New and Question

FLB · 09-13-2017, 07:23 PM

We are new Jayco owners, glad to find this forum. We own a Jay Flight our 2nd trip is in two days, when should I start to pre cool my frig?

ccso2213 · 09-13-2017, 07:31 PM

After you flip the camper right side up.

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ccso2213 · 09-13-2017, 07:32 PM

Lol. Sorry. Couldn't resist. The answer to your question is at least 24 hours before use. I leave mine on all the time at home.

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FLB · 09-13-2017, 07:40 PM

I wish I could I don't live in an upside down world

oldmanAZ · 09-13-2017, 07:45 PM

Congratulations on the Jay Flight and welcome to the forum.

We usually start 2 days before leaving. We first run the fridge on propane for a few hours to be sure it is working in that mode, then we switch to electric. We also have everything cooled down or frozen before loading the TT fridge. BTW, if you are short on time, your fridge will cool down faster on propane than electric.

2nOZ · 09-13-2017, 07:52 PM

We cool ours down 24 hours in advance on electric after making sure it will run on propane, then load the cold food in. We switch back to propane just before leaving to keep our food and drinks cold while traveling.

Congrats and welcome to JOF!

RAurand · 09-13-2017, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2nOZ

We cool ours down 24 hours in advance on electric after making sure it will run on propane, then load the cold food in. We switch back to propane just before leaving to keep our food and drinks cold while traveling.

Congrats and welcome to JOF!

X 2 here. I switch over to propane when I first start up the fridge to make sure it is working on propane, then switch to electric. Then 10 minutes before departure switch to propane to confirm fridge is working on propane.

olyelr · 09-13-2017, 07:58 PM

Welcome to the forum, and nice trailer!

I typically turn ours on the night before, mainly because we start loading stuff up. I have never really checked it, but it seems to cool down plenty enough within a few hours (even on electric mode).

The idea of testing the gas portion of it is a good one. One time when leaving for a trip I unplugged the camper to get on the road to find out the fridge would not run on gas. Reset it several times to no avail. Gas was at the range, but fridge would not light. After a while of trial and error and tinkering, finally figured out the tube area where the pilot is located was completely plugged with a mud dauber nest

I noticed you have nice looking (aluminum?) wheels on your trailer. I am surprised to see that with the SLX model, or did you add those?

travelingjw · 09-13-2017, 09:47 PM

It depends upon where you park the trailer. Most of the answers above seem to have access to the TT. We park our in a storage area. We do two things. First, test all of the appliances to assure they work. 2 days before a trip we put 3 to 4 bottles of frozen water in the fridge and freezer. Then, when we bring the TT home the night before leaving we hook it up to the electricity. We've tested this and it cuts the cooling time almost in half. Beware, in some states you cannot travel with propane on and there are some restrictions in tunnels. Frozen water bottles can always get you through at least a few hours.

MadDad · 09-13-2017, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ccso2213

After you flip the camper right side up.

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Two days should be about right.

MadDad · 09-13-2017, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olyelr

Welcome to the forum, and nice trailer!

The idea of testing the gas portion of it is a good one. One time when leaving for a trip I unplugged the camper to get on the road to find out the fridge would not run on gas. Reset it several times to no avail. Gas was at the range, but fridge would not light. After a while of trial and error and tinkering, finally figured out the tube area where the pilot is located was completely plugged with a mud dauber nest

To prevent that I used a hot glue gun to put a piece of window screen on the inside of both the upper and lower vents.

wabirch · 09-14-2017, 05:23 AM

Fire up the accessory fridge fan as well

SkyBound · 09-14-2017, 07:08 AM

If I have the time, I will fire it up 2-3 days before we leave and put non-perishables such as canned drinks inside and allow it to get good and cold before adding the perishables shortly before we leave. The more cold mass that's in there, the less the temperature will swing warmer temporarily after adding stuff.

I also like that idea of testing the propane initially before switching to electric. I may amend our Standard Operating Procedures to include this.

rkresge · 09-14-2017, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLB

We are new Jayco owners, glad to find this forum. We own a Jay Flight our 2nd trip is in two days, when should I start to pre cool my frig?

Welcome, and enjoy your new trailer!! Looks like a few different opinions here; most of them say at least 24 hours, which should be more than sufficient.

HOWEVER... Make sure your trailer is level before running the fridge!!! Running it when it's not level will run the risk of permanent damage to the refrigerator. This is a real problem in my driveway - we can't start the fridge until we actually hit the road, as we can't level the trailer on our property.

It's OK to run it while you're moving - the movement prevents the problem of clogged tubes.

Roger

Bassdogs · 09-14-2017, 11:45 AM

A word to the wise, don't load it up with warm drinks/beer. Eventually it might catch up and cool them but fridge is not designed for that. Take a cooler w/ ice for your drinks. It will get them colder and the fewer times you open the fridge the better. As others have said, load the fridge with food that has already been cooled in your fridge at home, same with frozen stuff.

We start off with 3 or 4 already frozen ice trays and use all prefrozen meat.

Jeepyj93 · 09-16-2017, 07:04 AM

I start ours up the day before I also have a small plastic bottle with about an inch of water in it. Once it is frozen then I start loading cold and frozen items in the fridge and freezer. I keep the bottle in at all times and check it regularly and if it thawed I know I had an issue while travelling.

ShawnR · 09-16-2017, 08:03 AM

I start mine in the spring when I de-winterize. Same as others, I start it on gas to be sure that's working, then run it all summer on electric. Every spring I buy a flea collar and cut it into pieces and put some in each compartment to keep wasps out. It works.

DNelson · 09-16-2017, 09:11 AM

Like many others we start on electricity for 24 hours.

Like MadDad we found out the hard way that spiders also like to spend some time in the gas feed tube of a water heater. We hadn't pre-checked the gas setting before leaving for Alaska and when firing it up one day in Alaska it wouldn't light. Not quite true though because it did light but with a poor yellow flame that melted the safety heat thermal cutoff. Now when preparing for a trip we look for a good flame in both the refrigerator and the water heater.

cekkk · 09-17-2017, 10:16 AM

If you have electric power available, 24 hours should do it. I'm not sure if I'd be comfortable running it on propane if it was off our property. A box with lots of cold stuff in it is easier to keep cool. If ours is empty and off, I'll nearly fill several 2 liter soda bottles with water and freeze them the day before I turn the fridge on and then put them in the camper's fridge and freezer when I do crank it up. Not that that's necessary.

dewey02 · 09-17-2017, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLB

We are new Jayco owners, glad to find this forum. We own a Jay Flight our 2nd trip is in two days, when should I start to pre cool my frig?

Congrats on the trailer.
Must be one of those Aussie-made Jaycos (it is actually right-side-up when you are on the other side of the world!)

As the others have said, we run the frig for 1 day to get it cold and ensure it is working.

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