One of my projects this summer was my refrigerator. It does not work on 12 volts and poorly on 110 volts. The gasket on the door was a mess so I pulled the unit out and brought it home to work on. Fixed the seal and then ran tests with the door taped tightly shut and put a thermometer inside. Set temp control knob to 4 and let it run for a couple hours. It did cycle but was on the majority of the time. Inside temp was 52 degrees. If it was a car I would give it a shot of freon or R134A and move on. These are a sealed systems and from talking to various sources they can be opened and recharged but the all said they had poor results. As you know these little suckers are not cheap. Would not mind spending the money but I always have a cooler anyway so the refrigerator is really not needed. I am considering an inverter anyway so I might buy a $100.00 mini fridge from Menards and remove the cooling system and install in this one. I prefer to keep things factory when I can but conflicted. I was just wondering how everyone else has dealt with this issue or any other ideas. I have a 1988 26 PC with a Norcold unit. Thanks for your input.
Refrigerator Poor Cooling Questions
- Thread starter Goingback
- Start date
Over the years I have run into the same problem with different units. I found that replacing the cooling fan on the unit does the trick. Even though it looks like the fan is running up to speed it may not be. Assuming your unit has a cooling fan. Only replace the fan with OEM parts.
AllDodge
Well-known member
I wouldn't go that route, to keep the fridge running all day your going to need more batteries. My fridge is a 12/120 type but I don't let it go to 12V, main reason is it has killed the house battery. If your not going out for an overnighter, I just leave to door closed until we get back.
Thanks for your input. Great picture. Reminds we of the song by Bobby McFerrin "Don't Worry-Go Boating". The problem is the refrigerator has poor cooling so it runs way to often and long. More batteries are not a bad idea but I like to fix the root cause when I can. Since my 25PC I have only had boats with stand up full size refrigerators so maybe my memory is somewhat off. What I remember is boating into the early afternoon and pulling up on the beach for the night. I would switch over to battery #2 and maybe start the boat for ten minutes around 7:00 P.M. Next morning the boat would start on battery #2 and I would again run the boat for ten or fifteen minutes before leaving the beach Sunday afternoon. Kept beer in the cooler as I like that ICE cold but food and other beverages were always fine. Now it is possible that I don't remember it exactly right so before I go out and spend $900.00 on a new one would love to hear how others use their refrigerator. My plan is to also add more batteries or maybe just one 8D. Had a couple of those in one boat but would need a crane now.
I assume that many of our boats are constrained as mine is. That is, the installation specs on the fridge call for more space behind the unit than the installation yields. With this condition, the unit will always have a less than optimum chance to release heat. Not much that can be done I suppose, as the interior volume is too valuable to sacrifice for this need, as the fridge would need to be out at least a couple more inches.
The area behind the fridge gets very dusty. Removal from time to time to clean the coils will certainly help. It's also a good time to clean the in-line water filter which typically is in this area.
The area behind the fridge gets very dusty. Removal from time to time to clean the coils will certainly help. It's also a good time to clean the in-line water filter which typically is in this area.