After our 2 week adventure, we pulled our baby into our seasonal site, Sunday night we packed up, slides in, left the bigfoot levelers down so the rig would stay nice and level. then Virginia asked about the contents in the fridge, i decided to leave the fridge on, we will be back in a couple of weeks. The question, i could have disconnected the power and buttoned everything up tight, then the fridge would have run on propane, i felt this might not be safe in an unattended rig, so i left the rig plugged in to shore power. If there is a power outage, the propane will kick in to keep the fridge running, is that ok? Should we, in the future, empty and turn the fridge off, or is leaving the rig plugged in ok, even though a power outage will turn the propane system on? Thanks , Gene.
53 Merc said
11:51 AM Apr 19, 2010
Genecop, the frig requires 12 volt power to run on propane (at least in mine). Also, the propane detector is a heck of a ghost load on the batteries, as well as several other items you can't find. My 2 12 volt batteries will only run the thing for about 5 days, then alll goes black. Leaving the rig plugged in is most likely the best choice. My rig stays plugged in 24/7 and so far, so good.
As a side note, Dometic has issued a recall on the frig (and yours might be too new to be included), anyway, there have been several fires reported due to the boiler leaking and catching fire. Dometic fixed it by installing a baffle to divert the leak. ?? How the heck that "fixed" the problem I dunno.
Sure glad to hear your first episode was a success. I bet the next one is just a good.
Luvglass said
12:29 PM Apr 19, 2010
Gene,
With our Norcold, if the switch is set to automatic, when the power goes out the fridge will switch to propane, but when the power comes back on it will switch back.
flyone said
11:36 AM Apr 20, 2010
Gene, 53Merc is right, the cooling of the frig is done by a small propane flame, it must have the bat to spark the igniter. The flame goes completly out when no cooling is called for. Without being plugged in or some way to keep the bat charged up (solar), after a short period the frig would not come on. I belive most people leave it plugged in or clean everything out and prop open the door. I know a lot of people just leave stuff in the frig and plug in when they are at home, so IMO plugged in is fine.
As a side note, Dometic has issued a recall on the frig (and yours might be too new to be included), anyway, there have been several fires reported due to the boiler leaking and catching fire. Dometic fixed it by installing a baffle to divert the leak. ?? How the heck that "fixed" the problem I dunno.
Sure glad to hear your first episode was a success. I bet the next one is just a good.
Flyone