fridge question

Hey everyone.  I don't own a trailmanor, but I love RVs and had a question.  Where do you change the power supply for the fridge from 12V to propane, etc.  I'm just wondering because when travelling (with my parents pop-up), if we were to stop somewhere for an hour I would switch the fridge from 12v to propane so as not to wear down the battery.  With the trailmanor, do you have to set it up in order to do this?  

FYI..... I've loved campers since I was little.  Even now with two little kids, I still go to whatever RV shows are around my area just for fun and to learn.  I am not even close to being able to buy anything in the near future, but hope to some day.  I've taken a liking to Trailmanors and have taken my parents (2 different times) to the nearest Trailmanor dealer just to show them (and peak their interest as well).  This Sunday I am going to an RV show to show my wife the Trailmanor (she hasn't seen one yet, only the brochures).  I must give a plug for the dealer in Victor, NY.  They are Walker's Four Seasons and they were EXTREMELY nice and spent over 40 minutes showing us the Trailmanor and talking with us, even though I said up front that we were not in the market for one right now.  The salesmen are not on commission so there's less pressure on them which makes for a very enjoyable visit (I wish our local car dealership was that way) .  

Anyway, I just put all that up there since this is my first post.  Thanks!
David

[arknoah]

Happy to respond to your question.  I remember years ago when we had a travel trailer (in the early 1970s) we used to drive during the day with the refrigerator on propane, not realizing how dangerous that is.  Fortunately, we don’t do that anymore.  When we stop for an hour or so, and I feel it’s going to be a problem with the battery or with the car, I simply disconnect the plug from the car.  I don’t think an hour or so is really going to hurt the battery of the trailer too much, plus, when its hooked up to the car again, you have support from the tow vehicle to maintain the RV battery charge (or at least that’s what everybody tells me!)

Therefore, I have never tried to change the fridge over from 12v to propane while traveling.  If you wanted to, however, you would have to at least open the front half of the unit and crawl in.  The switch that changes the fridge from propane to 12v to AC is right on the front of the fridge and it’s really easy to change it over.

Just my two cents!

F. J. & Ellen

If you're stopping for hour or so just leave everything hooked up [refer at 12v].  Both batteries operating in parallel will be fine.  If for several hours then disconnecting from car battery as previously advised is prudent.

By the way, if you chill down the refer the night before and have some blue ice, you can tow a day without using refer power.

[hal]

While climate is important to the use of the refrigerator, we use our refer a bit differently.  We do the traditional overnight charging (getting it cold) the refer.  After it is cold enough, we load it while the items are still cold from being stored in the house refer.  This initial charge is from a 110 outlet.  While we are on the road, the refer is not turned on.  We found that we can go all day without it being on.  Ice cubes in the freezer compartment are still frozen.  Ice cream might get a bit soft but not at all runny.  In fact it is just right for eating.  When we set up for the evening the refer is turned on and cooled by campground 110 volts.  We have traveled through many states and found that our refer keeps everything in the condition that they are best preserved.  When dry camping, propane works much better than 12 volt.  So we really have no problems.

hal

I need to check this but I think my Ford truck drops the aux 12V power when the engine is off so the fridge will not discharge the battery while stopped.

The trailer must be "up" to run the fridge on propane safely per the factory.

One more thing David, I bought mine used to save some $s.
I suspect you will have one before too long.

Sure enjoy mine and that is after owning a Class A Motorhome for 10 +/- years.

Thanks a lot for all the input guys!  

We run our fridge on 12V while on the road, however I have installed a relay in line with the 12V source to the fridge. You will find this recommendation the fridge manual. The relay is operated by an extra circuit connected to the ignition wiring in your tow vehicle. When the ignition in the tow vehicle is off the 12V to the fridge is turned off. This avoids running batteries down and avoids running the fridge at a tilt if you park on a slope. There are some that say the latter item is not much of a concern in the newer fridges. I won't argue that point.

[Happytrails]

I have a question about the reefer in my TM. When I first got it home and set up, as well as when the rv shop tested it, it would get really cold on 115v ac. (Almost to freezing actually). The weather isn't much of an issue. Well, I switched it over to 12v to let it run overnight (trailer connected to an outlet here at the house). It was NOT cold in the morning. Furthermore, seems only the freezer gets cold now......16 degrees, while the fridge part will only get down to 58-60. (When switched back to 115v). Does anyone have any idea as to what's going on here? Also, when I try to light it on LP, sometimes I get a little spark/flame flash, but it will simply not light.....perhaps I've got mud daubers in the line somewhere....dunno....acts like it's not getting gas properly. It's an RM2300 model 3 way.........

Happytrails

[Bill]

Are you sure your converter is good? That is, when you switch it over to 12v, do you actually have a good strong source of 12vDC getting to the fridge? It takes a fair number of amps to run the thing on DC.

Bill

[Happytrails]

The converter is good, and btw, I did manage to get the reefer running on LP! Just didn't know what I was doing I suppose. I think the weather did play a big part in it though.....I was forgetting that on some of those days, it was only like 46 degrees outside. I've got it running on AC now with the fan running and it's 85 degrees in the trailer right now. I am curious if it'll still cool it. ???

[Happytrails]

Update, it sat in 80 degree weather for two days straight with having the door opened a few seconds twice, after getting home from work today, it was 60+ degrees in the fridge! I've noticed on the back of it there is a valve where it would seem like you could "charge" it.......the local RV shop tells me you can't get that done ANYWHERE around here.......and they have em rebuilt.........Does ANYONE know if they can be "recharged" with liquid ammonia? Yes, it is level, tho need to put the level in the freezer just to make sure............but pretty sure that's not it....and yes, I do know RV fridge's suck for the most part.......but not that bad.........anyone with any advice on this subject?

Happytrails

If I read this and your previous posts correctly;

works well on 120v, very cold though, you might need  to adjust the thermostat.

does not work on 12v, could be burnt out heating strip on the 12v circuit or low voltage at refer for what ever reason (corrosion, bad battery draw down, converter)

You never stated how well it cooled on propane.

If it cools well on any of the 3, it should not need to be charged. Propane should cool the best followed by 120v and then the 12v.

If memory serves me, the 120v heating element is 120 watt and the 12v element is 100 watt. The 12v circuit will draw close to 10 amps with line losses and if the converter is loaded elswhere the refer could not be getting the full current/voltage needed. Corroded terminals or wires could cause a significant voltage drop and thus a reduction in efficiency. Check the element with an ohm meter to see that it is good and then you may want to check the 12v circuit for current when power is applied. Sometimes corrosion will only show up under load.

Hope this helps

[Happytrails]

Thermostat is set to max. I didn't check the temp inside the tm this morning, but the temp of the fridge, not the freezer, was 31 degrees, but it was a little cool this morning. I just now checked it. TM inside room temp, 88.5, reefer 55.9 degrees. I put a level inside the freezer, and it was "slightly" off level, well, the bubble was against one line instead of exactly in between them....maybe that makes a difference, I'll wait and see what happens. I'm not too concerned about the 12v thing as it's probably an old battery, and going to replace it anyway. I was supprised the durned thing even took a charge, but it did after sitting for 4 years or so. But thanks a lot for the info about the propane cooling it better. I'm gonna try that as well and see what happens! Does anyone know how long you can get off the two bottles on a 3023 if you just use it for the reefer? Just curious. I'll probably cook everything outside in mine for the most part while camping, and due to hot weather, I won't be running the furnace. The hot water heater isn't working right now till I get a kit on it.....depends on how stubborn it'll be......lol I guess there'd be a few people who could tell me through normal use how many days you can get outta two cylinders for running everything? Just wondering........

[Happytrails]

Side note, my dad said something about cleaning the reefer's "chimney"......does anyone know what he's talking about? Just curious.....lol, he was walking around all day at work grumpy as hell, and wouldn't say much more............... :-/

Refer not getting cold should probably have been a new post....

I am no refer expert but another owner showed me how he installed a baffle in the back of the refrigerator, accessed from the outside, to direct the air past the coils. The way the refer is installed at the factory, much of the air can bypass the coils and not participate in the cooling.
I did not install a baffle but used a piece of foam rubber and wedged it into the space just inside the door to the outside of the RV; and glued it in. It acts the same as the baffle and was much easier to install.
I can send pictures if you contact me directly at [email protected].
We run our refer at 3 1/2 because it got too cold on 4, either on 120 VAC or 12 VDC. We do not run it on propane since we always use a campground with 120 available.
This may not be the cause of the problem but it is a good idea to add this modification no matter what the cause.
Dick_B

[Happytrails]

Yeah, I may still do that with the baffle thing. What I did was to take the door off the freezer section, seems to be getting cold now, but I have no frozen stuff.....then again, if we're camping, we can just buy ice if we need it.

Happytrails........

Superfly -- The short answer is "yes" you'd need to open the trailer to switch the reefer from DC to Propane.   One other note, the reefer cooling fan and the reefer together are big battery hogs.   I found my TM battery to half power a few times when I got to the camp site.  Kinda annoying.

Happytrails -- I'm inclined to agree with Brian.  You likely don't need a recharge, just need to check the DC heating circuit (somehow).  Obvious one, how's the fuse?

[oilspot]

I dramaticly improved the cooling capabilities of my fridge by adding a cooling fan on the outside coils.  The fan is designed to enhance the cooling of the convective cooling system.  It turns on and off automatically at a preset temperature (95F ?).

I forget how much current it draws, but it isn't much.  I have a solar panel that keeps up with the load pretty well.  

They sell the fans in RV camping catalogs, and they are not too difficult to install if you are handy.  

Other factors to consider are sunlight (heating the condenser coils, blocked or dirty condeser or evap coils, and if equipped the interior cooling fan.  If the fridge doesn't have an interior cooling fan, you can order one of thos too and improve the efficiency.

These fridges are using a very delicate ammonia equilibrium system that doesn't take much to disrupt.  Just a hair off level or not enough air flow and you've got warm milk....

Hope this helps.

[Happytrails]

Oh well.....guess it doesn't matter now. Just got home from work expecting the reefer sitting around 70 or so, it was running 115 degrees inside..........and I smelled ammonia from outside the trailer............. :'(


"Not so" Happytrails...........   :(

[Happytrails]

Well, as you guys know, my fridge died on me, smell of amonnia all around. :-/ However, a solution? I happened to get a 26" tall (dorm type) 120v fridge to replace it out for father's day. :) After the frustration of leaving it running all night hoping the 3 way would be cold by morning, it was pretty good to find my new fridge sitting on 37 degrees after only 45 mins of being plugged in on a hot afternoon! ;D My dad dry camps a lot, and says if I just run the generator for 30 mins every morning, and 30 mins in the evening, and don't open it a lot, it'll keep cool just fine. On a side note, it's 2.7 cu feet, draws 1.5amps, 185 watts, and can be run on a 700w inverter....(for driving down the road). Plus now I got room to put in a 2.5"x21.5" drawer right above it. ;D I'm thinking if I can find some kinda ac source switch, and a battery isolator, I can switch it over to 12v before driving down the road. Of course if I cool it down the night before, and put some blue ice in it the morning we leave for anywhere, it should be fine anyway........any thoughts?

Happytrails.........

Happytrails,  you might still want to keep the little blower fan working over the fridge coils when the TM's closed.   The ventilation will help when it's hot outside.

[Happytrails]

Well, it's a flat back unit like most of them, there are no exposed coils.....just a small area near the bottom where the compressor and dryer are. I don't think that'd be needed. I would have to rig up some sort of fan system to get up in there.......think I'll stick with the blue ice trick for now......

Happytrails........

[Robert's TM]

We run our fridge on 12V while on the road, however I have installed a relay in line with the 12V source to the fridge. You will find this recommendation the fridge manual. The relay is operated by an extra circuit connected to the ignition wiring in your tow vehicle. When the ignition in the tow vehicle is off the 12V to the fridge is turned off. This avoids running batteries down and avoids running the fridge at a tilt if you park on a slope. There are some that say the latter item is not much of a concern in the newer fridges. I won't argue that point.
- - - - - -
I also installed a relay to cut power whenever ignition is off.

Works great..... With no worries about battery going dead..:-)