Follow-up to my frozen refrigerator....

[cannesdo]

Hey folks...13 years ago my fridge froze during an arctic blast while I was wintering in Montana. I had heard that if you turn it upside down to remix the chemicals it would fire up again. I posted my play-by-play here and had one heckler who said it would never work. I dragged it out by myself (all 120 lbs of me), tilted it up...and it restarted. And now, 13 years later it's still working. Never had another problem with it.

Viva la tilt!

[CharlesinGA]

BobsYourUncle wrote:

CharlesinGA wrote:
So how cold does it have to get to for it to freeze and needing this done? Never read of this before. Inquiring minds want to know.

Charles

Well Charles, chances are you will never have to worry about it. Not sure how cold it gets in Atlanta, but nothing like in the frozen north!!

When I had the issues with mine, I was FT in my 3 season TT.

Temperatures dropped into the minus 30's C for an extended time. I was blowing through a 30 pounder every 2-3 days just trying to stay warm. When the temperatures got into the minus 30s, propane flow slows down and I had to put a heating pad in there with my bottles. Before I did that my furnace ceased to function. No gas, no heat. Then the fridge quit at about minus 33 or so. I bought a 110V bar fridge to use until spring.

When I was running constantly between minus 25 to -30, it wasn't a problem. Get over -30 C and things start to slow down. After I took my fridge for an end over end walk and revived it, I put a 100W light bulb in the back of it to warm it a bit. It worked. Got that idea from Don in Regina. (Pianotuna) Thanks Don.

Now ask me about frozen pipes.... That's another story.

Well I have a heated shop that the trailer would normally belong in, but I got this other one I need to get motivated on and finish replacing rotted wood and get it together and sold, It is a decent trailer otherwise, and I replaced the roof, but it is in the shop as it is opened up, and cannot go outside. The GOOD trailer is sitting under a cover outside (isn't that how it always works?).

The coldest I have ever seen here where I am now (since '94) is zero. Of course that was the day my heat pump's outside fan motor decided to take a trip south. I had to replace the blower motor outside with a torpedo heater blowing on me. The heat pump was actually producing at that temp as the house temp was being maintained (with the assistance of the back up elements) but with only the back up elements the house was slowly cooling off.

Yes, blocking off vents and installing a 100 watt light bulb (I have a couple of packs of them stashed away) would probably do the trick.

Charles

[mchero]

I have a Norcold 2door that has been thru 3 New Hampshire winters. During the winters I ran it on electric. Just before the first freeze I would pull the cover and using aluminum tape I would tape all vent holes. I'd leave about 2 inches open for air. Never a problem up to 10 below. Lower than that? Not sure.
My hot water heater;
I'd pull the baffle at the top of the draft tube and still rags in the tube. Pull igniter lead from control board and stuff insulation between water heater and outer cover. Ran it on electric.

[cannesdo]

CharlesinGA wrote:
So how cold does it have to get to for it to freeze and needing this done? Never read of this before. Inquiring minds want to know.

Charles

Yeah, this happened the first year in my rig. I wintered in MT to test the 4 seasons claim. lol...And dang...did I ever get a lesson in cold weather living -- and my electrical system. It took a few storms to freeze but at some point during an extended cold snap (about zero) I've since learned what another poster mentioned, to keep a light bulb on in the compartment but I had no clue then.

It was interesting that every fridge in the park froze *except* the guy whose furnace was right under this refrigerator. Something to think about if you're buying an RV.

I was determined and slid it out on to a crate filled with magazines by myself (they look so much bigger when you have to move them). From there I slid it down onto a few towels. The funny part was when I was trying to get it back in and enlisted the help of a neighbor who delivered FedEx Freight for a living. He got under one side and I got under the other and we lifted.....Got it one inch off the floor and dropped it back and down and he stands up and says, "How the *hell* did you get that thing out of there???!" We really struggled to get it back in but I guess I had the help of gravity on the removal.

[lwbfl]

CharlesinGA wrote:
So how cold does it have to get to for it to freeze and needing this done? Never read of this before. Inquiring minds want to know.

Charles

It also happens when it simply sits too long. When I bought a used 1980 Minni Winnie, the fridge wouldn't cool even though the eclectic and propane functions were heating properly. I read about that fix here on this forum and gave it a try. It worked great for about 30 minutes and then I noticed a very strong odor of ammonia. Yep, once I got it circulating again I found the weak areas of the tubing! All of this in Florida where even record cold snaps aren't cold enough to freeze much of anything but water.

[BobsYourUncle]

CharlesinGA wrote:
So how cold does it have to get to for it to freeze and needing this done? Never read of this before. Inquiring minds want to know.

Charles

Well Charles, chances are you will never have to worry about it. Not sure how cold it gets in Atlanta, but nothing like in the frozen north!!

When I had the issues with mine, I was FT in my 3 season TT.

Temperatures dropped into the minus 30's C for an extended time. I was blowing through a 30 pounder every 2-3 days just trying to stay warm. When the temperatures got into the minus 30s, propane flow slows down and I had to put a heating pad in there with my bottles. Before I did that my furnace ceased to function. No gas, no heat. Then the fridge quit at about minus 33 or so. I bought a 110V bar fridge to use until spring.

When I was running constantly between minus 25 to -30, it wasn't a problem. Get over -30 C and things start to slow down. After I took my fridge for an end over end walk and revived it, I put a 100W light bulb in the back of it to warm it a bit. It worked. Got that idea from Don in Regina. (Pianotuna) Thanks Don.

Now ask me about frozen pipes.... That's another story.

[CharlesinGA]

So how cold does it have to get to for it to freeze and needing this done? Never read of this before. Inquiring minds want to know.

Charles

[BobsYourUncle]

RobWNY wrote:
Someone help me out. I can't remember what CRS means. I'm also too broke to Pay Attention.

Can't Remember Sh..... uh, stuff..

[rexlion]

Chronic RhinoSinusitis 😄

[RobWNY]

Someone help me out. I can't remember what CRS means. I'm also too broke to Pay Attention.

[prichardson]

Back in the day when absorption refrigerators were common in homes, that was a standard fix when they got out of kilter.

[BobsYourUncle]

Yes it does work for some of us.

I too did the same thing as you and got my fridge back. It worked ever since. Always a naysayer out there who would rather not try some oddball fix.

It doesnt always work but why not try it? It's free!

Jerry, I have CRS, but at least I remember my fridge fix! :B

[MFL]

That is great, that your fridge still works! It is nice to get an update of a problem solved. Sorry to say, that waiting 13 years, to give an update, may be too late for the thread responders. The ones still alive, likely stricken with CRS.

Still, good to know that a revived fridge is still going.

Jerry

[gbopp]

When it's not working and you're out of options, you had nothing to lose.
It solved your problem!
Thanks for the update.