Keeping that RV fridge cool this summer

If you follow one of the old "Classics" radio stations, you know that soon, you'll hear the immortal voice of Nat King Cole booming out with:

"Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Those days of soda and pretzels and beer"

But here's the rub: What if those hazy, crazy days included days of WARM soda and anything but COLD beer? They could, if you don't pay particular attention to your RV refrigerator. A few simple tips can make your summer RVing days a lot less crazy, and a lot more lazy.

• Always pre-cool your refrigerator before packing the food in. Turn it on 24 hours before you plan to head out on your journey. 
• When you pack, always put COLD food in the unit—it won’t like warm food. That’s especially true for large items. Stuffing in a six-pack of room-temperature cola is sure to lead to disappointment.
• Leave plenty of room around the food inside your refrigerator compartment. A good flow of air is critical. 
• Some RVers have found an after-market device that really helps to keep the breeze blowing inside their RV refrigerator. For about $15 you can buy a FridgeCool unit. A little plastic brick, the FridgeCool is a portable, battery-operated fan unit that keeps the airflow in the reefer compartment moving. It really can make a difference.
• Keep the cold air inside the refrigerator and the warm air outside. Here’s where the door gasket comes in. A worn door gasket can spell real problems—the reefer cooling unit will be working overtime, trying to keep up with an unnecessary load. Open the reefer door and stick a dollar bill against the doorframe edge, with the bill partly hanging out of the cooler box. Close the door and pull on the bill. If George makes an escape without resistance, the door gasket isn’t up to snuff and should be replaced. Don’t worry, Abe can help if George is on vacation.
• Food particles and other gunk stuck on the door gasket or the doorframe can give a false impression on the gasket check. Be sure to clean the gasket and doorframe with soapy water (and an ending rinse) before trying this trick. Be sure to make George work all the way around the doorframe to ensure 100 percent gasket cooperation.
• Keep ‘er level, too: Unlike the home refrigerator driven by a motor and pump, the RV absorption style refrigerator is very much sensitive to gravity. An off-kilter refrigerator is not only inefficient, the effects of operating an RV refrigerator off-level will accumulate and eventually KILL your refrigerator’s cooling unit. Can you say “hundreds of dollars to replace”? Use a round level inside the refrigerator and keep at least a half a bubble inside the center of the bull’s eye.

You’ll have a little topside work to do, too. At roof level, check out the roof vent. RV reefers pump heat out. All that heat has to go somewhere, and that somewhere is up, through a roof vent directly above the reefer. Birds have been known to build nests in roof vents, and obstructions like that will really cut down on cooling efficiency.

As with real estate, “location, location, location” is an RV refrigerator mantra. Is the weather hot? Try to park with the wall area behind your reefer in the shade so your system will have to cope with much less “cooling load.”

Learn about more RV destinations and RV tips on YourRVPodcast with Russ and Tiña De Maris.

photo: public domain image from wikimedia.org