Starcraft RV Owners Forum

Thanks for the motivation. After replacing the batteries one time, of course at the worst time, I was over it.

Ordered a 12v fan on Amazon

While camping in Florida over the winter, I got tired of replacing the D cells in our little frig circulating fan. So, I went to the local electronics store and bought a 12V equipment cooling fan. It's about 4". I used plastic ties to strap it to the wire shelf facing the cooling fins. I got 12V to it by running a wire through the drain tube out into the frig's exterior control panel.

Besides not having to buy batteries every couple weeks, here's what really amazed me - the cooling fins no longer iced up and there was never any water in the trough below the fins - ever. And that was after several months. Plus we had to keep the frig set 2 numbers lower to keep from freezing food in the frig compartment. A strong fan blowing on the fins really makes a big difference.

By the way, the new fan draws 150 milliamps, so not too bad at all.

A small recirculating fan placed in the bottom will do wonders for your fridge. The fan will help maintain even cooling.

Thank you, everyone! Great advice. The ice bag sounds like a good solution. We switched to gas and it cooled right down, then back to electric and it was fine! Now we are having icing/condensation issues. It's dripping down by the baseboard slightly- but only occasionally. Seems as though it's when we aren't opening it, it gets too cold, ices up, then drips. Anyone else have this issue?

Good advice moallen we do the same but we use bag ice which we later use for drinks.

I discovered several campers ago that gas works way quicker than electric to get the refrig cooled down. Electric can take all day. Gas will also make the refrig work better in really hot weather. I imagine many people use electric to save their gas, but I've found the refrig actually uses very little gas.

My routine: 1st thing at storage set the refrig on high setting with 5 sealed ice blocks (also battery operated interior fan) on gas, remove tire covers, hookup hitch, etc, etc. and pull it back to our condo. All of that takes about 1 1/2 hours. By the time I get back, the refrig is down to 38 degrees or so. We load it with food right out of our home refrig and freezer. We leave it running on gas all the way to wherever we are camping before switching it over to electric. Have done this for years with 3 different campers.

I keep a close eye on the temp inside the refrig while camping. I've never seen one that is able to hold a steady temp like a home refrig. But a home refrig doesn't have all the variables in a camper. If it can't keep up on electric due to the heat, I switch to gas and it has never failed to stay cool.

Did you get it working?
If not are you connected to 110ac and have your checked the breakers.

What they said plus

To speed cooling, we put a ten pound bag of ice in the freezer

Those DC battery powered fans really help too

Takes atleast 24 hours to cool down.

A few hours may not have been enough time.

These RV fridges actually cool slower on electric then on gas.

When we are preparing for a trip, we actually leave the fridge on for 48 hours on electric to let it cool down. If you were opening the door and checking, that will also kill the cool down.

Keep in mind, these are not like household fridges. There is no fan that pushes the air around for it to cool faster. It just takes a lot of time.