Three way fridge help required

[Mtbcol]

That's pretty much how our 2011 thetford worked in France in the heat, fans didn't really make any difference, parking without the sun hitting that side of van was always helpful. I was considering upgrading it, then bought a new Motorohome, even though its still a 3 way its performing well in the heat. Its a large separate fridge and freezer. We'll see, off to France in couple of weeks .....

Hopefully yours will be fine, and temps are set to be lower soon. We've decided to definitely go with a compressor unit either 12volt or Mains, which was always on the cards as our mains compressor set up in our self build as recommended by Wildebus worked perfectly for us for several years. In the meantime time. We'll just need to wait a bit as we don't have the finances yet to do the conversion as we've only had the motorhome since October last year and it was a BIG financial outlay for us. I'm looking at getting ( if it exists) a small portable compressor chest fridge as a temporary solution, that we can re sell once we get the big one as we've got several more trips, all be it in the UK, over the summer. More research tonight then. In the meantime no more cold beers for me !

 

[Wooie1958]

The fridge in our 2006 model motorhome had to be virtually bang on level otherwise it was not a happy bunny.

Once level and i fitted 2 fans in the top vent on a manual switch it was more than happy keeping stuff frozen at nearly 40C down in Sommieres

 

[r4dent]

Back to basics.
1) Park in the shade with the roof lights open.
2) Minimize the number of times you open the door
3) Put a back of ice in the fridge
4).

.and have a small fan extracting heat from the top grill.

You are blowing air OUT of the top grill not pushing air in aren't you? Most people fit two fans pushing hot air out of the top grill. Do you have a photo?I once saw someone with a fan stood on a table so it was near the vent, it wasn't very effective.

 

[G and T]

For what its worth here's what I do after suffering with that rubbish fridge freezer in hot weather.

I purchased 3 temperature sensors, 2 in the fridge and the other in the freezer which I monitor on an App. I use the same at home to monitor the temperature whilst away.

I try and leave space around all the food and stop blocking the airflow on each shelf as much as possible, also ditch any unnecessary packaging. I purchased a small rechargeable fan that I pop on the top shelf in front of the fins, tilt the fan down to try and send the cooler temperature down to the bottom, think it helps. Also got a couple of fans in the top external fridge vent.

Monitoring the temperature through the App proves the top shelf is much cooler than the bottom so as much as I don't like raw meat being above cooked food and salads etc I decided to move all the raw food to the top shelf, double bagged. Moved everything thats not a problem further down in the drawer and lower shelf, like beer, wine etc and kept the rest on the other shelves.

Also stopped buying too much food for the fridge as I just think its got rubbish air circulation. Stopped using electric in Europe, only use gas.

Oh and I try and keep a couple of freezer blocks in the freezer to use in the fridge before we go shopping to help cool it down more.

I don't let the fins build up with ice, this I have found seriously affects the temperature, every time they build up with ice the fridge gets warmer. I wait until the fridge is nearly empty, put anything cold into cool bags, turn the fridge off, and then use a hairdryer to quickly melt the ice off the fins. Not forgetting to collect all the excess water from the pot behind the fridge vents. Replace anything back in the fridge and turn it back on gas.

 

[Mtbcol]

Back to basics.
1) Park in the shade with the roof lights open.
2) Minimize the number of times you open the door
3) Put a back of ice in the fridge
4).

You are blowing air OUT of the top grill not pushing air in aren't you? Most people fit two fans pushing hot air out of the top grill. Do you have a photo?I once saw someone with a fan stood on a table so it was near the vent, it wasn't very effective.

Done all the above. Yep drawing air out of the top grill. See photo. Can't turn the photo the right way around, too technical sorry

 

[r4dent]

Done all the above. Yep drawing air out of the top grill. See photo. Can't turn the photo the right way around, too technical sorry

Nothing further to suggest.

When I had the problem I fitted a couple of 12v fans to inside of the grill which cured the problem.
I'm not sure how effective your fan is just being close to the hole rather than in the air channel..

On the bright side, turning a picture is easy.
1) Open explorer
2) Find & highlight the file
3) Right click to get options
4) Click on Rotate

 

[Tezza33]

I'm looking at getting ( if it exists) a small portable compressor chest fridge as a temporary solution, that we can re sell once we get the big one as we've got several more trips, all be it in the UK, over the summer. More research tonight then. In the meantime no more cold beers for me !

I just bought a small compressor fridge/freezer from joybuy.com,
It was £80, 240v and 12v, only 22ltr so not big enough for a motorhome but I bought it for the car, but it will travel in the van, you can set it to -15c as a freezer or use as a fridge, I must say I was impressed, 30c and it dropped to -10 in less than 30 mins.
They also do an Alpicool 60ltr for £165
I can’t post a link because they are referrals but search on joybuy.com, it is next day delivery

 

[Mtbcol]

Good afternoon friends.

It seems the 3 way is not scrap after all, as with a massive drop external temperature, virtually spot on level van, with the sun on the opposite side of the fridge vents, we have "normal" temps in our 3way! So as I say, it may be working ok, but it's NOT suitable for our needs. We're going with the temporary 22 litre alpicool compressor fridge freezer box once we get home and I'll be taking out the 3 way, hopefully in one piece, but I may need to take a hammer and crow bar to it. If anyone is interested in it ( or it may be parts only ) it/ they will be on sale for a very small fee, just to go towards the cost of the new compressor unit eventually. Just to say a big thank you to everyone for the advice and recommendations, it was appreciated. Attached picture of today temps in fridge and freezer

Colin.

 

[wildebus]

Good afternoon friends.

It seems the 3 way is not scrap after all, as with a massive drop external temperature, virtually spot on level van, with the sun on the opposite side of the fridge vents, we have "normal" temps in our 3way! So as I say, it may be working ok, but it's NOT suitable for our needs. We're going with the temporary 22 litre alpicool compressor fridge freezer box once we get home and I'll be taking out the 3 way, hopefully in one piece, but I may need to take a hammer and crow bar to it. If anyone is interested in it ( or it may be parts only ) it/ they will be on sale for a very small fee, just to go towards the cost of the new compressor unit eventually. Just to say a big thank you to everyone for the advice and recommendations, it was appreciated. Attached picture of today temps in fridge and freezer

Colin.

It will have a value for sure, so do try and get it out in one piece!
I removed my 15 year old (at the time) Thetford 3-way fridge to fit a Compressor Fridge and I sold it on eBay for close to £300. That was very close to the price of the brand new 180L LEC Fridge/Freezer I fitted in its place.

And weirdly the buyer didn't actually care if the Thetford 3-way worked or not!

 

[Mtbcol]

I'll try my best. And if I do sell it it'll be with no guarantee and buyer collects

It will have a value for sure, so do try and get it out in one piece!
I removed my 15 year old (at the time) Thetford 3-way fridge to fit a Compressor Fridge and I sold it on eBay for close to £300. That was very close to the price of the brand new 180L LEC Fridge/Freezer I fitted in its place.

And weirdly the buyer didn't actually care if the Thetford 3-way worked or not!

 

[Geek]

Thetford three-way fridges need to be within 3 degrees of level to work well. That is quite difficult in real-world conditions.
Electrolux/Dometic three-way fridges need to be within 6 degrees of level. That's the point when your coffee mug will slide across the table and is uncomfortable to live in.
Adding two or three fans sucking out of the top vent will help, but I've found that adding a small fan inside the fridge makes a dramatic improvement, especially if the fridge is a bit full.
I now add them to our home fridges as well as having one in the motorhome fridge.