Refrigerator Temp

I noticed that my fridge has a 40mm 12volt computer fan in the outer compartment. I wonder if replacing the small fan with a 120mm fan wouldn't help move more air and also run more quite.

http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=35-103-052

Originally posted by Budward My 8501 so far is doing well, no problem maintaining in the 30's in 95+ heat.  This is on propane, or AC,  never tried it on 12V.

Well-  I need to modify my comments on the 8501 after our 30 day trip.

First day on the road- fridge started off at 32-33 deg- running on LP,  perfect.
Through the day, and it was a long day, 12+ hours of driving,  it crept up to 50 deg whereupon we had to move all perishables to my ARB portable compressor fridge in the tow vehicle. 
Tried running the fridge on 12V and same result.
Overnight the fridge got back down to 32ish degrees.
Second day fridge started to rise after 6 or so hours of driving, not as bad but got up into low 40's.

Pondering the issue I decided to add a lot of cold water bottles to fridge (from the ARB)  and made ice overnight in the fridge, which once again recovered overnight.  This was an attempt to add "thermal mass" to the interior to damp any temperature excursions.

That helped a lot as third day of driving fridge only rose to 38 or so. 

So next few weeks of moderate driving, about 4-5 hours a day max, driving and staying up to a week in one spot fridge performed adequately in up to 80ish outside temps.
Went on another marathon long driving day and fridge struggled again.

Then it inexplicably settled down and performed well on some long days of driving.

Then it misbehaved one day again...sigh.

Then performed ok on some long (12hour) drives home...

I did notice that a single instance of opening the door for 30 seconds resulted in a several degree temp rise in the fridge for hours.

All readings were taken with a digital thermometer that radios the readings to a readout in the tow vehicle.

Very exasperating.   Don't know what to think other than the Dometic 8501 is very marginal in hot weather in the US.  Remember this is a German made fridge-  maybe it doesn't get very hot in Germany, I don't know.
I also wonder if some angles of side winds while towing manages to blow the flame out, which is constantly re-lit by the electronic controls.  Of course if it is on again, off again the efficiency would drop greatly.

I have never had these problems with Norcold fridges, of which I currently have two.  One in my 1999 25' toy hauler and one installed in my cabin in my off the grid camp.

So I now officially declare the RM8501 a POS

I'm sure glad we had the ARB otherwise we would have been throwing out food several times on our 30 day trip....

I found something very interesting in the European version installation manual of the 8501 today-

You know the little odd shaped chimney the gas exhaust vents out of, inside the compartment, on ours?
Well, on the European version there is an extension that takes it completely out of the compartment through the upper vent assembly.   The upper and lower vent assemblies look nothing like the ones used here.
Hmmmm....makes me wonder if venting the very hot flue gas directly out would improve the efficiency of the fridge.


 From the Dometic Installation Manuals


What we have-




What they use in Europe-

Yes, very interesting info.