Dometic frig not cooling enough

[workhorsed]

Originally Posted by John in Michigan

Ditto what Byron said. Our 3 way fridge can keep food below 40 degrees as long as daytime highs do not exceed 80 degrees and night time lows drop at least 20 degrees. Even then to keep fridge temp below 40 degrees, we freeze a water container in the freezer at night and then move it into the food section during the day. Then repeat.

You can google various tweaks that people use to squeeze better performance out of these fridges, i.e.,

- add baffles to the back of the fridge to improve air flow
- add a fan to the back of the fridge or inside the fridge
- open the vent panels on warm days

Get a 200 mm computer case fan. About 20 bucks, continuous duty! Mount it in the space behind the fridge and aim it so that it blows out of the compartment. Very low battery consumption. Lots of info on irv2.

[Joe Romas]

If anyone is serious about improving their refrigerator's preformace in hot weather check out this thread on the Casita forum, all 32 pages, you'll need to join.
https://www.casitaforum.com/invboard...ge-run-better/

I see a over 50 degree temperature differential on my larger Dometic 3 way in my 17' Casita.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by ZachO

Hey, looking at that thread (only so much I can see since none of the photos are visible to non-members), I see stuff about the water tray. My fridge is much, much older than the models being talked about in the thread, but I do have a tray inside my fridge, under the freezer. Which is for catching any thawing frost from the fins and freezer.

But does it also need some water in there for proper cooling? Nothing in any Dometic instructions or really anywhere else I've ever seen in fridge threads online have mentioned this.

Should I try putting some water in there? It sometimes has water in there all on its own from thawing, but I'm really not sure how often.

That thread has given me a couple more things to check. I've baffled the heck out of my fridge, insulated the sides and top, installed an exhaust fan plus circulation fan inside the fridge (movable battery powered) and checked gas pressure. But my baffles are to the 1" gap standard, not "fitted" around stuff, really tight, like I'm guessing some of the photos show.

Yesterday I made a couple mistakes...vent side of the trailer was in the late day sun and it was in the 80s in the trailer. Fridge was 60. I moved and it finally recovered overnight, but barely. Just under 40 by morning with fridge on "max". Early June is a bit soon to be struggling with my fridge...July and August I'll be using a cooler!

Join the Escape forum to see the pics!

The thread got contributions from members with different model fridges. The models with an inside water tray does not need any water. They were referring to a particular model that has a drain that goes out to the back and goes in a cup. Without some water in the cup the speculation is that warm air can migrate into the fridge.

You have done a lot of what I did already. Have you removed and cleaned the burner jet?

[ZachO]

Alright, thanks.

Yep, I actually do it every spring. There is a chance that at this point I could use a new fridge. Hard to say. Expensive experiment...

Mostly I like that mine takes zero 12V energy to run. Just one less draw on my battery. So I'm hesitant to replace it, especially since I'm still not sure if it's more an installation issue than a fridge issue.

For now I've been able to limp it along through hot temps.