Fridge frame heater

Started by Sylvain, June 26, 2020, 09:40:22 PM

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Sylvain

Hi everyone,
We'll leave for a two week holiday in a week from now.  Our campsite will have water but no electricity.  We will be relying on our solar panels and battery.  I heard about the desabling of the fridge frame heater to save on energy.  I did run a search but can't find the information on how to do it.  Can anyone direct me towards that thread please!  Is there an easy way to know if our fridge does have the fridge heater?  I'm not sure if this can help but there are no light inside our fridge.

Thanks again!.......Sylvain

GrampaKilt

Hi Sylvain. To my knowledge no trailer our sizes ever came with fridges big enough to have frame heaters. That is, they don't come with 2 door fridges, one for the fridge, one for the freezer. Enjoy the week away. BTW have you installed or did your trailer already come with a battery monitor? GK

DavidM

I remember reading a discussion of two door fridges with frame heaters on 21' or 28' LLs. If you carefully search the archives section of this forum you will find the discussion. I vaguely remember a wire in the backside near the propane burner that if cut or spliced to a switch would turn the frame heater off.

Worth doing if you dry camp as it draws a half an amp continuously.

David

charliem

Refrigerator frame heaters are an issue for larger two door units found in the larger Campites. The original cure was written up by TinkeringTechie. I think I also wrote something on it but it's been a while. For your size camper with a singe door fridge it's not a problem. However, if you have a three way powered fridge, don't run it on 12VDC. That will kill your battery before you can even open that first brewsky  ;) .
Any 20 minute job can be stretched to a week with proper planning

Charlie
Northern Colorado
2014 21RBS
2013 Tacoma supercharged 4.0L V6
E2 WDH, P3 controller

Sylvain

Thanks everyone.  Ours is a Dometic three way fridge with a small freezer door inside the fridge itself.  I'm happy to learn that it probably doesn't have the frame heater.

Quote from: GrampaKilt on June 27, 2020, 01:18:26 AM
Hi Sylvain. To my knowledge no trailer our sizes ever came with fridges big enough to have frame heaters. That is, they don't come with 2 door fridges, one for the fridge, one for the freezer. Enjoy the week away. BTW have you installed or did your trailer already come with a battery monitor? GK

GK, yes we do have a battery monitor.  It came with the trailer.  It's not the best one but it does the job.  It doesn't tell me how much current I'm drawing from the battery though.