Post by earlelaine on Feb 13, 2023 8:02:28 GMT -5
I usually turn my fridge on the day before we hit the road. The last thing that goes into the trailer is the food, about a couple hours before we hit the road. On cold days I turn the fridge on around 5:00am so by the time I put the food in around 9:00am it is cold enough. I keep gauges in the freezer and cold area so I know it's cold enough. The actual turning on the fridge process. I turn the gas on at the tank, I know after sitting for several weeks the gas in the lines have escaped over time so the lines just have air in them. I turn open the kitchen burners, they take couple minutes to light because it time for the gas to reach the burners so the air had to be purged before the gas is present. Once the burners are lit I can turn them off knowing that the gas is now 90% closer to the fridge. We don't have electric power to our trailer sitting in the street so we have to use gas. When I turn the fridge on I set the "Mode" to Gas, I set the temperature on high or in my case 5 stars (max). The gas/electric fridge when set to Gas will try and light the burner for the fridge several times and then it will time out. This has always been a common problem with newbies, they try turning the gas fridge without purging the gas line to get the air out of the lines. After a few clicking sounds that you can barely hear unless your outside and put your ear near the lower fridge vent, the fridge will shut down the gas lighting process until you turn the fridge off and start but turning the fridge back on again and set mode to gas again. It may take a couple try to get the gas to light and you can hear it sometimes, I always go outside and listen by the vent. I want to make sure it is lit and the safety features didn't fail and fill the trailer up with gas. Since we never boondocks I am on board with a 12volt fridge next time around. Again not to get in an argument but the gas/electric fridge is the safest fridge, they do start fires. It's best to get to know your gas fridge and out it works and why it is very important to get your trailer as level as possible. I believe it has to be within 6 degrees from end to end and 3 degrees from side to side the chemicals/gas in the fridge don't function properly and could over heat. We also have a circulating fan inside the fridge to help keep the inside temp even so things don't get frozen on the back shelve and warm in the doors. Most experts say you shouldn't travel with your gas fridge on but most do. There are some safety issue with fridge being on while pumping gas for your tow vehicle as you're not suppose to be on your cell phone while pumping gas. Some states have laws that say you cannot enter a tunnel with your gas fridge on. Some people will just place a couple frozen bottles of water in the fridge to help keep things cold with the fridge off while towing.Most of the time we travel with our fridge off because we only travel 2-6 hours. Some of the test I have done on our fridge is it only loses about 10-14 degrees during a 6 hour period. If you fridge was already at 30 degrees and freezer at zero you should be ok getting to your site 6 hours later with fridge still around 45 degrees and freezer at 15 degrees. We don't but ice cream until we are at our site. This is how we roll : )