Fridge not cooling in cold weather ?

[Aoife T]

We have noticed that in very cold weather (below 2/3 degrees) our fridge seems to think it’s cold and stops cooling, we suspect the cold is comming through the vans side and upsetting the thermostat ?
Has anyone else had this issue and if so found a solution ?

 

[GrannyJen]

Yes.

The fridge only cools to a point below the ambient temperature.

If the ambient temperature is quite cold, and you set you fridge to be quite cold, say level 4, then it does not bother switching on. Why should it?

You could try switching it to max in which case everything freezes up after about 12 hours. Who wants frozen milk to try and pour into their coffee? Sort of defeats the object.

 

[WelshGas]

We have noticed that in very cold weather (below 2/3 degrees) our fridge seems to think it’s cold and stops cooling, we suspect the cold is comming through the vans side and upsetting the thermostat ?
Has anyone else had this issue and if so found a solution ?

Have you checked the temperature within the Fridge, using a Fridge Thermometer?
As @GrannyJen has said, if the inside temperature is already at the set temperature then the fridge has no reason to switch on. This is normal.

 

[Aoife T]

Thanks Granny Jen and Welsh Gas, our problem is that when the interior of the van is heated to a comfortable level but the outside temperature is low the fridge switches off and is not cold enough to keep food chilled adequately, we were wondering is the thermostat behind the fridge and reading the outside temperature not the the interior, we were wondering could we try put insulation between the rear of the fridge and van exterior bodywork if we could get at it ( maybe through the press ?) so the thermostat might work from the interior van temperature more effectively, otherwise I suppose it’s a case of setting 6 as Granny Jen suggests.

 

[bigmac77]

I have found the same thing, try opening the left hand side kitchen cupboard door and removing the round plastic disc in the bottom left of the cupboard this should let warmth into the area where the fridge stat is and it works for me. However if it doesn’t work try running fridge on max for half an hour every few hours it will cool it down but won’t freeze everything.

 

[bvddobb]

The fridge thermostat doesn't measure the outside temperature, it has a thermostat inside, to measure the inside temperature. That can be 'clogged' if e.g. if the fridge is packed too densely, and stuff is covering the thermostat.

The german Caliboard webshop sells a little coolbox optimisation thingy that you can place over the inside thermostat, to avoid this:

The Dutch VW Campershop sell little rosters for inside the fridge to much the same effect:

What you're describing, @bigmac77, is something different. If the compressor can't loose its warmth, the fridge will switch off. That's a safety measure. By opening the little round plastic disc, it will loose its warmth more easily into the cupboard. I have seen people, who travel mainly in the Mediterranean region in summer, fit a computer fan into that hole!

 

[Richard Hurst]

Was going to start a new thread to ask this very question. Glad I had a read first. Couldn't get my fridge on this morning at level 4 but fine at 5 and 6 and thought it might be a temperature thing.