Refrigerator on battery and propane

Originally posted by Mountainrev Originally posted by WillThrill Originally posted by Patriot Dave I have this question, is either one.....gas or shore power any faster at cooling the frig down? I don't think it really makes a difference because either way, the ammonia mixture used in lieu of traditional coolant is being heated in order to eventually, through the ammonia absorption process, cool the refrigerator.  Once it's sufficiently heated, I doubt that it would make a difference either way. In my experience, it takes a good 24 hours or so to cool the refrigerator down regardless of whether shore power or propane is being used. In my experience, propane cools the fridge more quickly and efficiently than 110 volt.  Case in point:  On a recent camping trip, the ambient temp in our camper rose to the high 90s.  I was running the fridge on shore power, set at the coolest setting, but the thermometer inside the fridge was at about 50.  I immediately switched over to propane, and the temp quickly cooled to about 40.My uneducated theory is that the flame produced by propane is hotter than the heat generated by electricity, thus providing better circulation of the ammonia.  You may be right. However, I have been running on gas the past 24 hours and can't get the frig below 41 - 42. I am beginning to think when you have heat indexes at nearly a 100 and humidity hanging right there it's more than these frigs can overcome. They have exceeded their maximum capacity no mater what power source you are running on. Thanks for the reply.

Originally posted by techntrek It was interesting last month when I mentioned to the family that the fridge is powered by a flame.  DAD!?!  How does THAT work?!?

And your answer was?

Originally posted by techntrek Lots of tiny mice moving around because their feet get hot. I gave a summary of the ammonia absorption cycle although I started to lose them near the end.

I think I'd stick with the mice theory.  Agitated mice with fans tied to their backs.  The more agitated they get, the more they run around to fan things to cool them down.  Around 100º+ they give up the ghost from sheer exhaustion and that stench coming from the fridge isn't the food,... it's the mice.