The Free Piston Sterling Cooler we got from our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore has worked very well for storing perishables. The refrigerator can then be used for things that need to be cool, but do not necessarily need to be kept below 40F.

That being said, I don't know if the change in propane regulators was the thing that did it. I cleaned the flue and the burner orifice also. On our recent trip, the refrigerator performed okay. I'm not sure why it started working better this trip after being inadequate on previous trips. Perhaps something was blocking the lines and it got knocked loose or some other reason, but I was seeing good temperatures overall with occasional higher temps if the door had been opened for longer than a few seconds. I still kept meats in the cooler though as it stays within one or two tenths of 4C (about 39F). This is a cooler used by the pharmaceutical industry to transport items. They were donated to ReStore and I was able to get it with an insulated bag and the 12 and 120V power cords (and transformer) for $100. It has been a great buy as new ones sell for many times more, especially if they are the type that can get down to freezing temperatures also.

I have seen several things posted on youtube about propane fridges.

The one that made the most sense had a couple of good points IMO.

A Anything which can be frozen ahead of time should be frozen.

B find a plastic bowl, tray which will hold a bag of ice. When you start the fridge, open the ice and put it on the lowest shelf.

C buy one of those small fans that runs on batterys. I think ours is a camco, Blue. Essentially a computer fan and a battery case with a switch. Circulates air.

D Empty fridge or freezer always takes the longest to come to temp.  Heck buy a case of cold beer and fill that puppy up! I bet within 6 hours she is stable and at proper temp.

E Close the door and leave it closed. Give it at least 6 hours to do its thing.

Its not a house fridge, it does not have endless power available.

Put it to work and leave it be to work in peace.

Originally posted by StephenH I wonder what the difference is between the 8501 which is the model in mine and the 8551.

The difference is the depth (and capacity).

The 8501 and 8505 are 22.36 inches deep

The 8551 and 8555 are 24.52 inches deep

I misspoke earlier. All four models are 32 inches tall. The differences are in the depth. I'm now thinking the lack of indicia is intentional. This allows them to switch around the different refrigerators with little or no consequence. How would we measure the depth without removing the fridge?

Maybe if you went to the Dometic site if you could compare them.

I thought they surely must have a sticker or something "somewhere"...

However, I looked all around the front outside, inside, in the freezer compartment, under the freezer compartment, in the crisper. Nothing nada.

Then I popped off both of the vents on back, and checked all around in there too. Nothing.

There is a little label near the bottom with some safety information, but no model numbers.

Then I thought, how many 3.7 cu-ft 3-way refrigerators can they make?

I found one. Here it is:

Stephenh - I'll look up the model info on mine tomorrow (have guests coming in a few minutes). Its a year old, works beautifully. No trouble getting very cold fridge temps w/propane even on #4 setting. 

There is also a jet that can be cleaned but it needs to be removed to do so. I have not done it personally but my service tech had to do it on my 2014 177 to get it to cool properly. My service tech mentioned 2014 Rpods - could be other model years as well - the that refrigerator was very temperamental.

I like the screen idea and will be doing that soon.

From what I understand spiders like the smell of propane which is why it seems to be a common issue.

I added two small fans to help move the heat out (mounted to top cover blowing outward). While they seem to work, the refrigerator still is not working well. When we first bought our R-Pod, the refrigerator worked great on propane. The longer I have it, the worse it is. I have cleaned the burner and flue this spring. I added screens to keep the bugs out. Unfortunately, the best I can get is about 40 degrees below ambient temperatures. When the outside temps hit 100 degrees F, I can't get the refrigerator cold enough to safely keep food, even with the freezer compartment door and floor removed so both cooling sections can be used for the refrigerator.

We are done with the southernmost part of our trip and are heading north now. I will see if it will work better as we get into more temperate conditions. In the meantime, I am glad I had purchased at our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore a Free Piston Sterling Cooler. It will keep things very near 4 degrees C (about 39F) even when temps are in the 90s. Around 100, it can't quite keep up, but below that, it works great. It also takes much less battery power doing so than the battery part of the Dometic refrigerator. I really would like to find something as efficient in a model that would be a drop-in replacement for the Dometic refrigerator. It would cut my ability to boondock for several days, but I would still probably be good for a couple of days before needing to recharge. More so if we got solar.

I used a small computer can of compressed air randomly inside the tubing, not really aiming it at anything in particular, and it worked! At least, I was very surprised. I wish all problems were so easy to fix. Now, I've put a thin nylon no see-um proof netting over the inside of the refer air intake on the side of the trailer to keep out bugs.

? Does the temperature behind that vent ever get hot enuf to make me worry about melting the nylon?

I don't think so, but I sure don't want to start a fire!