Picked up a dometic acx40g 3 way fridge today, I have never owned one before and wanted to ask how long they take to get cold? Ran it for around an hour on gas to test and although it got colder, it wasn't really cold - also tried it on the mains and again it seemed to be getting colder but not proper cold after an hour or so. Does it need longer to cool? Do I need to try the turn it upside down trick that I've read about as it's been stored over the winter!
Yes, the gas can be turned up and down, but that sets the 'cooling power', not the temperature. (the temperature in the fridge is effectively a combined effect of the outside temperature and the cooling power)
The subtle difference is that in simple terms setting the gas setting to half way might give enough cooling power to keep the fridge below 5 degrees when it's 20 outside, but if it gets colder overnight the fridge will get colder inside. (and vice versa)
When you're on 240v mains you're setting a thermostat so the cooling will switch off when the fridge gets down to the required temperature and switch back on as it warms up.
On gas (or 12v) it'll just keep on cooling and (if the gas is high for the conditions) freezing inside. Nothing to worry about, you just need to tweak the setting if your food is starting to freeze.
I think that a 1hr isn’t a long enough test I would run it for 4hrs or even overnight to give it a fair test. It will probably work better on gas than electricity but does need time to begin to cool.
its very easy to mistake whether a fridge is working or not, the best way is to put some water onto a teaspoon and place it very close to the cooling element inside or if it has a freezer bit then in there, it will freeze it or at least be very cold within the hour, larger amounts of water such as a pop bottle will take a long time to cool down and don't show the effects so quickly in other words I think your expecting a bit much
A 3 way fridge will get colder when operated by gas than it will by 240 volt mains, that's why they advise to switch over to gas in summer when temperatures rocket to 30 degrees plus and the fridge begins to struggle to keep food and drinks cold. However, it does take a few hours for the fridge to get cold but the first place to check is the freezer box because as soon as you touch the surface your fingers start to stick.
Regarding turning the fridge upside down only applies to a domestic fridge as a 3 way fridge is a compressor fridge and functions differently.
Mine only cools the back wall, but if left on overnight at home on electric and filled with already cold beer and bottles of wine, it gets really cold. Anything touching the back wall will freeze if given enough time.
It we are going away on a long trip we often take pre frozen food against the back wall and fill up the rest of the space with perishables.
It stays really cold on 12v on the journey and if staying overnight in a hotel en route, we’ve left it on gas in the back of estate car (not recommended for safety reasons) and everything stays frozen or cold.
Been doing that for years. You need to ventilate the car well and return to 12v before driving off.
Quote: Originally posted by tango55 on 11/4/2019
Regarding turning the fridge upside down only applies to a domestic fridge as a 3 way fridge is a compressor fridge and functions differently.
Huh? Not unless we have different definitions of what 3 way means... I have seen a couple of definitions in my time...
In the case of the OP's fridge, the dometic acx40g, 3 way means that it can be powered in 3 ways (240v, 12v or gas) but regardless of the power source it is an absorption cooling system (i think that's the proper name) and doesn't have a compressor.
The idea of turning the fridge over (in very layman and over-simplified terms as that's about as far as my understanding goes) is that there is a solution in the base of the fridge. Heating that causes the ammonia to separate out from it and rise as a gas , cool a bit, then go into the elements inside the fridge where it reacts with hydrogen causing it to absorb heat. That then drops out of the bottom back into the solution. (I did say over-simplified).
Sometimes, when left for a while, the ammonia can crystallise in the pipes blocking them (or worse, you could get a little rust / corrosion in there) so turning the fridge over causes the solution to wash through the pipes clearing any blockage. This process sounds dodgy (like you're putting the liquid where it shouldn't be) but it is recommended by the manufacturers in the manual so should be OK.
The only bit I'm not entirely clear on from reading forums is that i see comments along the lines of "You're just delaying the problem. All you've done is dislodge the blockage but it'll just flow through the system and bock again". I don't really understand how that can be a problem though for 2 reasons:
Firstly, as far as I understand, the only way anything can get from the reservoir (or percolator?) into the system again is surely by evaporating, so how could a solid move around again?
Secondly (and I'm not as sure on this) - Doesn't the crystallised ammonia dissolve again in the solution once it is heated? (clearly, rust and corrosion won't though)
I haven't needed to turn mine over yet though. The only time I have had problems with it not cooling was when it was not level. They don't like that! A wedge under one side soon sorted that.
I find my one needs a few minutes of 'upside down time' if it's been switched off for a few days or weeks. The coolant circuit apparently gets blocked or partially blocked with sediment and the performance suffers. After that (so far - 5 years and counting) it's been as good as new. You can normally tell within a quarter of an hour or so if it's working properly by feeling the cooling element
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Topic: How long for 3 way fridge to get cold?
via mobile 10/4/2019 at 9:16pm
