Fridge on steep drive

Liverpoollass

Liverpoollass

Joined
Jan 22, 2017
Posts
565
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15,241
Location
North wales
Funster No
47,008
MH
Ace Napoli (Swift)
Exp
Since February 2019
Hello..New motorhome owner here
We have a very steep drive and would appreciate advice/answers

Will fridge get cold on hook up at home? as I understand it the 12 volt system (whilst travelling) will only maintain the existing fridge temperature.
Will the fridge get cold on gas..when we stop and set up?
I plan to pack some frozen items to reduce fridge temp during travel..
Any comments?

Thanks in advance
 
Don't quote me on this but I think you need to be reasonably level on gas so that the flame rises properly but should be ok when you stop and set up unless really unlevel.

Our 12v does a pretty good job at keeping the fridge cold whilst travelling.

Not sure about your 240v on the drive. Unilke the gas I would guess that it will work better.
 
So is being level to do with gas supply from our gas bottles or is it to do with the gas in the actual fridge?
 
an absorption fridge uses heat transfer and a liquid coolant in the pipes. if the chimney on the back of the fridge is not near upright, the heat from the flame or 240v element is far less effective

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Liverpoollass said:
So is being level to do with gas supply from our gas bottles or is it to do with the gas in the actual fridge?
Click to expand...
It's the flame within the burner tube in the fridge.
If the flame can't go straight up the tube (within a few degrees) it won't work.
On hookup it should work as the heating element is positioned differently, but no promises.
 
It normally doesn't work well on electric either ,in my case anyway. Both gas & electric on mine are excellent , considering it's 30 years old but on a slope at the nephews I have to level it or the elctric won't function well.
 
I’m pretty sure you need to be within 6 degrees of level for an absorption fridge to function
 
Thank you..we will suck it and see (so to speak)
We will also book on a site soonish and test everything on hook up while level

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Our motorhome fridge does not work on the slope of our drive :(
 
Liverpoollass said:
Hello..New motorhome owner here
We have a very steep drive and would appreciate advice/answers

Will fridge get cold on hook up at home? as I understand it the 12 volt system (whilst travelling) will only maintain the existing fridge temperature.
Will the fridge get cold on gas..when we stop and set up?
I plan to pack some frozen items to reduce fridge temp during travel..
Any comments?
We had the same problem when we first arrived home with the new van. Parked up on our very steep drive, plugged in the power to keep batteries topped up, went out the day before going away, turned FF on...it wouldn't cool down, was warmer inside than outside. Went away for 4 days, tried running on mains electric, Gas, nothing would not cool down, no food storage in van had to come home.
Booked into our dealers for repair as were initially told the cooler unit had failed, needed new FF under warranty. Left van with dealers for about 10 days(which suited us at the time)
Dometic engineer diagnosed cooling unit problem, ordered new replacement, returned to dealers to replace whole unit a few days later. On entering the van he found the FF was working and was achieving even lower temperatures than the average.
So the moral of this story is, that the FF will not work if van is not level enough. I made 2 very large and substantial wooden ramps, 18 inches wide & 19 inches high from scaffold boards trebled up with railway sleepers supporting them.
I can now come down the drive and run straight up the ramps, with safety making the van nearly level.
The FF has worked ever since.
Observation, lesson learned:
The coolant in the fridge must be pretty sluggish as the van had to be on the level for a few days before the FF worked at the dealers.
Build yourself some leveling ramps to store the van, all should be fine then.
Another tip I learned from a Funster, turn the FF on low (2 bars indication), leave it for a few hours, then turn it up to 5/6 bars, it apparently helps the FF cool down from room temp more easily.
Les

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
 
Liverpoollass said:
as I understand it the 12 volt system (whilst travelling) will only maintain the existing fridge temperature.
Click to expand...
Modern fridges have bigger 12v elements and are thermostatically controlled so they work quite well on 12v.
 
Last edited:
I’m not sure that the poor performance is related to the flame. If that were the case, you’d overcome the problem by using the 240 V heating element.

The issue, I believe, is that the refrigerant is circulated, not by a pump, but by the thermal gradient produced by the heat source (be that gas or electric power). Thus the refrigerant is circulated by ‘natural circulation’ (as a result of the thermal gradient) and is less effective than pumped circulation and hence is sensitive to the layout (orientation) of the cooling loop.

Ian

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Our drive slopes about 600mm over 6m and we have to Jack the bottom as far as we can to get fridge to work it’s not level but near enough to work the fridge.
That’s gas or electric one fridge is up to temperature it works fine even if we drop back down but not for long.(y)(y)(y)
 
I have a steep drive as well. The fridge is a Dometic, less than a year old. I find that it won't work on gas, battery or mains unless it's under 5 degrees of level, but preferably no more than 3-4 degrees. Can be a nuisance sometimes.
 
A gas fridge has no moving parts and relies on gravity for the gas/liquid to move and return around a circuit. You don’t hear about fridges not working due to slope because they can accommodate the degree of tilt often experienced when camping. The amount of tilt tolerated will depend on direction (forward, back, or side-to side) but the heat source should make no difference.
I'd suggest that they might not work when the slope is 'noticeable'. I recall reading that some makes are more susceptible than others, though.
 
Liverpoollass said:
Err...Sorry I don't understand..
Click to expand...
Older fridges had a less powerful 12v elements so we're only capable of keeping an already cold fridge cool, they also ran continually when on 12v as there was no thermostat to control them.

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Lenny HB said:
Older fridges had a less powerful 12v elements so we're only capable of keeping an already cold fridge cool, they also ran continually when on 12v as there was no thermostat to control them.
Click to expand...
Right...got it...think ours is older it's a 55 the
Thanks
 
Our fridge works well on 12v when travelling Freezer was down to - 16c after driving 100 miles without any precooling. I think the idea that 12v operation is not efficient was a historical thing with older fridges.
If the fridge isn't working because of a slope it will not work on any energy source.
 
On a slope our fridge doesn’t function on gas, electric hook up or battery. Also we found if we tried on a slope it did not subsequently kick in whilst travelling. Using some fridge freezer blocks whilst loading on our drive with the fridge OFF until we set off and therefore level ish worked the best for us.
 
When staying on a friend's steep drive, we found that the fridge did not work on any power type, 240V, 12V or gas.

We then raised the front with silly height home-made commercial ramps, which made it almost level. The fridge would not work, even though it was level. The next day, after a 100-mile drive home, it worked fine.

I was expecting that I'd need to take the fridge out and stand it upside down for 24 hours, which is a last-resort remedy, but thankfully that wasn't necessary.

The power source doesn't make any difference to this.
 
Liverpoollass said:
as I understand it the 12 volt system (whilst travelling) will only maintain the existing fridge temperature.
Will the fridge get cold on gas..when we stop and set up?
Click to expand...
I don't know about every fridge, but on mine the 12 volt and 240 volt elements are about the same wattage (220 watts). That's 18 amps, over quite a long length all the way to the fridge, which needs quite thick wire to avoid voltage drop. From what I've seen, it's the thin wire and voltage drop that's the cause of the 12V power being less effective than 240 volts.

Cooling on gas when you stop will be as good as on 240V.

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Sorted...thanks all...We left it at sons house..(nice and level) but not on hook up..then put a fair bit of frozen stuff on the shelves and travelled on 12v..went on a site..to test all systems on hook up...all good...now we are FLT 's and all good on gas.
 
Had 2 m/h with dometic full height fridge/freezers neither of which worked on our 20° sloping drive. The Thetford that's now parked on the drive works on either AC & gas ....
 

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