Posted on 05/06/2018 15:30
Whilst in France last summer our fridge struggled to get down to a cool temperature when it was very hot outside. Our Bailey dealer said we should use the gas to power the fridge to start with then turn it onto the mains electric.
Has anyone else suffered with this or has any recommendations for our trip this summer?
Posted on 08/06/2018 12:12 by hitchglitchThat makes sense. The heat comes directly out of the back of the fridge and the vents create a chimney effect with the hot air rising to the upper vent which needs to be nice and high. Fitting an extract fan at the top should help in that situation.
Despite all the adverse (and justified) general statements about absorption fridges, I can only repeat my previous comment that Thetford seems to have solved it. Ours works fine in ambients of 35 degrees so it’s clearly possible. Maybe it’s a combination of Thetford plus how Autosleeper’s have fitted it.
Posted on 14/07/2018 20:23
To explain about fridge fans....
Get a couple of 4inch 12V computer fans and fit one inside the lower vent blowing in and one behind the upper vent blowing out. The direction of rotation and air flow are embossed in the outer frame of the fan. Wire the fans in series which will make them run slower and much quieter. A switch is a good idea as just making the air move rather than relying on convection will improve the efficiency of the fridge enormously - you don't want everything freezing up!
Posted on 17/07/2020 17:31
My two cents despite this being an old thread. I have a Dometic RM8551 with poor performance. I've just returned from Bernese Oberland at the beginning of July in Switzerland where temperatures in the shade didn't exceed 30 degrees C. Further I had air con running in the caravan keeping the internal temperatures sub 25 deg C.
Nonetheless, Ice lollies where melting in the freezer, so it could not maintain much <0 deg C.
I have a dometic 12 V fan installed, and I was running on mains. I did not try on gas, but on previous years, this didn't help much (why shouldn't I use mains, does mains not work by design?). The performance was even more diabolical without the fan, it is now just diabolical.
I installed a glorified commercial potentiometer across the thermistor (you can buy a commercial unit), which didn't help, so removed it. I'm considering installing a fridge from an alternative manufacturer, I'm fed up of warm beer and soggy frozen goods. Furthermore, in my opinion its cooling capability is inadequate to the point that it could be dangerous.
Incidentally today the fridge compartment is sitting at ~8 deg C in the centre of fridge - the freezer is at ~0 deg C, and it is 27 deg C outside. Typically people aim for <4 deg C for a fridge, and -18 deg C for the freezer. The internal caravan temperature is 25 deg C (air con is on), typically people would not have air con, and this should be making things easier for the fridge. I'm underwhelmed by its performance.
A lot of urban myths are going around about setting the the thermostat to a lower temperature (why, is it broken by design? does high not mean high?). Moving the thermistor, left, right, up and down, or removing thermal compound from the fins (can't this be done correctly when manufactured). I once owned a dometic RC1600, it was awesome in France, so in principal I know an adsorption fridge can work, just not this one.
Posted on 10/06/2018 09:23 by cyberyachtOur MH has a Dometic and, although not exceptionally warm, it is freezing OH's yoghourt in the middle of the fridge.
Posted on 17/07/2020 17:51
If it is the tall domestic fridge it was in 2016 anyway a problem with some fau lty gas valves that somehow made the fridge over cool when on mains electric ours and two others were rectified by a mobile Dometic engineer when at Ferry Meadows
I do not know about smaller models
Posted on 05/06/2018 23:07 by SnookyHi
we have a Bailey caravan and experienced the same situation with our fridge, On advice of both dealer and Bailey, when it’s hot: we start the fridge on gas and then turn over to electric once cool. To test put a cup of water in freezer and when frozen you’re good to go electric
Posted on 06/02/2021 16:39
It seems a common fault on Bailey caravans using Dometic fridges.... Ladt year with the awning on my fridge could not keep tempeture..I removed both exterior plastic grills, which dropped a couple of degrees I am in the process of having two fans installed to extract hot air and circulate fresh cool air...
Posted on 14/02/2021 15:02
Browsing and just come across this thread. I think that what the dealer said to the OP is basically right. We have a Bailey but with a Thetford fridge. Most of our caravanning is in hot climate areas and we rarely have problems with our fridge. Too keep it cool when in temperatures of 40 deg I put a small fan on the outside blowing into the lower vent, this seems to work and is a simpler remedy than the technical one explained earlier. If we load the fridge up after shopping with a lot of veg etc which would be at 'room' temperature then, yes, run it on gas to get it cool then switch to mains.
legs down in WF15