Refrigerator on battery and propane

Originally posted by Tars Tarkas Unless you have shore power, run the fridge on propane. The propane is what will keep it cold. The fridge has LED indicator lights and a contol board that use battery power even when the fridge is on propane but the battery usage is minute and relatively inconsequential. For dry camping your single 12v battery will last maybe 4 days before needing recharging. If you're going to be out that long you need some kind of plan to recbarge. TT

Originally posted by alan7170 Originally posted by Tars Tarkas Unless you have shore power, run the fridge on propane. The propane is what will keep it cold. The fridge has LED indicator lights and a contol board that use battery power even when the fridge is on propane but the battery usage is minute and relatively inconsequential. For dry camping your single 12v battery will last maybe 4 days before needing recharging. If you're going to be out that long you need some kind of plan to recbarge. TT We have a 177 and I can easily go more than a week dry camping in summer with no recharge...fridge on propane, LED lights, the water pump is infrequent...there is really not much to drain the battery... Alan

We ran the fridge on propane whenever we weren't plugged in and over two weeks, including one night running the furnace, cooking everyday with the stove, and running the water heater a few of the days - we only used $2 of propane.  Not bad for two weeks!  The fridge definitely sips propane.

I have this question, is either one.....gas or shore power any faster at cooling the frig down?

Originally posted by WillThrill Originally posted by Patriot Dave I have this question, is either one.....gas or shore power any faster at cooling the frig down? I don't think it really makes a difference because either way, the ammonia mixture used in lieu of traditional coolant is being heated in order to eventually, through the ammonia absorption process, cool the refrigerator.  Once it's sufficiently heated, I doubt that it would make a difference either way. In my experience, it takes a good 24 hours or so to cool the refrigerator down regardless of whether shore power or propane is being used.

In my experience, propane cools the fridge more quickly and efficiently than 110 volt.  Case in point:  On a recent camping trip, the ambient temp in our camper rose to the high 90s.  I was running the fridge on shore power, set at the coolest setting, but the thermometer inside the fridge was at about 50.  I immediately switched over to propane, and the temp quickly cooled to about 40.

My uneducated theory is that the flame produced by propane is hotter than the heat generated by electricity, thus providing better circulation of the ammonia.