Norcold in Freezing Temperatures?

[Milehghcty]

Any feedback on how a Norcold fridge performs in freezing temperatures? Let me explain the reason. We will be traveling south for 3 months from SD the first full week in January, and for the first couple of days, the nightly temps will be below freezing and could be single digits or minus temps. The first couple of nights (perhaps more) we'll be staying in motels. The MH is winterized and don't plan to add any water until we are well out of nightly freezing temps (one reason for staying in motels). Will be stocking up the freezer and the fridge before leaving which will be running on gas. Pretty sure the interior of the MH while parked will fall below freezing during the night which means the other supplies we stock in the MH will probably freeze during the night. Just curious on what to expect from the Norcold and is it okay to run it in freezing temps? Thanks

[nothermark]

FWIW I have never heard of a problem using the refrigerator in below freezing temperatures.

If you have a Motor Home I think you will find it worth your while to set the furnace to something like 40 deg when you are parked to make the temperatures inside manageable while driving. There is a lot of thermal mass there to bring up to something comfortable with engine heat. I would also consider running the generator when starting off so I could power an electric heater or two in the front of the unit. Partly as a comfort issue and partly to control frost and condensation. It's easier to be ready if you need it than it is to be frozen and blind trying to find a pull off. ;-)

[davidjb]

Evap refridgerators don't do well in freezing temps,the refridgerant has to be heated to perform, the colder it is outside the more performance degrades

[TLAK]

I glad you started this thread, I'll be making a similar trip. My take away is to pack the staples and canned stuff before leaving but hold off on the perishables until far enough south.

[MainelyUS]

Milehghcty
If the night temps are below freezing you can do one of two things put your perishables and other fridge items in a cooler or leave then in the fridge without it running. We have a LP fridge at our camp and this technique has worked well for years during winter months.
We also store all liquids (from apple juice to maple syrup, etc.) in food grade plastic bottles. If it freezes you won't have to worry about broken glass. We do not store any canned goods (non-juice) that would freeze..be aware of bulging cans

Let us know how your trip works out for you.
Happy Trails

[Milehghcty]

Davidjb -- if the evap fridges don't do well in freezing temps ... is it harmful to leave it running overnight ... or should I turn it off when we stop and restart the next morning? Yes, traveling in a Georgetown MH. I thought about leaving the heater on a low temp over night, but since the MH is winterized didn't want to waste gas if I didn't need to since we'll be warm in a room. Good idea to put the fridge stuff in a cooler and take in with us. Probably can do that as well with all canned goods/containers ... we may leave in a box instead of pack the cabinets/pantry ... then just pack in a room with us. Assume the freezer stuff we can just leave in the freezer as should stay frozen. This is our first year starting out in a cold climate so will be a learning curve ... already sounds like there will be some inconvenience for a couple of nights. Thanks ... all good info!

[A32Deuce]

I set the heat in my class c 32ft. at 45 and it doesn't use that much gas. My 9 gal. tank will last about 4 weeks at 45 degrees.

[RamblerGuy]

I started a thread about this last October. Search for the thread Refrigerator Problem in Cold Weather in the Appliances section.

Unrelated to that, I had a problem with my Dometic refrigerator. I started it and it ran fine in near freezing weather. I left the coach unheated overnight. The next morning the main compartment was cold but the freezer was no longer below freezing. With the coach below freezing the main compartment stayed cold so the thermostat did not call for it to run. When I turned on the furnace and left the refrigerator door open the refrigerator and cooled the freezer compartment again. I posted a thread about this and will post it here if I can find it. I'm not at a computer so it's harder for me to do it.

Packing your food in an ice chest is a good option, or just buy when you get south.

[frozen]

Originally Posted by Milehghcty

Any feedback on how a Norcold fridge performs in freezing temperatures? Let me explain the reason. We will be traveling south for 3 months from SD the first full week in January, and for the first couple of days, the nightly temps will be below freezing and could be single digits or minus temps. The first couple of nights (perhaps more) we'll be staying in motels. The MH is winterized and don't plan to add any water until we are well out of nightly freezing temps (one reason for staying in motels). Will be stocking up the freezer and the fridge before leaving which will be running on gas. Pretty sure the interior of the MH while parked will fall below freezing during the night which means the other supplies we stock in the MH will probably freeze during the night. Just curious on what to expect from the Norcold and is it okay to run it in freezing temps? Thanks

I've mentioned this on the Forum more than once, and have been scolded by some for using an unvented heater, but I've used a catalytic heater in RVs for several years. Mine is a Big Buddy Heater, is essentially 100% efficient, will run for many days on a 20 lb. bottle of LP, and has kept my 33' 5th wheel livable into the teens. It burns very cleanly, never sets off the CO detector, and they're used by thousands of ice fishermen in spaces a lot smaller than an RV. They have low-oxygen and tip-over protection. They can be operated on 1 lb. screw-on LP bottles, 20 lb. or larger bottles, or connected to the RV gas supply as I've done. No electrical connection is needed, so it won't deplete the RV battery. Buddy heaters are portable, so could also be used wherever supplemental heat is needed. We hardly ever use our RV furnace anymore because of its inefficiency and heavy drain on batteries.
So go ahead; tell me I have a death wish, but first, get a little information.

Big Buddy Portable Heater

[Big Bill]

temps below 10-15 for 10-20 hrs will stop the coolant from working, dips in temps dont seem to matter. just get into warmer temps asap

[davidjb]

Buddy heaters are great

[bareftn]

if you have a onboard generator why do run it and a few heaters, gas, fuel is low cost right now and your only going to use a few gallons so to me its a no brainer cost of a few gallons or replace what froze?

[nothermark]

FWIW Temperature cycling does more damage than sustained temperatures. For that reason once I was getting ready I'd get the MH above 40 deg or so and keep it there. Driving in a 30 deg cab is no fun and probably not safe do to frost problems. OTOH the few dollars in fuel will make the trip a lot more comfortable and the MH happier. It does not matter whether running electric or propane but I would be running the furnace. It works better than the rest of the methods mentioned.

[Wolverine 1945]

We had a 1 year old fridge go bad in our garage a couple of winters back,,,
Because it did not have a garage kit !!! Lowes replaced it for us,,, with a garage ready unit... Is any one else having trouble typing on this site,,, took me 4 try's to post this ??????

[Milehghcty]

Thanks again for all the suggestions. Seems like the best options are to leave the LP heat on low over the night, or run the generator all night with the electric heat on. I think the LP heat is what I'll do ... LP gas is also pretty cheap right now and with my 30 (20+ usable) gallon tank should be able to last me several nights. Now I'm wondering if my 2 batteries will be able to run the blower over the "long" night as we have a tendency to stop early from our travels.

[RamblerGuy]

Two charged batteries should easily run the furnace overnight. Two nights without charging are iffy for us. The chassis alternator should supply voltage to the coach batteries, keeping up with the usage while underway and to some extent recharging the coach batteries.

[Wolverine 1945]

Good Heave Sleeping Bags !!!

[Milehghcty]

Just wanted to give an update based upon the feedback. I did leave the LP heater on during the drive and the first night in Burlington CO when it dropped to the low 20s. Never had a problem with the fridge -- stayed cold like it was suppose to and the freezer stuff stayed frozen, plus nothing in the MH froze. The dash heater was able to keep the MH warm enough while driving so the LP did not kick on. The one (Jan 5) night that I did leave the LP on (14 hrs) with around 45 temp setting (we stayed in a motel), it did run the batteries completely down (my Interstate batteries are about 3 years old and noticed that one of the batteries has been taking a lot of water so probably have a battery going bad -- they should have lasted the night but then the heater did have to run a lot). The second night did not drop below freezing so didn't use the LP heater. Spent about 5 nights (Jan 7 - 12) in Albuquerque plugged in where several nights dropped to the middle teens and the days into the middle to upper 30s -- darn cold! We did stay in the MH, unwinterized it and put water in the tank and was worried about keeping everything from freezing ... only used water from the holding tank as the hose would freeze up if I kept it connected. I kept the Artic Pac on and used a treble lights with 75w bulbs in both the wet bay and another in the fresh water tank/pump area. Also kept remote temperature sensors in both areas and never did fall below 42 degrees in either area ... so did not have any lines freeze. Used electric heaters inside (one in the back and one if the front) and did stay warm. The LP heater only came on a couple of times to assist when it dropped below 60 degrees and in the mornings when we quickly warmed the interior back up to 70 degrees. Learned a lot about how to keep things from freezing on this trip and now know it can be done to some real low temps (with my methods I can go below middle teens -- but why would one want to!?!). Also thought we left the cold behind us, but must have followed us south (thanks El Nino)! Now in Las Vegas for a month and nights still fall to the high 30s, but at least the days are high 50s/low 60s). Next year we'll try and leave earlier -- perhaps in the fall before it gets this cold!!

Thanks all for your help/suggestions ....