pop-up fridge

[ltrcrr]

Ok , tell me if I'm ok doing the following. I plan to go to Manchester Tn, in June for a 4 day festival with my son. I want my fridge cold when I get there. There is NO power so I'm taking my Honda 3000 for power once I'm there. any ways , I plan to plug the pop-up in at home ( I have a 30 amp plug installed at home )
 to start the fridge to get cold. I will then switch to battery on the way down , once there, plan to go to propane. How does that sound? I will use the gen for running the a/c ...Any one for see any problems?
 Thanks in advance....

[wavery]

Ok , tell me if I'm ok doing the following. I plan to go to Manchester Tn, in June for a 4 day festival with my son. I want my fridge cold when I get there. There is NO power so I'm taking my Honda 3000 for power once I'm there. any ways , I plan to plug the pop-up in at home ( I have a 30 amp plug installed at home )
 to start the fridge to get cold. I will then switch to battery on the way down , once there, plan to go to propane. How does that sound? I will use the gen for running the a/c ...Any one for see any problems?
 Thanks in advance....

That's exactly what your fridge is designed to do.

It works best if you have a hot wire in your tow harness for charging the PU battery while on the road. If not, you may be better off running the propane on the way.

A good time should be had by all

[campnagle]

I have done the pre-cool thing and at best your metal shelf might get cool to the touch. I found the fridge works best on propane so I light fridge as soon as I am set up and put frozen meat in it to help cool it down fast with cold sodas as well. Running it on 12 volts on the way to camp will just zap your battery.
This is my experience ,others way vary,void where prohibited,not valid with other offers.

[Jeremy]

How long of a drive is it to your destination?  With my dorm fridge, I've done the prechill (basically turned it into a freezer), loaded it with prechilled and frozen food, then hit the road.  I've made it about 5 hours and still had cold food in there.  If it's a really long drive, what about running the fridge on propane while you're on the road?

[austinado16]

How you want things set up is so that your Tow Vehicle powers the fridge 12v heater element while you're going to and from the campground.  That way the fridge will maintain your "pre-chill" temps.  You won't run your TV battery or your camper battery down by doing this, because you're feeding the camper fridge with "ignition on" power only.  If you stop some where along the way, switch off the 12v heater on the fridge, so it doesn't drain the camper battery and switch to propane (park level, of course before running the fridge on propane or you'll damage the fridge internals).

I've learned (from the knowledgable folks here) that putting food in the fridge helps it get cool and maintain temp, so take advantage of that.

I'm not sure if you can run with the propane on or not.  I think some people here do, others have tried and the pilot blew out.  I don't believe mine would stay lit either.

[Dray]

I have had the same questions about my fridge.  I think I have it all figured out...i hope.  One of the really cool things I did was get a thermometer (small) to put in the fridge.  I really like the one I got.  It was only $5 and the "safe fridge temperature zone is marked on there"  I think it's between 32 and 40 degrees F.  This takes the guessing game out of it.  Just trying to determine whether or not it's cold by touching the inside is not a good way.  My last trip I precooled my fridge 2 days before I left.  I kept checking my thermometer.  Turns out it only needs overnight to cool down.  And I then turned it to 12 volt for the drive.  When I got there the fridge was still cold very cold.  I forget the temp.  That's after a 3 hour drive and also I put cold stuff in the fridge before we left.

[austinado16]

I went one step further and bought the fridge thermometer that has a sensor in the fridge and the LCD readout sticks to the outside of the fridge door.  Allows the fridge temp to me monitored without opening the door and dumping the cold air.  

While in transit, I put the remote temp sensor for my weather station in the fridge, and then put the weather station in the TV.  Allows for monitoring the fridge temp while driving.

[MomboTN]

Ok , tell me if I'm ok doing the following. I plan to go to Manchester Tn, in June for a 4 day festival with my son. I want my fridge cold when I get there. There is NO power so I'm taking my Honda 3000 for power once I'm there. any ways , I plan to plug the pop-up in at home ( I have a 30 amp plug installed at home )
 to start the fridge to get cold. I will then switch to battery on the way down , once there, plan to go to propane. How does that sound? I will use the gen for running the a/c ...Any one for see any problems?
 Thanks in advance....

You will be fine.  Plug it in at the house after a day put in the food.  Put a note on your steering wheel to flip the switch to Battery right before you leave.  Put a note inside to switch it to propane when you get to Manchester.  
I don't know if you are going to see Pearl Jam, Metallica, Jack Johnson or Willy Nelson but have fun at Bonnaroo.

[Dray]

I went one step further and bought the fridge thermometer that has a sensor in the fridge and the LCD readout sticks to the outside of the fridge door.  Allows the fridge temp to me monitored without opening the door and dumping the cold air.  

While in transit, I put the remote temp sensor for my weather station in the fridge, and then put the weather station in the TV.  Allows for monitoring the fridge temp while driving.

Why don't home refridgerators have a thermometer?  I used my cheapo $5 one when I got it and realized our fridge in the house was too cold.

[Dray]

I went one step further and bought the fridge thermometer that has a sensor in the fridge and the LCD readout sticks to the outside of the fridge door.  Allows the fridge temp to me monitored without opening the door and dumping the cold air.  

While in transit, I put the remote temp sensor for my weather station in the fridge, and then put the weather station in the TV.  Allows for monitoring the fridge temp while driving.

Good for you.  Mine doesn't wear on my battery, so there.  Kidding!

I realize now that if your fridge is working right, like mine is now after warranty repair, opening and closing it a few times to check the temp shouldn't bother it too much.  Just like the one at home.  I even had to turn mine down to 5, 7 being coldest, and it was still plenty cold.  And the fridge was stuffed with food.    

Cheers

[austinado16]

Good for you.  Mine doesn't wear on my battery, so there.  Kidding!  Cheers

Ha! My fridgy thermometer has it's own battery....SO THERE :yikes:

Any yeah, I discovered after last Fall's round of fridge testing that mine is not as efficient as it should be, even after the addition of insulation in the cabinet, baffles to force more air through the coils, painting the coils black, and adding a fan up top.  But, being that it's 21 years old and has a million hours on it, including at least 2 trips from CA to FL by the previous (original) owners, I'm probably lucky that it even works at all.

[tlhdoc]

Ok , tell me if I'm ok doing the following. I plan to go to Manchester Tn, in June for a 4 day festival with my son. I want my fridge cold when I get there. There is NO power so I'm taking my Honda 3000 for power once I'm there. any ways , I plan to plug the pop-up in at home ( I have a 30 amp plug installed at home )
to start the fridge to get cold. I will then switch to battery on the way down , once there, plan to go to propane. How does that sound? I will use the gen for running the a/c ...Any one for see any problems?
Thanks in advance....

Plug the refrigerator in at least a day before you plan to leave.  That way it will have time to completely cool.  The only problem I could see would be if you don't have a hot line from your TV to the camper when running the refrigerator on 12 volt.  The refrigerator will drain a battery in a few hours.  Have a great trip.  It looks like you have covered everything in your planning.