Pre cooling Refigerator

[Less is More]

I used to turn on my refrigerator the night before we left for a camping trip, but it required leveling the trailer. Now I stick a couple of frozen chickens and a frozen roast in it before I go to bed. In the morning I take them out put them back in the freezer, load cold food and water in the refrigerator and I'm ready to go. BTW the food does not thaw much.

[markb5900]

We turn ours on 3 or 4 days before we are going to leave.
Never had an issue this way

[GalsofEscape]

Why not just a jug or two of ice. That way no issue with possible spoilage of your food. Bacteria can grow on the warm meat surfaces even with the bulk of the meat is frozen. There is a reason thawing instructions have to thaw in a refrigerator, not on the counter. Over night in a warm fridge, nope.

[Oakman]

I completely agree with GalsofEscape. Thawing and refreezing chicken is not a good idea. Why not just level your trailer at the end of each trip so that all you need to do is turn on the fridge the night before your next trip.

[seagrace]

I fire up the reefer on shore power 48 hours before departure. At D-24, I start loading up the fridge so that at departure time I can switch over to on-board systems and roll out with confidence.

[larryo]

How far out of level is it? Up to 3 degrees is ok.

[aspengirl]

If you are set on not leveling your unit so you can start the refrigerator, you could freeze water in gallon milk jugs and use those to cool it, rather than chancing spoilage of your chickens and roasts.

[keith_h]

I park my trailer at the house and have its parking place permanently leveled side to side. I usually leave it nose high to help rain run off but lower it to level so I can startup the fridge the day before we leave. I just don't see ice blocks cooling ours down much when it is in the mid to high 90's and the trailer get sun much of the day.

[Captain America]

I freeze gallon jugs to use in coolers, I hate buying ice! I place a frozen gallon jug in the freezer and fridge when I turn it on to help pre cool. When I'm ready to load the fridge, I place them back in my deep freezer to use another time.

[BurgPath]

We freeze a case of water bottles a few days before. Put them in fridge and freezer day before we leave, fridge running on electric.

Check temp next day. Load and go.

I swap frozen for thawed bottles while we camp. Provides a consistent cold temp in fridge to aide in recovery while we camp.

[fanrgs]

We have a half dozen blue ice packs that we always carry when camping so we can put a couple in our little cooler with our picnic lunches. Since we are usually just driving for the first day or two after leaving home, we first use them to cool down the fridge when we leave. We then refreeze them before going on our first day trip from our campsite.

We also put them in the refrigerator when driving between distant campsites in hot weather because we don't drive with the propane on.

[BuzzWolfAR]

I too use frozen bottles. I gallon in the freezer, and four of five smaller bottles in the fridge. I start the fridge up the day before we leave. I also put a lot of cold sodas, Monsters and Red Bull in the fridge. More cold stuff in there that easier it is to cool.

[dalford]

Originally Posted by Less is More

I used to turn on my refrigerator the night before we left for a camping trip, but it required leveling the trailer. Now I stick a couple of frozen chickens and a frozen roast in it before I go to bed. In the morning I take them out put them back in the freezer, load cold food and water in the refrigerator and I'm ready to go. BTW the food does not thaw much.

Troll.. sure you do..

You got a good lovely thread going and you have not responded... just sitting back with the popcorn...

[TitanMike]

Is it really necessary to turn off the Refrigerator if the trailer is stored leveled and on a pad at your house? For years I just turn my refrigerator on when I take my first trip of the season and off when I take the last. Last trailer's refrigerator did that for 22 years and was still working when I sold it.

I bought my house specifically because it had room for an RV pad and I installed a 30 amp underground line out to it so it would have power all year long. In winter months I run a dehumidifier in it due to our winter humidity.

[paulmac]

We always used to start ours up at least a day before we were actually leaving for the campground. Now however our camper is kept in storage at the campground and they will move it to our site the day we are scheduled to arrive. I usually get to the camper 3-4 hours before DW arrives. First thing I do is plug it in and turn the fridge on then proceed to get the rest of the camper ready. When she arrives a few hours later she brings the groceries with her and loads them into the fridge and freezer. Between the already cold soda, beer, and other items it cools down fast enough. Even the ice cream shows no sign of thawing and re-freezing. It is not the ideal way to do it, and I wish the campground would turn it on when they put it on the site earlier in the day as the do have a key. But I can understand their reluctance to enter some ones coach as it could open them up to accusations.

[Fushux]

Will always turn on fridge a few days before leaving on a trip and load the groceries the day before. Has always worked for us. No chicken, ice packs or frozen water bottles.

Andrew

[larry2c]

I used to level the trailer the day before and run the fridge until we left. With the new trailer being longer I can't get it level enough (around 4 degrees now) so it's frozen 2 liter bottles and next time our new fridge fan (rumor has it the help and it as only $12)