Three way fridge help required

[Mtbcol]

Hello friends, we're currently in Bonneville, France and our three way fridge ( on electric) is suffering badly in the 30° heat. I've taken the top and bottom external grills off and have a small fan extracting heat from the top grill. But we're still getting only -5 in the freezer and +11 in the fridge. Its fitted to our 2007 Burstner Solano and I s probably the original. Anything else we can do to improve things would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[YeoBlade]

Love stopping there, walk along the riverside with the padel boats. Old 3 ways aren't the best I found out too. That's about what my 2011 one would run at when it got hot outside

 

[YeoBlade]

Gas is generally better at cooling. Are you at Bonneville near chateaudun, I didn't know there was electricity at the aire ?

 

[Mtbcol]

Hi YeoBlade and thanks for the reply. Looks like it's for the scrap heap soon then. Carol brought loads of goodies that require refrigeration ( meat, milk cheese etc.) and not sure they'll be any good now, gutted .

 

[Mtbcol]

Gas is generally better at cooling. Are you at Bonneville near chateaudun, I didn't know there was electricity at the aire ?

Maybe I'll give it an hour or so on gas then. Yep, the aire has electric.

 

[TJBi]

Gas is generally better at cooling. Are you at Bonneville near chateaudun, I didn't know there was electricity at the aire ?

Is there a Bonneville near Châteaudun? I can see a Bonneval in the Eure et Loire (which doesn't seem to have EHU on the aire), but all the Bonnevilles in France (there are a few of them) appear to be in other départements. The Bonneville in Haute Savoie has a Camping de Mon Village (operated by CampingCar Park), which does have EHU.

 

[Mtbcol]

Gas is generally better at cooling. Are you at Bonneville near chateaudun, I didn't know there was electricity at the aire ?

It's this one...

Is there a Bonneville near Châteaudun? I can see a Bonneval in the Eure et Loire (which doesn't seem to have EHU on the aire), but all the Bonnevilles in France (there are a few of them) appear to be in other départements. The Bonneville in Haute Savoie has a Camping de Mon Village (operated by CampingCar Park), which does have EHU.

That's the one we're on. Freezers down to -1.5 now, fridge at 10.6, temp in m/home is 24° and outstanding temp is 22°

 

[Mtbcol]

Was just thinking how level does the van have to be? We had a compressor fridge in our self build so it wasn't an issue. I've been looking on line and it seems it's about 50/50 people saying it needs to be a maximum of 3-6% level and others saying it doesn't make any difference .

 

[wildebus]

Just a snippet showing how you would expect a Compressor Fridge would work at highish temps ....

On the 25th, the freezer did go up to -15.4C when the room temp was 38.5C (usually the freezer is programmed to stay between -17C and -18C).

Definately worth considering changing if holidaying in high temps is a regular thing.

 

[Mtbcol]

Just a snippet showing how you would expect a Compressor Fridge would work at highish temps ....

View attachment 206804
On the 25th, the freezer did go up to -15.4C when the room temp was 38.5C (usually the freezer is programmed to stay between -17C and -18C).

Definately worth considering changing if holidaying in high temps is a regular thing.

Thanks Wildebus. I'll try and get a more level pitch on the aire tomorrow, but I think the 3 way will be in the bin as soon as possible. The compressor fridge you recommended never let us down in our self build. Just need to do a bit of upgrading on batteries etc. Even in this country we get extremes now, look at last week, and I can't have the hassle of worrying about food going off etc.

 

[Tezza33]

Was just thinking how level does the van have to be? We had a compressor fridge in our self build so it wasn't an issue. I've been looking on line and it seems it's about 50/50 people saying it needs to be a maximum of 3-6% level and others saying it doesn't make any difference .

Earlier 3 way fridges had to be level. Later models were more tolerant , the 3-6% level is 3% side to side and 6% front to back, I always park level in hot weather if possible, my 2002 fridge works in hot weather but it is a continental one, they had a bigger freezer unit on the back, I have three fans in the top vent which also helps, if it ever stops cooling as it does I wouldn't hesitate to fit a compressor fridge

 

[Mtbcol]

Earlier 3 way fridges had to be level. Later models were more tolerant , the 3-6% level is 3% side to side and 6% front to back, I always park level in hot weather if possible, my 2002 fridge works in hot weather but it is a continental one, they had a bigger freezer unit on the back, I have three fans in the top vent which also helps, if it ever stops cooling as it does I wouldn't hesitate to fit a compressor fridge

Thanks Texas, it's a compressor set up for us as soon as funds allow

 

[Mtbcol]

......Tezza " Texas" .....b****y predictive text

 

[Tezza33]

......Tezza " Texas" .....b****y predictive text

I keep getting called Tessa, at least Texas sounds masculine

 

[Mtbcol]

I keep getting called Tessa, at least Texas sounds masculine

 

[Mtbcol]

Well temperatures have dropped in the fridge and freezer overnight, so I guess unless the van has sunk overnight and we're now within the tolerance percentages, then it must be down to our fridge/freezer being old and generally inefficiency of a 3eay fridge. Hope our stuff hasn't gone bad

 

[Mtbcol]

.....goong back up again now, temp rising outside to 20°+ so I guess it's scrap

 

[Canalsman]

There's a strong possibility that the gas jet is blocked partially. I'd recommend cleaning this as soon as possible.

You could confirm that this is the problem by running the fridge on hookup. If it cools successfully on hookup the problem is with the jet.

 

[YeoBlade]

.....goong back up again now, temp rising outside to 20°+ so I guess it's scrap

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 .....

 

[Mtbcol]

There's a strong possibility that the gas jet is blocked partially. I'd recommend cleaning this as soon as possible.

You could confirm that this is the problem by running the fridge on hookup. If it cools successfully on hookup the problem is with the jet.

Hi, thanks. We've run it on both and it makes no difference whatsoever sadly