mod that many have made by adding the monitor in the panel above the fridge, but this sounds like a great idea.

Now, if I could only figure out how to combine all these monitors into one old tablet or iPad......the tire monitor, the fridge monitor...the engine monitor...backup cam.... (wanting to add 2 side cams, as my monitor allows 4 inputs...
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Old 09-03-2018, 06:21 PM   #36
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Running frig. On the road

We have a2013 fr 21fbrs tt with a dometic frig. Unplug frig. When start from home and 7 to 9 hrs frig. Is still cold and freezer items are still frozen..5 yrs no issus
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Old 09-03-2018, 06:26 PM   #37
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We have a2013 fr 21fbrs tt with a dometic frig. Unplug frig. When start from home and 7 to 9 hrs frig. Is still cold and freezer items are still frozen..5 yrs no issus
You actually unplug your refrigerator?
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Old 09-03-2018, 06:43 PM   #38
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Overthinking

You can overthink this whole fridge issue. We have been on the road several years and have learned our lessons.
In summer we stay at one camp, plugged in all the way. No issues ( until the fridge died, but that's another story)
We clean out the fridge and freezer before going south. One because it needs a good cleaning every now and then. Things seem to get lost when they hide behind other goods.
Since we cross the border, we keep fresh food and meat to a bare minimum. WE use a cooler for drinks and lunch so do not open the fridge and it stays cool.
Our first stop is a Walmart and we just pick up ready dinner. After another night or two we will start restocking the fridge. We are not wilderness campers, so there is usually a store nearby. You need to factor things like this into your plans.

From the second night on we are in camps with hookups, so we plug into shore power. We do move from camp to camp in Florida, but are seldom on the road for more than three hours. So again, do not open the fridge door, and it will stay cool.

This past year our Norcold fridge died. New ones are expensive, because of the dual gas/electric function. Plus it is extremely difficult to get a new one through an RV door. I am one of those who heed the warnings and don;t run with the gas on. I may have used the gas setting a few times while at Camp Walmart. So, I bought a 4.2 CFT Hisense fridge from Costco and a small separate freezer. They are energy efficient so use less current put together that the old one. From my research, many people are on this track for replacement. I am quite satisfied with my setup.
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Old 09-03-2018, 08:11 PM   #39
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Refrigerator Problems

I keep my 5'er in an enclosed RV shed and keep it plugged in all the time. I have a Dometic refrigerator with an automatic button. When I travel I let my unit automatically switch to LP and it runs on LP until I reach my destination and plug in to shore power. On a recent trip that was about 7 hours long my refrigerator got warm inside. The beer I expected to be cold when I arrived was room temp. Even after I plugged into shore power my fridge did not cool. After much searching for an answer I finally decided to look at my temp control inside the fridge. FWIW, the temp control is a sensor mounted to a little slide bracket. The bracket clips onto one of the fins inside the fridge. It appears that either a bumpy road or an accidental bumping of the sensor bracket when loading the fridge had caused the slide bracket to come lose from the fin and the sensor was just dangling down in the fridge. As soon as I clipped the bracket back on the fin and slid it up to the coldest position the fridge started cooling like its supposed to. Lesson learned!
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Old 09-03-2018, 09:12 PM   #40
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You need to confirm the burner is lit. I can hear mine but if there is road noise I remove the access cover and look for the flame.
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