Refrigerator Temp
Printed From: R-pod Owners Forum
Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
Forum Discription: Ask maintenance questions, share your podmods (modifications) and helpful tips
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=5102
Printed Date: 08 May 2024 at 8:07pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.64 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Refrigerator Temp
Posted By: Elkhart
Subject: Refrigerator Temp
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2014 at 9:44am
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The other day when it was in the 90+ deg. range outside the Refrigerator Temp. could only get down to 48 50 deg., but over night the temp when the outside temp fell it went back to 34 deg. I read in one of the treads on this form that a absorption type frig can only go 40deg below ambient(outside temp). if this is true it would explain the temp swing. ------------- Keith & Kelly 2012 171 Pod 2013 Ford F150 TV |
Replies:
Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2014 at 10:02am
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Were you plugged in or running on battery or using propane? ------------- Leo & Melissa Bachand 2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
Posted By: Elkhart
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2014 at 10:09am
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plugged in, then propane same result ------------- Keith & Kelly 2012 171 Pod 2013 Ford F150 TV |
Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2014 at 10:13am
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I have had that happen when using battery while travelling down south. But never while plugged into power. I know it takes a while for the fridge to cool down when first plugged in. ------------- Leo & Melissa Bachand 2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2014 at 11:18am
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What you're seeing is normal per my experience. Overall about 40F delta from outside ambient. There is a lag as it warms up outside and a longer lag as the fridge tries to cool down after a hot afternoon. Propane or shore power about the same, 12V battery not so good. Opening the door is really bad.
------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: Outbound
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2014 at 1:01pm
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I believe that the 40F differential applies to thermo-electric coolers, not gas absorption. ------------- Craig :: 2009 RP171 towed by a 2017 F150 |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2014 at 1:34pm
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My post was not based on theoretical thermoelectric or absorption technology. It was based on my observation of the Dometic 8501 in my RP172. It reflects not only the technology, but the particular application including unit capacity and box insulation. I wish I could have maintained 40F (4C) with ambient at 95F, but I couldn't. In testing I did use a wireless thermometer to avoid unnecessary door opening, but the fridge was in use. The larger Dometic in my Camplite works better but I attribute that to better design and construction.
------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: Budward
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2014 at 2:17pm
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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. I did add a thermostat and 2 12V muffin fans to move air through the compartment, I've done that on many RVs in the past with good results. These were added to the rpod within days of bringing it home  ------------- 2014 179 Towed by a 2015 Ford Transit Diesel Supervised by a German/Aussie mix and a Labradoodle! |
Posted By: fwunder
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2014 at 3:31pm
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The thermostat and fans sound like a good idea. Can you show some pictures or explain a bit more. I'm not sure why you would need another thermostat? I haven't had any probs with the fridge, other than a quick defrost after a couple of weeks on the road. I'm guessing moving air through the box would help. Pictures would be great. thanks, fred ------------- 2014 RPod 178 => https://goo.gl/CV446f - MyMods and Buying Habits 2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6 Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks! |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2014 at 8:21pm
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The specs I found said it will maintain at least 44 degrees up to 90 degrees ambient, but I've seen better than that with mine. That said, I've posted here how in the last year I've had issues with the gas mode on our fridge. The latest diagnosis is it may be the gas valve which will be very expensive to replace. I'll be messing around with it for a while before I go that route. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual 
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Posted By: 3ofUs
Date Posted: 08 Aug 2014 at 7:49am
| We were using the battery this week and after 2 hours on the road, our fridge was down to 31 on highest setting. The remainder of the week, it stayed at 38 on electric. Temps were high 80's and 90 one day and humdidity was 57%. |
Posted By: ahefner
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2014 at 5:09pm
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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 - http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=35-103-052 ------------- 2014 rPod 178 2014 Toyota Tundra 5.7 |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2014 at 7:35pm
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The more important element is the baffle the fan is mounted in the middle of. I should provide a pretty tight separation between the upper and lower chambers except over the coils on the back of the fridge itself. Mine has 2 fans so you might benefit by adding another like it but after a certain point it won't do much extra because the fans shouldn't run all the time. They really only should be triggered if the upper coils get close to overheating. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: Budward
Date Posted: 12 Sep 2014 at 6:55am
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.... ------------- 2014 179 Towed by a 2015 Ford Transit Diesel Supervised by a German/Aussie mix and a Labradoodle! |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 12 Sep 2014 at 10:07am
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It is temperamental, once it starts to act up, yes. Mine worked perfectly (35-40 F at all times) for 4 years, so when it is working right it isn't marginal. I can't believe FR decided to install an import that isn't used by anyone else - basically only on the pods and maybe a few other smaller FR models. Parts that should cost $69 instead cost $400. Yay. Ultimately the solution for ours will likely be to spend $600 on a new non-import instead of $500 to fix one part on the 8501. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: Budward
Date Posted: 12 Sep 2014 at 5:41pm
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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-  ------------- 2014 179 Towed by a 2015 Ford Transit Diesel Supervised by a German/Aussie mix and a Labradoodle! |
Posted By: HuronSailor
Date Posted: 12 Sep 2014 at 7:07pm
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Very interesting info on the flue. I have a 172, and like you, find the fridge performance to be all over the map. It works best on propane, OK on shore power unless it gets really hot outdoors, and just simply pee poor on 12V. The only way I've found to make it work like it should on those very hot 90-ish days is to turn the air on in the pod. We have a wireless thermometer inside ours, and moving the transmitter to different areas can mean a 10 degree change in reading. We also have a fan inside to help circulate the air, and it seems to help if we keep the food away from the fridge walls. The fridge on our sailboat was a compact compressor model made by Norcold. That thing would freeze your beer and blow the bottoms out of the cans, which forced me to switch to better bottled beer. But, it was also a treMENdous battery hog when running on 12V - you think the fridges in these pods are bad? Pshaw. ------------- .: Mark & Beth :: Silverado 5.3L :: 2018 rPod 180 :. |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 13 Sep 2014 at 4:45pm
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Yes, very interesting info. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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