Fridge operation in hot weather

[DexterP]

Recently had a habitation service, and technician advised turning Motorhome fridge control from 4 to 3 in hot ambient weather.. we have always increased control from 4 to 5 which would normally be colder in normal conditions.
He explained the logic to me but not sure I would be able to adequately or correctly explain it here.
Has anyone experience of this, or can explain it
We are off to warmer France soon, so will certainly try it.

 

[Itsmcb]

I've definitely seen posts on here advocating exactly that. Sorry no personal experience though I do have it in the back of my mind for our next trip abroad.

 

[Wabs]

I think the logic behind this( I could be very, very wrong,) is that the fridge has to work harder in hot weather( obviously), so turning the temp down keeps it more constant,,I only keep ours on number 2, and that’s cold enough, if I turned it to 4, the fins start freezing up and makes a proper mess of everything,,,but all fridges are different,,,I hope you get a better more informed answer

 

[bobnick]

Agree, turn temp down so the fridge/freezer is not working so hard.
Told to do just that whilst in Aussy, it worked, beers cooled a few degrees.

 

[Reallyretired]

I suppose because the 3 way fridges work on heat , the higher the temperature the less heat the gas has to provide. It works anyway.

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[chrisinplymouth]

The best way to improve efficiency in very hot weather it to fit a couple of fans to improve air circulation.

 

[GeeCee]

Not my experience. Was in Spain in Feb/March and travelling through France to get there, as it was damn cold, I turned the fridge down to 3. And that worked fine through Spain till we got to the med and the daytime temperatures got significantly higher. Then my beers weren't getting cold enough so I turned the fridge up to 5 and that gave me nice cold beer. What I did have to ensure was that the fridge vents were shaded from or out of the sun at all times otherwise the fridge didn't get fully cold. The freezer blades do ice up though when you have the fridge on 5 so every few days we'd scrape them with a fork.
Also looking at the manual for my Dometic fridge it shows a range from 1 to 5 bars with a little snowflake next to the 1 and a big snowflake next to the 5. I'd interpret that as big snowflake means colder than little snowflake.
Anyway that's my experience and anecdotal evidence above suggests otherwise. I would say if you really want to know, get a fridge thermometer and try different settings to see what works. Ideally your fridge should be operating at about 5 centigrade according to Good Housekeeping.

 

[Off da Grid]

Dometic say around 3 is the best setting for 15 to 25°. 5 o’clock position.
Ours works best at this setting.
If the outside temperature gets to around 20° I turn on the fan I fitted to the top vent.
We also find that putting a couple of freezer blocks in the bottom of the freezer compartment really makes a difference to help the fridge work.

 

[EuroTrotters]

Recently had a habitation service, and technician advised turning Motorhome fridge control from 4 to 3 in hot ambient weather.. we have always increased control from 4 to 5 which would normally be colder in normal conditions.
He explained the logic to me but not sure I would be able to adequately or correctly explain it here.
Has anyone experience of this, or can explain it
We are off to warmer France soon, so will certainly try it.

The fridge will struggle to cycle (auto defrost). The higher the setting the more it will struggle to off Cycle (The auto defrost). This causes ice to build up on the fins and in-turn becomes an insulant (think igloos). This can stop the thermal conductivity from the products to the evaporator (warm butter melts ice, not the ice cools the butter (warm air moves towards cool air)).

Its often best to switch off, place produce in a cold place and defrost the freezer section after a week or so.

Sounds mad, but its true. There are other factors that are difficult to explain in layman's terms.

You really need to be looking at cooling the condenser with a fan kit and I always take a back up fridge or compressor chiller if you have room (see my other posts).

 

[Simon Meadwell]

Can anybody tell me which thermal paste to buy and where from . Going to replace mine

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[tonka]

Can anybody tell me which thermal paste to buy and where from . Going to replace mine

Ebay as good as anywhere.. thermal paste or as I know it from doing some electronics work heatsink compound.
Even computer shops may stock it.
There are a few threads here on the forum on the subject, do a search

 

[Badknee]

I’ve got twin fans in the top grill, don’t half get rid of some heat in summer.

 

[bobnick]

Just took us 7 hours to work out how to switch our Dometic on.....................honestly.

 

[Shrimp]

Our Dom 3 way fridge runs at 3 to 3.5 all the time and copes quite well in most temps, and stuff stays good in the freezer compartment!