Traveling 3+ hours - Fridge on propane?

[JHC]

We plan on traveling 3+ hours to camp early December. This will be our longest trip so far. Our previous short trips, we would get the fridge cold a few days before and then travel to the camp. It stayed pretty cold but this will be a longer trip. We tried to run it on propane and it always beeped so I gave up and just turned it off. The fridge stayed cold so no issues. But a 3 hour trip, either the fridge will stay cold or I need to figure out the beeping when I have the fridge on auto. What do others do on extended trips?

[howson]

What do others do on extended trips?

Exactly what sent me down the path of an inverter, lithium batteries,.... (I chose not to run on propane while traveling, though many, many people do just that.)

FYI, this is in the Imagine Owner's Manual:



To read what's been posted about this topic in the past, I did an advanced search using the keyword "food" and isolated the search to entries from TucsonJim . There's a lot to read!



Two or the many you might want to read:
https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...d-temperatures

https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...when-traveling

Howard

[Calbar]

We plan on traveling 3+ hours to camp early December. This will be our longest trip so far. Our previous short trips, we would get the fridge cold a few days before and then travel to the camp. It stayed pretty cold but this will be a longer trip. We tried to run it on propane and it always beeped so I gave up and just turned it off. The fridge stayed cold so no issues. But a 3 hour trip, either the fridge will stay cold or I need to figure out the beeping when I have the fridge on auto. What do others do on extended trips?

What exactly do you mean by the fridge beeps. I have run all of my RV fridges on propane while travelling for the last 16 years and never had a beeping issue or any other issue. Many have as well. I do know that many others will not run the fridge on propane while travelling due to safety concerns as howson has pointed out. Be interested to understand the beeping.

Rob

[Tom in PGH]

We have two 9” or so square Rubbermaid food storage containers. Over the few days before a trip, I put about an inch of water in each and freeze it solid. Then I add another inch each day. Over the course of 4-5 days, they are full and frozen solid. Adding the water in stages allows the containers to retain their original shape, without expanding the bottom so that they wouldn’t sit flat.

Once frozen solid, I move them from the house freezer compartment in the fridge to the fifth-wheel freezer. I turn on the fifth-wheel fridge the day before I plan to move the ice, to get it to the proper temp. I keep the blocks, stacked one on top of the other, in the bottom shelf of the freezer in the fifth-wheel until just before departure. They are just the right size to fit that space (I moved the shelf up one position, to gain a bit of height).

When we depart a location, I move the ice blocks from the freezer to the second shelf in the fridge. We always reserve that shelf for the ice blocks. Since cold air falls below warmer air, the chilling keeps the food cold. I also have a small recirculating fan that we always keep on in the fridge. This allows the fridge to act like the “ice box” that we had in a trailer when I was a kid. It’s also much like putting ice into a cooler to keep the food cold.

I have a remote read thermometer with two sensors. I keep one in the fridge and one in the freezer. The fridge stays cooler with the ice blocks (about 34 degrees) than when it runs on electric (about 38 degrees). With the remote display in the truck, I never have to open the fridge to check on things, so that helps it to retain the temp longer.

When we arrive at destination, the first thing that I do is to turn on the propane, then the fridge. When we hook up to power, it switches over, as I’ve set it on “Auto”. An hour or so later, we move the ice back to the freezer and it will re-freeze before we move again.

We used this system for a four-week trip last year, with stops every 2-3 days, and plan to do it again for an eight-week trip next spring and summer. The ice has never thawed more than 1/3, and is always frozen a couple of days later, ready for our departure.

We’ve run up to 6 hours with this process. I don’t care to run with the propane on. That’s for another discussion, and there will be plenty of comments on both sides about that. I’m not going there with this thread.

[Country Campers]

We have traveled 5 or so hours with our 2 door dometic off with no food problems. We have a 2 door and the 4 doors may not be as good at keeping cool. I believe that your Imagine has the 2 door. In hotter climates there may be issues with the fridge not keeping cool when off but we do not have that here.
I am also curious why it will not run on propane and what the beeping noise is. If you have the fridge set to auto and propane cylinder on then it should auto switch when shore power is lost. Before using the fidge on propane you will need to purge the air out of the propane lines. This is usually accomplished by light the stove top burners.

Brian

[TNFSolitude]

We travel with our fridge on propane all the time, turning it off only for fuel stops or a road that takes us through a tunnel. The refridgerator beeps may be that the propane has not lit. Be sure all the air is bled out of the propane line, usually by burning the stove for a minute. Remove the back panel outside to the fridge to be sure the gas valve is in the open position. Set the fridge control from auto to propane to see if it lights. If it won't after a couple of minutes there's another issue. Use Grand Design's Cust Serv or reach out to one of their moderators here. Good Luck.

[OurNewEra]

What do others do on extended trips?

On our first trip my DW was adamant about not running the propane on the fridge while travelling. I reluctantly went along with her request. Our first trip was a 4 hour drive to camp. We cooled the fridge down on AC power for 3 days before we left. When we arrived at the campsite the fridge was in the high 50's. The next trip my wife was totally on board with running the propane on the fridge while travelling. One of her main reasons for getting a modern day TT was to not have to mess with ice chests anymore.

My comments are this:
1) Use caution when fueling. Turn off the propane.
2) RV Refrigerators are barely a refrigerator and certainly not an ice chest. Mine does not maintain the recommended 40 degree for very long when not running.
3) Not only is your temperature above the 40 degrees but once you get to your campsite it will probably take another 2 maybe 3 hours to get back down to 40 degrees. So your food is outside the 40 degrees, in my case for maybe 4-5 hours.

Bottom line, do whatever you are comfortable with. I'm comfortable with running the propane.

[JHC]

As TNF states, the beeping is probably from air in the line. I will bleed by starting the oven and confirm I can run the fridge on propane. I have concerns traveling with the propane tanks on. The last time, I started the fridge a couple days before and added frozen bottles of water in the fridge and freezer. And I bought a fan for inside and that seemed to bring the temp down quickly and maintained it while traveling. Since my next trip is 3 hours one way, I will load up with frozen ice along with food. And, carry beverages in a cooler until we arrive. Hopefully the fridge will maintain proper temp.

[TNFSolitude]

I suspect that when measuring the inside temperature of the fridge you are laying or suspending the thermometer or sensor from a shelf. At a National Rally several years ago the Dometic tech stated to get a true temperature inside the fridge would be to place the sensor inside a bottle of water. That way you know what the food temp is, not the air temp. Just an idea before believing your food is starting to spoil after 4 hours on the road.

[howson]

...to get a true temperature inside the fridge would be to place the sensor inside a bottle of water. That way you know what the food temp is, not the air temp.

First time I've ever read that as a process for measuring refrigerator temperature. Interesting.

TucsonJim -- I wonder how doing it this way would affect the results of your tests. Of course, I don't think an Elitech can be immersed in water...but there must be some way to simulate it.

[OurNewEra]

Just an idea before believing your food is starting to spoil after 4 hours on the road.

Not so much the food, more the warm beer and wine!

[mpking]

howson , TucsonJim . You just need a better test device:
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01L1DLPWG

This is even designed to be panel mounted. You could get one of the small 4 ounce water bottles, drill a hole in the cap and seal it, and just mount it. :-) (I would not do this, but it could be done)

[TucsonJim]

I suspect that when measuring the inside temperature of the fridge you are laying or suspending the thermometer or sensor from a shelf. At a National Rally several years ago the Dometic tech stated to get a true temperature inside the fridge would be to place the sensor inside a bottle of water. That way you know what the food temp is, not the air temp. Just an idea before believing your food is starting to spoil after 4 hours on the road.

howson
TNFSolitude

If you check out the set-up on my refrigerator experiment, that's exactly one of the methods that I employed. I placed the probe for a wireless thermometer in a 1/2 gallon jug of water. Being wireless, I could read the temperature without opening the refrigerator door.

https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...d-temperatures


Jim

[boyscout]

We plan on traveling 3+ hours to camp early December. This will be our longest trip so far. Our previous short trips, we would get the fridge cold a few days before and then travel to the camp. It stayed pretty cold but this will be a longer trip. We tried to run it on propane and it always beeped so I gave up and just turned it off. The fridge stayed cold so no issues. But a 3 hour trip, either the fridge will stay cold or I need to figure out the beeping when I have the fridge on auto. What do others do on extended trips?

I've upset people here in the past with reports that we have traveled more than double that time - a little over six hours - in low-80-degree temperatures with the fridge not operating. We've done that more than once and had cold food and well-frozen ice at the end of the trip. As you already obviously know, getting it thoroughly chilled before departure and not opening it in the hours before departure are important.

Now, it's possible that our Norcold 2118 fridge is an unusually good unit. It was a replacement for a defective one and it keeps food at high-30s temps when set at 5. We've done temperature surveys on fridge and freezer confirming our impression that everything is very cold. I've seen reports of others not doing nearly so well so YMMV.

As for advice that you have to rig up a buffer (put the probe in a bottle of water) before you can take the temperature in your fridge, I wouldn't worry about that. Our business for nearly 30 years has included temperature mapping and certification of coolers for pharmaceutical and natural health products. In a turned-off fridge in which you know the food was safely cold to begin with there will be minimal air movement so food temps should remain below air temps over the short duration of your trip. If surveying an operating fridge, for our purposes protecting the thermometer or probe from directly contacting air currents in almost any way will suffice. If someone needs to be rigorously scientific about it then they should use a small glycol buffer (usually around 70-100ml in an appropriately-sized bottle) and not a big bottle of water for the buffer, but either is truly more than most campers need to do.

[howson]

TucsonJim -- now how did I miss that? Told you my brain can only hold so much info. Sheesh.