Dave's right. They're not all that bad if they are in good condition. Yeah,
when it gets to be a hundred in the van, you're not going to get ask cold
as on a 50 degree day, nor will you with anything else I know of.

It's about like any camper refrigerator, really. If you really want cold
like you have at home, and I guess that's what people camping expect
nowadays, there are plenty of expensive modern all-electric refrigerators
that will really do the job. Be prepared to spend a lot of your resources
to get the job done. There is a ton of stuff in the archives on the subject.

On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 12:42 PM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:

> Jim, what do you mean by, ".......... the Westy's, which is pretty weak"?
>
> If you mean the refrigerator is "pretty weak," I disagree.  I just made a
> trip to SE Oklahoma, daytime temperatures in the low nineties.  On the trip
> down and back, I ran the refrigerator on 12 V, the notoriously less
> effective mode.  When I stopped for lunch on the way down, after driving 4
> hours, the refrigerator fins had frost on them, and all the food was cold.
>  During three days and nights of camping, I used propane.  I had to turn
> the setting back a bit at night, as I was concerned that the refrigerator
> would freeze my salad stuff and more importantly, my wife's insulin, which
> it has done before when ambient temperatures were running in the fifties
> and sixties F (when it is colder than that, we just don't use refrigeration
> for the salad stuff, or much else, though we do keep the insulin in an ice
> chest).
>
> There really isn't anything wrong with the Dometic.  If you have an old
> camper (well, of course you do, they are all old), and the refrigerator has
> not been cleaned, then it may not cool well.  If it is really hot, around
> 100 F or hotter, then it may not get cold enough when traveling and running
> on 12 V.  But then why are you camping in 100 F plus heat?  Oh, like me,
> you are traveling to get to somewhere cooler!
>
> I would recommend pulling the refrigerator and giving it and its
> environment a thorough cleaning.  The heating element might need
> replacement to make electrical modes work better.  Mine had dust, lint, and
> some kind of coating built up on surfaces.  It cleaned up nicely, though,
> and I think the likelihood of fire from the accumulated grunge is mitigated.
>
> When preparing to travel, I precool the refrigerator on 110 V for several
> hours.  Typically, I do that with the van parked in my enclosed garage.
>  The cooling fins ice up.  I put only already chilled foods in the
> refrigerator.   If I am taking meats and will only be gone a couple of
> days, I freeze them first, than put them in the refrigerator just before I
> leave.  Typically, unless it is up around 95 or hotter ambient, the meat
> will still have ice in it when I use it.  It is always still cold.  Butter
> taken from my freezer and put into the refrigerator just before I leave
> stays hard in the refrigerator.
>
> I keep a thermometer in the refrigerator, and in the bottom, it is usually
> between 34-38 F, but more like 40 to 45 if a brutally hot day and I am
> traveling on 12 V.
>
> I do not use the refrigerator for beer.  I put that in an ice chest.  I
> use heavy 4 liter jugs I have collected from people who have had to drink
> the prep drink used before a colonoscopy for the ice.  Just fill them with
> water, and freeze it in my home freezer.  When I returned home from this
> trip, the jugs were still mostly ice, only about 1/4 thawed.
>
> Some folks install a small fan to evacuate hot air from behind the
> refrigerator through the side of the van.  I have not found that necessary,
> but it might help on hot days when on 12 V.  There are several threads on
> the archives describing how that was done.
>
> mcneely
>
> ---- Jim Ogul <jimogul70@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> > Has anyone tried using a minifridge (the kind they sell for dorm rooms
> > etc.) pluggged into an inverter off the cigarette lighter.  This seems
> like
> > a cheap alternative (since we already have both the fridge and and
> > inverter) to the Westy's which is pretty weak.
> >
> > Jim
> > 85 Westy
> > 87 Saab 900T (265,000 miles and going strong)
> > 68 Saab V4 (currently for sale on Ebay)
> > 99 Chevy s10
> > 2010 Suburau Forester
>
> --
> David McNeely
>