Thread: 3 ways and ice creams

Originally Posted by mowog

Well its a case of so far so good.

Not sure where the explosion comes in....

A quick question Mowog if you don't mind, do you have a external reading thermometer in the fridge so that you can read it in your tug driving or when you pull up?

Same question if others are prepared to comment for any other forum members who have a 3-way in a van or camper.

cheers,
Terry

Was away on the weekend in my campervan this weekend and had some issues with the 3 way.

I had the fridge on for 2 days before leaving and put cooled food in it but the temp in the main section of the fridge never got below 10 degrees - however the freezer was happily sitting on -10 degrees and if I had ice creams with me they would have been fine but meat in the main fridge section would have gone off.

I understand the cooling element for the freezer section and the main fridge is the same element it is just that the freezer is much smaller.

Any ideas how I might be able to get the temp a bit lower in the main fridge section and it is just too warm to keep food in. Doesn't matter if the fridge was on 12v, 240v or gas the result was the same.

Thanks

Garry

Tried shaking it? I hear a good shake every so often is needed.

As a side note, we bought a second hand 3-way for $20. Great price, but as soon as it was remotely warm in the car and we put a few things in the fridge, ours also wouldn't go below 10 degrees. While driving (so ~14V) it would start creeping down, but only very slowly and then as soon as we stopped (~12V), the temp would go up again. Seemed like we couldn't lose for $20, but it's also a little pointless if it can't keep anything cold!

P.S. Ours was fine on 240V.

Same result all round = common issue.... thus suggesting a good shake.

Thanks Judo - turning it over etc is a good move for portable units but this is a built in unit so a bit hard to do without doing a lot of dismantling.

I did it once but not too happy about doing it again.

Cheers

garry

Originally Posted by Col.Coleman

Man, have I got a dirty mind

Don't know much about the 3 way fridges though, so I'm guessing you don't want to hear my story or advice.

This one time, at band camp..........

CC

I'm with you CC I had to check out the thread after reading the title lol

Cheers
Julian

3 way fridges have to be dead level weather your running 12v 240 or gas, its very crucial to get them working efficiently.

The other way to improve their efficiency is put a 12v computer fan on the vent to draw air over the condenser. That will also draw out any unburned gas or co2 to avoid other problems.

easily drops the temp another 5 to 10 degrees.,

tho its bloody annoying trying to get to sleep with a computer fan running - you'd be suprisaed how loud they can sound when your in the middle of nowhere.

no idea how some people put up with generators.

I have a 3 way frdge in my camper. I have a two zone RF temp sensor on it so I can monitor its temperature from the car while driving.

I just did cape york in August (bloody brilliant trip BTW) and the refrigerator part maintained between 0c and 5c the whole trip, up hill and down dale. The only time it went above 5 was when we had the door open for ages to re-stock or clean something or when we re-loaded it with fresh supplies.

It ran on 12V while driving and gas when we were parked. We did about 100K per day up the cape when we drove so most of the time it was sitting VERY VERY VERY level in the camper.

4 days at Vrylya point in high 30's and it sat at 4 or 5 during the day and droped to 2 or 3 at night. We had meat in there purchased from Cairns still frozen when we got back to melbourne. The dogs loved their steak.

The camper has a small PC fan mounted behind the fridge that turns on automatically above a threshold temperature and I did notice during the days it did turn on, at nights it was low 20's so stayed off.

I agree with the other posts here - if its NOT level its not going to work. Given ours was so full the times it spent bouncing about it had enough cold gear in it that the temperature didnt move much. Somedays however i noticed as i unpacked the camper the outside of the fridge door was damp from condensation... Hmmm more insulation needed.

I love the 3 way - missus enjoys them too... Fridge is good also. 9Kg of gas lasts forever and the thing is silent so you can sleep whir free...