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Went away 2 weeks ago in our Compass 362. Temperature was 20 deg+. Switched Truma Fridge on at home for around 3 hours running on gas to cool down fridge before commencing our journey of around 2 hours. Switched to 12v for the journey. On arrival set up caravan fridge to run on gas as no EHU available. Next morning OH complained fridge was not cold. Gas indicator in the green section and I could feel heat coming out of external Fridge vents. We had a 2.2 kw generator running in the day so switched to 240v from gas but still fridge not cold. My guess is that internal temperature of fridge was around +2-5 deg. On returning home connected to 240v mains and fridge was cold in around 30 mins. Switched off waited a fe hours atested with the gas and again cold in around 30 mins. Was the outside temperature too great for fridge to cool to cold?

Van is not due for service until September. Any suggestions to the problem

Hi Jimmy,

the fridge in a lesiure vehicle is a GAS appliance with 12v and 240v added as a bonus, the fridge will work at its most efficient when left on gas. When travelling the fridge is on 12v, it will only cool to around 11 degrees below ambient. If the temp was 21 degrees while you were travelling your fridge would have been warming up. Even when set up on site on 240v it is still an electric element heating the gas in the back of the fridge and takes a long time to get the fridge cold, the very same thing happened to me last year, for a whole weekend i switched my fridge between gas and 240 genni power and the fridge did not get cool, a couple of hours on gas and a couple of hours on 240 would have undone the cooling of the gas before the electric element got the fridge going again. Espeicially when hot outside. No EHU on site, put fridge on gas and leave on gas. It is the best option. When you got home, what sort of temp was it around your caravan, i'm guessing it was a bit cooler then when you were away. I think your fridge is fine, just like mine was. When you have your caravan serviced, ask for a fridge service, your engineer should clean the gas flue at the back of the fridge and change the gas jet. Hope this puts your mind at rest.

regards,    

Ian

Quote: Originally posted by affigrey on 15/6/2010

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Hi Jimmy,

the fridge in a lesiure vehicle is a GAS appliance with 12v and 240v added as a bonus, the fridge will work at its most efficient when left on gas. When travelling the fridge is on 12v, it will only cool to around 11 degrees below ambient. If the temp was 21 degrees while you were travelling your fridge would have been warming up. Even when set up on site on 240v it is still an electric element heating the gas in the back of the fridge and takes a long time to get the fridge cold, the very same thing happened to me last year, for a whole weekend i switched my fridge between gas and 240 genni power and the fridge did not get cool, a couple of hours on gas and a couple of hours on 240 would have undone the cooling of the gas before the electric element got the fridge going again. Espeicially when hot outside. No EHU on site, put fridge on gas and leave on gas. It is the best option. When you got home, what sort of temp was it around your caravan, i'm guessing it was a bit cooler then when you were away. I think your fridge is fine, just like mine was. When you have your caravan serviced, ask for a fridge service, your engineer should clean the gas flue at the back of the fridge and change the gas jet. Hope this puts your mind at rest.

regards,    

Ian

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Thanks for your reply Ian

Yes outside temperature had cooled around 5+ deg when I tested at home

My dealer always includes the fridge in their service

Thanks again

Jimmy