Propane vs. Electric Refrigerator Cooling Time

[meierjn]

So, we usually hit our lake lot on a Friday. Sometimes we are early and sometimes it is later in the day. The first thing that I usually do is plug the 5th wheel in and turn on the fridge. With the warmer temperatures lately it'll take longer than usual to cool down. I think I read somewhere that if you cool initially with propane the fridge will cool off quicker. Is this the case? I'm also considering freezing a 1L bottle of water so that we can at least put some of the food in there until the fridge cools off.

Edit: Our 5th wheel stays on our lake lot which is about an hour away.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Rene T]

How far from home do you live. Why not start the fridge on electric for 24 hours and put some food in it. Then when you leave you could run it on propane to keep it cool.

I just happened to think. Is this trailer set up on the lot and stays there? If it is, why not just keep it running all the time on electric. That way you wouldn’t have to unload it when you leave. Just take out the items that would spoil like milk and. Vegetables

 

[meierjn]

How far from home do you live. Why not start the fridge on electric for 24 hours and put some food in it. Then when you leave you could run it on propane to keep it cool.

I just happened to think. Is this trailer set up on the lot and stays there? If it is, why not just keep it running all the time on electric. That way you wouldn’t have to unload it when you leave. Just take out the items that would spoil like milk and. Vegetables

Sorry for the lack of information. Our trailer stays at the lake lot. I've edited my original post.

 

[Rene T]

Sorry for the lack of information. Our trailer stays at the lake lot. I've edited my original post.

Can you keep it plugged in?

 

[Kirk]

I think I read somewhere that if you cool initially with propane the fridge will cool off quicker.

With most absorption refrigerators that is true. The propane flame is typically larger energy supply so cools faster. I have never tested to see how much difference it makes.

 

[tlmgcamp1]

There should be a breaker at the power post. Can you leave the fridge on electric and ask someone at the campground to flip the breaker on a couple hours before you get there? Note that if my fridge is set to AUTO it will go to propane if the power goes out

 

[DonTom]

I wish I could keep mine plugged in here a day before I leave. The problem here is only this house is level, none of the other ~1.5 acres here are.

What I do is put in a bunch of ice packs from my freezer here and put then in the RV refrigerator and then turn it on at my first level stop in a few miles when in route to wherever.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[meierjn]

Can you keep it plugged in?

Unfortunately, we can't.

 

[meierjn]

With most absorption refrigerators that is true. The propane flame is typically larger energy supply so cools faster. I have never tested to see how much difference it makes.

I am going to try the propane method and see if it is noticeably quicker to cool down.

 

[meierjn]

There should be a breaker at the power post. Can you leave the fridge on electric and ask someone at the campground to flip the breaker on a couple hours before you get there? Note that if my fridge is set to AUTO it will go to propane if the power goes out

We leave the door cracked open when away so that we don't get that musty/moldy smell that you get when you forget the to open the door during storage.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Generally, the propane burner in an absorption fridge produces more energy than the little electric heat element so the fridge cools somewhat faster on propane, but other factors concerning the cooling unit may limit the cooling and make any theoretical propane advantage irrelevant. Poor ventilation in the "chimney" area is a big factor, and so is sunshine directly on the RV sidewall and ambient temperature. The real problem is that neither heat source produces rapid cooling - it will take several hours or more to get any reasonable temperature inside. And you will need to bring several frozen bottles to have much effect.Putting already chilled things in the fridge helps in two ways:

1. Less volume of warm air to chill
2. Instant chill from the ice

If, as you say, you can't get the fridge pre-cooled before arrival, bring an ice chest with a half-dozen 2-liter soda bottles pre-filled with water & frozen.

 

[CharlesinGA]

I pre cool my 6 cf Dometic while the trailer is inside my shop. Recently i precooled for a trip i later canceled but i left the fridge running for a week or so. I have a Beechlane fan inside the fridge blowing on the fins which speeds up the process tremendously but this time it was so hot that i grabbed a cheap indoor pedestal fan, about 16 in like you use in a house. It was given to me. Anyhow i plugged into the outside outlet under the fridge louvers and turned it on medium. The cooldown was extremely fast and a couple of days later it was 99 in the shop and 91 inside the trailer. The black temp monitor is inside the trailer. The white one is on my shop residential fridge a few feet away, taken a minute apart. I did put a full tray of ice from the shop fridge in the rv freezer to help with the cooldown.

 

[gwinger]

A few frozen gallon jugs will pre-cool the freezer and fridge.
I do this a day or so before we leave on a trip. The night before we leave I fire up the fridge on propane. Instead of 10-12 hours, it hits normal temp in about 2 hours.
Plus, you have that water for drinking and cooking.

 

[8Muddypaws]

Replace the cooling unit with a dual compressor one from JC Refrigeration. I did. It gets cold enough to make ice in 30 minutes. Seems perfect for your needs.

If you’re handy you can install it yourself. I paid ‘an expert’ to install mine and regretted it instantly.

 

[Firstime RVer]

Never checked to see what was quicker. We usually turn our fridge on about 12 to 24 hours before we leave. We shut it down for the day we travel. Load it up and use a couple of 1/2 gallon zip locs full of ice for the trip. 2 in the freezer and one in the fridge. Over the last few years its worked well for us. Once we arrive at our site all bags end up in the freezer and we have plenty of ice for cocktails.
Safe travels and all the best.

 

[jymbee]

If you’re handy you can install it yourself. I paid ‘an expert’ to install mine and regretted it instantly.

What happened?

 

[8Muddypaws]

#1. The refrigerator is physically located no more than 6 feet from the house batteries. Yet the ‘expert’ close to run #10 wire all the way to the generator compartment where he put a fuse, and all the way back to the refrigerator. Why?

#2. The instructions explicitly state that any baffling behind the old refrigerator must be removed. He did not.

#3. The temperature sensors should have been mounted with tie wraps. He just left them hanging.

#4. The control panel gets mounted on the interior fins of the refrigerator. The instructions explicitly say in the middle of the existing fins. He put it all the way to the left. This means that the connecting wire is so short that if I have to replace a fan or a control box I will have to remove the entire refrigerator and also replace the control harness.

#5. I had intended to add a speed control circuit to the interior fans. They are fairly loud. Not enough wire left. The motion detecting light does not work properly because of where it’s now placed in the refrigerator.

#6. He completely ignored the drain hose that takes condensation from the drip tray out of the refrigerator.

 

[jymbee]

#1. The refrigerator is physically located no more than 6 feet from the house batteries. Yet the ‘expert’ close to run #10 wire all the way to the generator compartment where he put a fuse, and all the way back to the refrigerator. Why?

#2. The instructions explicitly state that any baffling behind the old refrigerator must be removed. He did not.

#3. The temperature sensors should have been mounted with tie wraps. He just left them hanging.

#4. The control panel gets mounted on the interior fins of the refrigerator. The instructions explicitly say in the middle of the existing fins. He put it all the way to the left. This means that the connecting wire is so short that if I have to replace a fan or a control box I will have to remove the entire refrigerator and also replace the control harness.

#5. I had intended to add a speed control circuit to the interior fans. They are fairly loud. Not enough wire left. The motion detecting light does not work properly because of where it’s now placed in the refrigerator.

#6. He completely ignored the drain hose that takes condensation from the drip tray out of the refrigerator.

Yikes, he apparently doesn't live up to the definition of "expert":

An expert is a person who has a high level of skill or deep knowledge in a specific subject, gained through training, study, or experience.

 

[garyb1st]

Replace the cooling unit with a dual compressor one from JC Refrigeration. I did. It gets cold enough to make ice in 30 minutes. Seems perfect for your needs.

What is a dual compressor refrigerator? Our 13 cu ft 12v fridge takes about 4 or 5 hours to cool enough to load.

 

[8Muddypaws]

It has a large compressor for the freezer and a smaller one for the refrigerator.

This is the one I bought: Norcold 1200/1201 Hvac 12V DC Replacement Unit (FREE SHIPPING) - JC Refrigeration

There are several other people on this site that have them as well.