Cooling Fridge prior to camping

[4U2NV]

I have searched threads about this and have found there are differend ways in doing this. Some say run it off an outlet 24hrs. before leaving on your trip. Others say Freeze a milk jug or lg. soda bottle and place it inside prior to leaving. Can you guys tell me what works best for you. Short trips vs. long ones.

[AustinBoston]

It depends.

If we're camping at a site with shore power, we will pre-cool on 120v, then drive with fridge on 12V.  We may still have some frozen goods in the fridge.  The 12v option will not lower the temp in the fridge significantly; in fact, on warm days, all it can do is keep the temp from rising too fast.

If we're dry camping, we will pre-cool with 120v, then it depends on how far we are going.  If the drive is just 1-2hours,  we'll leave the fridge off while driving.  Much longer than that, and we'll try to run it on propane.  Most of the time, it stays lit, but sometimes it doesn't.  If you stop for a few minutes, check for warmth at the top of the fridge vent before departing, and re-light if it's cool.  

Never use 12v if you will be dry camping.  Even with a charge line from the TV, the fridge will draw some of it's power from the battery.

We have had very good luck with our fridge, but the general reputation is that they are not very efficient and performance is spotty (not staying cold enough on warm days, freezing solid on cool nights, not staying lit, working better on electricity, working better on propane, etc.)

Ever try scrambling a frozen solid egg?

Have fun, be flexible.

Austin

[CajunCamper]

Sorry, I can't help, we use ice chest.

[fallsrider]

I pull the PUP out of the back yard the evening before our departure. I level it front to back (our drive is level side to side), then I fire up the fridge on propane just so I don't have to mess with an extension cord.

Then the next day, right before leaving, I shut off the fridge for the drive. I always put a couple of frozen bottles of water (1/2 gal. each) in the fridge while loading it the day of departure. That keeps the fridge cold in-transit.

[AZCAMPPINAL]

When my brother had his Coleman Utah (Casita now) he installed a small computer box fan adjacent to the cooling coils on his fridge. I noted it cooled the fridge down quickly.

[DT Sante Fe]

I have searched threads about this and have found there are differend ways in doing this. Some say run it off an outlet 24hrs. before leaving on your trip. Others say Freeze a milk jug or lg. soda bottle and place it inside prior to leaving. Can you guys tell me what works best for you. Short trips vs. long ones.

I do both, pre-cool overnight and then put a couple of frozed water bottles in for the trip. I did use the 12 volt once while driving to the campsite, stopped for lunch and forgot to turn it off, very dead battery when I arrived at the campground. Never again !

[markwi]

I plug ours in 24 hours before we load up the fridge and switch over to lp when we are leaving. Has been working great . Been doing it  that way  for a lot of years with no problems. Mark

[sacrawf]

I pre-cool with 120 in the garage before leaving, preferably 24 hours.

[hoppy]

I pre-chill my Dometic 3-way fridge using the 110 VAC option for about 8 hours before heading out to camp. We only camp approx. an hours drive from the house, so I don't even bother to switch it over to the 12 VDC option. The inside compartment will hold the temperature well over this short a time period.
My 1.9 CF fridge is so small, that it really is not practicle to freeze water bottles inside the fridge to pre-chill it.

['tiredTeacher]

We don't pop up before departure (a royal PITA) so we don't load or pre-chill.  All food, etc. is in a cooler along with a frozen gal. jug.  At the camp. we pop up, cut on fridge, put little fan inside, pull shelves and put the gallon of ice inside.  By the time set up is complete, the fridge is ready to be loaded.

[hoppy]

We don't pop up before departure (a royal PITA) so we don't load or pre-chill.  All food, etc. is in a cooler along with a frozen gal. jug.  At the camp. we pop up, cut on fridge, put little fan inside, pull shelves and put the gallon of ice inside.  By the time set up is complete, the fridge is ready to be loaded.

 One trick I found on the forum is that you can pre-chill the fridge with out opening the PU.

 My Mesa has the fridge's electrical outlet and power cord inside the fridge compartment. I just unplug the line cord from the outlet back there, and hook it up directly to my extension cord. This allows the fridge to pre-cool without going through the PU's converter. This works great for us.

[wavery]

We pre-chill on 110V for 12-24hrs. We generally bring some frozen food, like steaks & stuff. If we're going a short distance, we'll run on 12V. If we are driving for 2+ hours, we run on propane. We've never once had the propane blow out on our current trailer or any previous camper that we've owned.

[4U2NV]

Thanks for all the replies/ideas. We will be taking the PU out this weekend 1hr away. I like the idea of connecting the fridge direct rather than through the converter prior to the trip. May have to try that as i wont pop up prior to leaving.

[DT Sante Fe]

Thanks for all the replies/ideas. We will be taking the PU out this weekend 1hr away. I like the idea of connecting the fridge direct rather than through the converter prior to the trip. May have to try that as i wont pop up prior to leaving.

If you have newer pup, with a converter that charges the battery, you can top off the battery while also pre-cooling the fridge.

['tiredTeacher]

One trick I found on the forum is that you can pre-chill the fridge with out opening the PU.

 My Mesa has the fridge's electrical outlet and power cord inside the fridge compartment. I just unplug the line cord from the outlet back there, and hook it up directly to my extension cord. This allows the fridge to pre-cool without going through the PU's converter. This works great for us.

My Starcraft has the same set up, but my fridge's door is propped open to allow ventilation when the pup is closed.  The only thing on your converter that is involved with the fridge when on shore power is a circuit breaker so hook to the power cord and, as another poster mentioned, top up the battery as well.