Refrigerator question

???Those of you who full time, or go on longer trips, how often do you need to defrost your refrigerator.  The longest I've ever had mine on was 3 weeks and it was fine.  I have one of the large 4 door type.  The reason I ask is during the summer, (May thru Oct.) we do  3 longer than a week trips and between do several long weekends.  I'm thinking it would be much easier to just leave some things in there without turning it off to make packing up for long weekends easier.  We do plug the motorhome in to the house electric when at home during the summer.  Thanks for any suggestions.

Also, the black panel that seals between the doors I noticed is heated.  I'm thinking that would also warm up inside the refrigerator, yet I can't find a way to turn it off.  Am I wrong?  Thanks!

JoAnn

Defrost frequency depends on the humidity in your area and how often you open the door.  We generally do ours about once in 3-6 months, depending on location. In central Washington last summer, where the humidity seldom exceeds 20%, we didn't have to defrost for over 5 months. The condition of the door seals also has an effect - air leaks increase the need to defrost.

If you have the 4-door Norcold fridge, there is no way I know of to turn off the heaters around the doors. It doesn't materially affect the internal temperature, but remember that it does consume some power when you are running off batteries. Dometic fridges have a switch for the door jamb heater.

JoAnn,

I don't worry a whole lot about defrosting while on the road - unless the frost is building up too much.  During last summer's five month trip to Newfoundland, I didn't defrost at all.  It might have been different if we were in a hotter area.  If you have a newer Norcold, the lower refrigerator section has an automatic defrost.  You may see a little bit of water on the ground under the refrigerator if it's had a lot of buildup on the fins inside the refrigerator and the little box where water accumulates hasn't been able to keep up.  The box I'm referring to here is accessed from the outside of the RV behind the fridge.  If you're only taking month-long trips, frost shouldn't be a problem, but I suppose it might depend on the area of the country in which you're traveling.  In previous RVs we had Dometics and they had a switch for low-humidity vs. high-humidity areas.  Also, if your freezer is really jam-packed there may be more frost buildup because there isn't as much air flow around the food.

In our old RVs I had to defrost more often, so the age of the unit might be a factor.  They've improved over the last few years.

ArdraF

Tom, I tried to modify my last message here because I realized I hadn't addressed JoAnn's main concern.  I added another whole paragraph but when I tried to Save or Post it, there was a message that I had already posted the message.  Yes, I had, but I also used the modify button which has worked previously when I needed to change a message after posting.

ArdraF

Edit: Just trying to modify Ardra's message above.

JoAnn,

I'll try to remember some of my addition that got lost in the previous message.

I don't leave food in the fridge between trips and am not sure how that would work.  If I did, it would only be cold staples like mustard and relish.  Certainly not fruits, veggies, dairy, or meat that could spoil.  Heck, by the time you make all those decisions, you might as well empty the whole thing.  When we return from a trip I empty the fridge, turn it off, let it defrost, clean and dry it thoroughly, and then store it with the doors open.  I would be very concerned about odors and mildew.  It's hard to get rid of them once in place.  There have been a few cases where we've taken short trips and I thought the fridge was pretty clean until I took everything out and discovered during cleaning that there had been a spill or leak I didn't know about.  Also, would it be running on propane or electricity?  If propane you certainly would have to keep an eye on that so you don't run the tank dry.

Is there anyone on the Forum who leaves food in the fridge between trips?  It would be helpful for JoAnn and interesting to me if you'd comment and tell us what works and what doesn't.

ArdraF

We leave ours filled after a trip, then use out of it until it's mostly gone.  I keep the door filled with salad dressings and stuff, plus drinks in the fridge, and ice and a few frozen entrees in the freezer.  I need to defrost now, so last night we ate dinner in the mh.  We ate most of the frozen stuff.

Ok, like I said, I do need to defrost the freezer now.  What is the easiest way to do it so I don't get water all over the place?  It's been years since I defrosted a freezer.  The last time this one was defrosted was by accident.  The battery power was interrupted and the fridge quit running.  There was water all over the floor. 

The last time this one was defrosted was by accident.  The battery power was interrupted and the fridge quit running.  There was water all over the floor.

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OOPS!  Guess that's a good reason for cleaning it out and turning it off.  A wet floor can do a lot of damge if it seeps under the top layer of whatever is there.  Now I have to ask, isn't it inconvenient running back and forth to the RV while you're trying to use up the food?  I make a few trips to shift things into the house refrigerator and am done with it until the next trip.  It actually sounds like it's more work your way.  Or am I missing something?

ArdraF

It's parked in the back yard.  DH uses the mh bathroom when he's outside working.  We try to take it out every 2-4 weeks, so the stuff gets used on the next trip if we haven't gotten it sooner.  We've only had it 6 months, so I'm still tweaking things inside.  And we're always learning something new about the workings of it.

A couple of weeks ago my washing machine in the house broke, and we ran out of clean towels before the repairman could get here, so I borrowed some from the mh.  So after they were washed I had to return them.  There seems to be something to piddle with out there every few days.  Also recently we had overnight company.  We lost our guest room when my mom moved in with us, so DH & I slept in the mh while the company was here.  This week dh was relocating the upstairs commode and didn't finish before bedtime.  Again, we slept outside to take some pressure off the 1 downstairs bathroom.  We also have a dd living here while she finishes college.  Occasionally I meet dh in the motorhome and we can just sit and talk privately for a while, no interruptions, no phones.  It's like our very own little sanctuary.  We don't even have to leave the yard to feel like we're getting away, but getting out of the yard is definately a lot more fun!

I guess my point is, that even if we aren't traveling in it, we are still using it work working on it, so we are out there with it. 

We don't make special trips for food, unless someone has a craving for M&M's or something.  Getting something out is usually combined with another trip into the yard.

Ardra,

I'm not sure what happened but, as you see, I was able to modify your message just fine. If you see that happening again, you might want to hit the Back button in your browser, which will allow you to copy the entire text of your message. Then hit Back one more time and start afresh by clicking the Modify button as if it were the first time. It's a bit of a pain, but should save you retyping (and remembering what you previously typed).

Thanks everyone, for your advice.  It's been very helpful. 

We have a few trips planned where we will leave on a Thurs. be away until Monday, come home and work and leave again on that next Friday for a week etc...so close trips.  I mainly wanted to leave the motorhome plugged in to electric to run the refrigerator.  Leaving staples, wine, drink mixes etc. that wouldn't spoil and some frozen foods.  So it sounds like it will be fine.  One of us is always running out there for something. 

Like Kathy, Jim and I spend a lot of time piddling around out there.  Seems like we're always cleaning, fixing or packing LOL  So we'll keep check that it's running properly. 

Thanks again everyone.

JoAnn

Tom when it comes to modifying messages I can modify mine so long as no one replies before I modify

YOU, however, have POWERS (Being as you are the power that is, or at the least one of the powers that be here) and thus you can modify things I can not.

So your being able to modify a message is not a good indication of what we mear mortals can do


And as for the topic of this thread:

My main hamshack is in the middle of the motor home so I'm in it all the time.. I will be going out tomorrow with softwware and trying to get my old computer working as a "Radio control" and communications device... IF that is, I have time.

Good point John. How things work for me may not translate to others.

I haven't figured out any patterns to Ardra's issue or, for that matter, the double post that some folks seem to be afflicted with.

John In Detroit said:

Tom when it comes to modifying messages I can modify mine so long as no one replies before I modify

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I'm sure I have been able to modify messages ipso facto, sometime after if I recall.
I know those Modify rules apply over in our CS Forums but not 100% they apply in this realm. Maybe Tom and the other PTB can clarify the situation.John, I just went back to a thread I had started and with a number of replies, just to make sure it fitted the criteria. If you check my story about Google's April Fools Day contribution you will find a line in blue that I have just added to the original message.

Ian said:

I know those Modify rules apply over in our CS Forums but not 100% they apply in this realm.

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Ian, there should be no such restriction. However, from time to time we see some weird things happening that I don't have an answer for.

Isn't it amazing .... 3 years ago folks were complaining about the extremely slow CS environment, lots of ads in forum messages and the 3 messages/page limit. Today we have no such limitations, but we've become accustomed to a "friendly" environment so, when things don't go 100% right .... squawk.

I hasten to add that I don't put Ardra in that category. She and internet guru hubby Jerry have had their share of trials and tribulations here, but they hang in there for the benefit of the community and especially to advise newbies.

cuts_up said:

Ok, like I said, I do need to defrost the freezer now.  What is the easiest way to do it so I don't get water all over the place? 

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HI Kathy,

I picked this up somewhere on one of the forums ... unfortunately I didn't document the source and I can't give credit to the originator.  :-[

Haven't tried it but it sounds reasonable.

Howard


#7. Refrigerator Defrosting.
Since we are all spoiled by frost free refers in houses, it comes as a shock to many that RV units have to be defrosted. We picked up this handy tip somewhere on the road and it works great for us. When Libby decides to defrost the refrigerator, she just turns the unit off when we go to bed. When we get up in the morning, the refer is defrosted and the food is still cold since we haven't opened the door. Its a no hassle way to do this. On the freezer side, she puts all the food in the refrigerator, turns off the unit and we go to breakfast, leaving the freezer door open. When we get back from breakfast, the freezer is defrosted and we just move the food back into it from the refer and turn everything on.

Is there anyone on the Forum who leaves food in the fridge between trips?

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Depends on how long "between trips". We routinely leave some stuff in if we expect to leave again in a few weeks, but it is usually staples like mustards & relishes, canned or bottled drinks, etc. Once in awhile some frozen foods if it is something we would normally keep on hand in the freezer for a fairly long term anyway. In other words, we treat it like a refrigerator.

Ian you are right, the Modify button is still there for my post even though there are replys

I wonder what happens if two people hit the "Post" button at the same time?

Thanks, Howard!  There's not much buildup, so I think that would work for mine.  Then I'll have to remember to do it a little more often.

Tom, thanks.  I THINK I used the Back button a couple of times and couldn't find what I wrote.  But thinking and doing are two different things, so maybe I didn't!  :

ArdraF

JoAnn and Kathy,

When I do need to defrost while on the road, I tend to do what is suggested above - first clean the lower part, then put the frozen foods in the lower part while I clean the freezer.  It's a drag - which may explain why I do it as infrequently as possible!    And we're definitely spoiled by self-defrosting refrigerators at home!

ArdraF