• Wayne In SoCal
    1
    I often desert camp on winter nights which approach 0F, many times with a wind chill. I'm entertaining the idea of a heat source very near the bottom of the Dometic fridge (fins). I've done some searching to find a best way that uses 12V and switches on at @35F and below, off above. So far everything I've come across is seemingly power hungry. I have no problems with DYI wiring, thermostats, so on and I'll tackle anything. I may have missed some digging so if anyone has implemented a solution or heard of one, I'd be very interested in your suggestions/thoughts/ideas. Thanks
  • Ray
    1.3k
    What is the problem, is your food in the fridge freezing?
  • Wayne In SoCal
    1
    Not freeze over but instead it warms up inside when the outside is very cold say @30F and lower. My sensors showed upwards of+6F above the normal settings of 32F top & 40F bottom. I suspected a LP flow issue but the heater, stove and a bbq plumbed at the tail always work great. I’m not aware of LP being significantly impacted with these temps so I'm leaning towards the refrigerant thickening (? for lack of a better term) as some percentage of that chemistry is probably water. This happened with an earlier unit too which was +10 years old until I replaced it 2 years ago due to parts failure and the condition continues. Other than a battery whisper fan circulating inside, both are factory with no mods. I tested at home on shore power and can’t reproduce the condition under simulated full hookup. There’s no problem LP off when on the generator. My next test will be in the field is to confirm if compartment heating without killing the batteries in freezing cold alters this. So, I’m looking for a power friendly solution, or any other solution, if there is one. I'll figure it out at some point and will share the results.
  • Ray
    1.3k
    I wonder if you could run a small duct from your LP furnace area with a little fan, one that you could block off when not needed, let warm airflow into the fridge vent stack. just would mean more furnace run time.
  • Greg F
    331
    Wayne, I found this discussion that seems relevant. Hope it helps.

    greg
    https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/20712901.cfm
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