Tulecreeper
Well-known member
Holy crap...
Refrigerator Fires
- Thread starter COCJ
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Kirk
Well-known member
You do mean 120V, home type refrigerator, and not a Dometic one? There are now 12V only compressor refrigerators that are getting very good reviews, but I have no experience with them.
I'm not sure exactly what part of the old refrigerator your picture is showing, but I'm guessing that the rusty item is the burner tube?
TugBoatGuy
Member
Yes, right now I have a Danby 4.7 cu ft 120v home fridge strapped down in place and I’m ordering a 7 cu ft model that will fit the space nicely.
That is the back top of the fridge above the boiler/burner, that Should be flush with the edge and covered with that thick aluminum foil. Fire melted foil and burned out a large portion of the foam.
It looks to have happened long ago, there is no smell left of fire and you can’t see this area from the outside access hatch at bottom of the fridge.
Ray-IN
Well-known member
Tugboatguy,
When operated off-level( more than 3° side-to-side, 6° front-to-back), without the ARP Fridge Defend, boiler temperatures can rather quickly reach over 700°F.
It's all explained on the ARP website.
When operated off-level( more than 3° side-to-side, 6° front-to-back), without the ARP Fridge Defend, boiler temperatures can rather quickly reach over 700°F.
It's all explained on the ARP website.
TugBoatGuy
Member
Yes I’m aware of that product but I don’t need it, I’m already aware of the limitations of ammonia fridges which is why I planed to remove it in the first place, finding the fire damage only confirmed my reasoning. Having a fridge I couldn’t run when parked outside my house was a no-go, I’m on a hill. And the way they are built into a cabinet without a way of inspecting the stack is just ridiculous.
Ammonia fridges are great in in houses where they are easy to inspect on a regular basis, my parents were off grid for many years and had both fridge and freezer that ran on propane, plus stove, dryer and generator that i converted to propane.
Ammonia fridges are great in in houses where they are easy to inspect on a regular basis, my parents were off grid for many years and had both fridge and freezer that ran on propane, plus stove, dryer and generator that i converted to propane.
If he'd had the after market 'Station Wagon Bowling Ball Retainer' installed he'd be alive today.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
I've seen a couple other examples where the fridge boiler tube got hot enough to singe/scorch the nearby wall material, even though the fridge cooling unit was operating within it "normal" limits [which both Norcold & Dometic define as being up to as high as 750 F. degrees]. Wood & paper ignite begin to burn at around 450-500, so allowing a fridge boiler to get that hot is really chancy!
I noticed a some discoloration on the inner wall near the boiler tube on my Norcold 1200. I had already installed a version of the Fridge Defend monitor, but I decided to add a piece of aluminum sheeting on the wall next to the lower tube where the heat is greatest. Even a properly operating ammonia boiler is running at about 350 F., so a little extra peace of mind seemed warranted. A few years later I replaced the Norcold with a GE residential type.
I noticed a some discoloration on the inner wall near the boiler tube on my Norcold 1200. I had already installed a version of the Fridge Defend monitor, but I decided to add a piece of aluminum sheeting on the wall next to the lower tube where the heat is greatest. Even a properly operating ammonia boiler is running at about 350 F., so a little extra peace of mind seemed warranted. A few years later I replaced the Norcold with a GE residential type.
John From Detroit
Well-known member
They now make a line of 12 volt Compressor and 12/120 volt compressor units for RV use. (Though why they include a 120 volt option I don't know as the converter covers that).
Some of them draw as little as "Less than 50 watts" door closed.
Others draw over 100 (So read the spec sheet)
They are both compressor type and don't much care about level.
I have a small "Coleman cooler size" Chest freezer.. My 2nd (The first lasted about 16 years) that uses the more efficient technology.. It's amazing.. current sitting at about 4 below zero. in my other room.
Some of them draw as little as "Less than 50 watts" door closed.
Others draw over 100 (So read the spec sheet)
They are both compressor type and don't much care about level.
I have a small "Coleman cooler size" Chest freezer.. My 2nd (The first lasted about 16 years) that uses the more efficient technology.. It's amazing.. current sitting at about 4 below zero. in my other room.
TugBoatGuy
Member
I’m happy with a Danby inverter type 120v fridge, I add frozen bottles of water to the fridge before heading out and that will keep all the produce happy, and I have two 12v coolers that I add more frozen bottles to that keep the meats and such at a safe temperature for travelling and put the food in the fridge when we plug in.
We don’t have any solar at this point but probably will add some in future, not planning on boon-docking are happy at places we can plug in.
We don’t have any solar at this point but probably will add some in future, not planning on boon-docking are happy at places we can plug in.
