Maybe helpful fridge discovery

[tonyidle]

Last week we were on a CL and on EHU. For a few days there were a couple of units on site, including us, but over a few days the site slowly filled. On a couple of days our heating came on for short periods (ALDE and I leave the thermostat to decide). For a few days our freezer sat at -13 to -16 degrees. Over the next few days it slowly rose to -9 degrees. I have a little cheap display that shows mains current and voltage and I'd been fascinated to observe the mains voltage varying from 227V down to a low of 205V at worst. I assumed long runs to the EHU points but had no trip-outs when the heating /hot water (set to 2kW) came on and when we used our electric kettle.

Then I had a brain fart. It occurred to me that the 120W fridge was running at around 90W when the voltage on the EHU dropped. I tried it on gas and it returned to -16 degrees. So it would appear that EHU voltage has quite a dramatic effect on fridge/freezer performance. Who would have thought it .

 

[Lenny HB]

Gets even worse it the voltage falls further, the fridge decides that the voltage is too low so it tries to light the gas and you here the ignitor constantly clicking but the gas won't light because the fridge has a mains connect so it has turned ovff the gas solenoid.
Not very clever Dometic firmware.

 

[Richard n Ann]

Our fridge does as it's told

No software, no firmware just hardware... A knob

 

[Wabs]

Who called me a knob????

 

[autorouter]

the mains voltage varying from 227V down to a low of 205V at worst.

A 10% voltage reduction also causes a 10% current (amps) reduction, so the total effect is a 20% power reduction. (Not exact but a very good approximation). The fridge cooling is quite sensitive to the heating element power.

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[tonyidle]

A 10% voltage reduction also causes a 10% current (amps) reduction, so the total effect is a 20% power reduction. (Not exact but a very good approximation). The fridge cooling is quite sensitive to the heating element power.

My point really is not that it was an obvious effect (which it is) but that without the mains voltmeter I would never have known the cause of poor performance.