Poor Refrigerator Performance

[NH_camper]

I've been trying to get my RM-2351 Dometic (3cu ft) to work better without much success. I think it's just the combination of hot weather and these rv type refrigerators.

I have remote thermometers in both the freezer and frig sections. At night it gets down to -1 in the freezer and 30 in the frig. This unit is automatic - no dial settings. By 2 in the afternoon it is up to 45 in the frig. The freezer gets up to maybe +2, which is good.

I've added a baffle so that more air goes thru the coils behind the unit. In my opinion, Jayco had a bigger gap there than Dometics specs called for. But my baffle hasn't made a difference.

There is a factory installed fan blowing upward into the coils. Maybe there should be 2 of them?

I will say that side of the trailer was facing the afternoon sun on this trip, but last trip that side was in the shade all day. It didn't seem to make much difference. Both trips had temps in the low 90's.

My wife agreed to an experiment the other day. We didn't open the frig even once until mid afternoon. It was up to 42 without the door ever being opened.

I honestly don't know what else I can do at this point. It's only 8 months old and still under warranty. But I can already hear the excuses the dealer and Jayco will make...

[33 RLDS]

I have similar results with my 2013 unit. I didnt seem to worry about it until I got the wireless temp sensors, Lol. I just ordered a few of those cooler shock packs and will put a couple on the bottom shelf and see what that does on the next trip next week. I also wanted to get the hardwired fans but have not seen them on Ebay or Amazon.

[wabirch]

Good and level?

[kennyr]

I live and camp in Florida, so it is hot! Just went camping and before I left shade at the house the fridge temp was 38*. When we were at campsite I could not get the fridge below 58*. This happens everytime we go in the heat! At night it goes down to 44*. I run a small fan but nothing helps, it"s just that these can not take all the outside heat. Ours is a Norcold 3.0

[CampNow]

I believe we had the same Dometic fridge in a previous trailer. We had cooling performance very similar to yours. Got into the mid-40's in the afternoon heat. Like you, we installed a large baffle (thin plywood panel) about 1/2" away from the entire rear coil assembly. The factory didn't even bother to install a baffle---there were 3-4 inches between the coils and the outer wall of the trailer. It was difficult to get the plywood baffle mounted secure and flat, but we got it done. That improved cooling about 3-4 degrees. We then installed two computer-type cooling fans which pulled in air just inside the lower, bottom vent. That improved cooling another 2-3 degrees. Both mods improved our overall fridge cooling enough to keep temps approx. 36-38 degrees during the hottest part of the afternoon. It dropped down to 28-30 at night. Our afternoon ambient temps were typically in the mid/low-90's with high humidity. Of course, we also made a point of not opening the fridge door more than a few seconds once every hour or two during the hottest part of the day.