Patrick1
Full Member
- Messages
- 26
I had so many problems with the Dometic 3 way fridge that came with the motorhome when I bought it 2 years ago in Germany. Whilst in Spain last year, after reading the many posts, I installed a Thetford 2160 C (that works to 43°C ambient) and a 125 AH solar battery. The fridge is a cabinet installation but I was informed by the installer that it would be better to leave the existing 3 way fridge vents open. That was a BAD bit of advice. Whilst in Spain, hot as anything, the fridge freezer worked impressively. During this period we got the desert dust storms. That dust sticks to everything, even the cooling fins of the fridge. Later of course I wondered at the wisdom of having an open vent in the sidewall straight into the cabin, when the weather turned. I closed the vent covers off with insulation and then put up the winter covers as well. That was fine until I got back to Spain in August with temperatures around 42°C. Suddenly the freezer stayed warm when new food was loaded and the temperature was swinging from -18 to -3. The fridge was also being temperamental and I was thinking about digging out the antidepressants.
I experimented by removing the old fridge vent cover and the fridge/freezer perked up. Further investigation showed that the air inlet filter at the bottom of the fridge was clogged up. Should have checked there in the first place I guess. After cleaning out the filter I waited a long time for the fridge to come back after defrosting. I thought the coolant had leaked out. Never had any alarms on the control panel at all. In desperation I took off the old fridge vent to get cooler outside air through as it was very hot inside the cabin around 34°C. The next day all temperatures were on spec and stayed solidly on target. Well waddaya know. So I cut out some vent holes in the insulation I had put onto the old vent covers and pasted some vegetable bag netting over as a filter and took off the winter cover (kept in the back to block off if it gets cold). Now the fridge is really happy.
I am sharing this experience because a lot of people are thinking of moving to compressor fridges.
I have 2 120W solar panels that pump the battery full on sunny days but not so much when it's cloudy. In France we had dark cloud days whilst camping in the same place, without EHU and the battery lost it during the third night. Running the engine for 30 minutes gave about another 4 hours of battery life.
I experimented by removing the old fridge vent cover and the fridge/freezer perked up. Further investigation showed that the air inlet filter at the bottom of the fridge was clogged up. Should have checked there in the first place I guess. After cleaning out the filter I waited a long time for the fridge to come back after defrosting. I thought the coolant had leaked out. Never had any alarms on the control panel at all. In desperation I took off the old fridge vent to get cooler outside air through as it was very hot inside the cabin around 34°C. The next day all temperatures were on spec and stayed solidly on target. Well waddaya know. So I cut out some vent holes in the insulation I had put onto the old vent covers and pasted some vegetable bag netting over as a filter and took off the winter cover (kept in the back to block off if it gets cold). Now the fridge is really happy.
I am sharing this experience because a lot of people are thinking of moving to compressor fridges.
I have 2 120W solar panels that pump the battery full on sunny days but not so much when it's cloudy. In France we had dark cloud days whilst camping in the same place, without EHU and the battery lost it during the third night. Running the engine for 30 minutes gave about another 4 hours of battery life.