Fridge Makes Ice Cream Mush

The fridge and freezer were not keeping up well during this last trip to So. Padre Island (yes, hot & humid.) We've never had trouble before with things not staying frozen or the fridge warming up. We were on shore power so I thought the heater element might have burned out, so I switched to propane mode. No difference. However, when we got back home to Houston (hot & humid) and plugged in to shore power, it worked just fine. The difference - no food in the fridge. I didn't believe we were over stuffed and I did have a in-fridge fan blowing the cool around inside. Any thoughts?

My fridge has always worked fine in fact, if I turned it up past 4, it would freeze the refrig. items. But last weekend we were in Turlock CA in 112 degree heat. The ice in the freezer wasn't even staying frozen. Turned the refrig. to MAX and turned on the fan and all was well.
Cheri

Thanks for the post. That pretty well mirrors our experiences using the gas cycle fridges. The ice cubes began to melt and the new pint of Ben & Jerry's which was solid as a rock eventually was tossed (!) as it never did freeze back up. Other new Norcolds (the one in my older motorhome, and I miss its separate freezer & fridge) would get too cold, so this melting stuff was a new phenom. I believe I had the knob turned to max (#5) but no joy. The bottom line is the unit must be okay since it still functions, but still the question of what happened. Lesson Learned: Eat Ben & Jerry's first!

You tossed some Ben & Jerry's!? Pretend it's a milkshake and drink it! LOL

Originally Posted by The Bargs

I believe I had the knob turned to max (#5) but no joy. The bottom line is the unit must be okay since it still functions, but still the question of what happened. Lesson Learned: Eat Ben & Jerry's first!

Mine goes to 7 then MAX. Mine is 10 years old, so maybe they've changed.
Cheri

from my time in the food service industry the specs for frozen food was 20F +/- 5F BUT the spec for ice cream was -20F to 0F so icecream is one of the toughest things to keep frozen to an expected hardness. 20F will give you good solid ice cubes but soft ice cream.

4wiw (for what it's worth)

Bill