Why isn't your three-way fridge getting cold enough on gas?

If your three-way fridge isn’t cooling enough, some potential causes could be: Low gas pressure — inspect your LPG level and ensure the bottle is correctly connected, as a low level of gas can impact your fridge’s performance An unlevel surface — three-way fridges rely on gravity to work correctly, so it’s important to park your campervan or motorhome on flat land Insufficient ventilation — blockages in the flue or vents will inhibit heat dissipation Wrong temperature setting — check inside your fridge and adjust to a cooler level. Check out our guide to motorhome fridges and coolers.

Keeping your beer cold on a campervan road trip

After a long drive in the summer heat, there’s arguably nothing worse than arriving at your freedom camping spot to find a fridge stocked with warm beer.

One of the greatest joys of living the motorhome lifestyle is the convenience of having everything you need at hand — including a couple of cold ones to relax at your destination.

Beer in RV fridge with view of ocean

In this fun blog, we offer advice on preparing and optimising your fridge for travel. We also discuss how to prevent your beer from getting warm and manage power to keep your fridge working well. Plus, we look at keeping your fridge cold when freedom camping off-grid.

Contents

Prepare your fridge before hitting the road
Optimise the fridge to keep your food and drinks cool
Prevent your beer from getting warm while driving
Tips for keeping your beer cold while freedom camping
FAQs about cooling drinks and food in your motorhome

Prepare your fridge before hitting the road

Like any motorhome adventure, preparation beforehand is the key to ensuring a smooth operation. The right prep will also help ensure your beer (and wine) stays refreshingly cold throughout your journey.

Know your motorhome fridge type

Firstly, it’s important to understand that not all motorhome fridges are created equal.

Absorption fridges

In your recreational vehicle, you may have an absorption fridge which will:

Require plenty of time to cool down and reach its optimum temperature
Have to be perfectly level — for the coolant to circulate properly and enable it to perform at its best
Run on multiple power sources — 240 volt (V) mains power, 12V battery power and gas.

Also known as a three-way fridge, your absorption fridge will initially cool down faster on 240V mains power. Ensure the ventilation works correctly because proper ventilation is essential when running it on gas.

Compressor fridges

If your motorhome features a compressor fridge, it will:

Cool down a lot faster than an absorption fridge
Run highly efficiently on 12V power — but also work with 240V mains power
Make levelling less of a worry — because it uses a compressor like your fridge at home and doesn’t operate on gas.

Compressor fridges are more forgiving when it comes to levelling. Unlike absorption fridges, which rely on gravity for proper gas operation, a compressor fridge uses a pump that makes it less sensitive to being slightly off-level.

However, parking your motorhome on a relatively level surface is still good practice for stability and comfort.

Find out more about motorhome fridges and coolers.

Pre-chill the motorhome fridge

Timing is everything when it comes to pre-chilling the fridge in your RV. With a little trial and error, you’ll figure out exactly how many hours your specific fridge needs to reach the desired coolness.

Carado v600-fridge open

If you have a compressor fridge, you’ll probably only have to cool it down for four to six hours to reach its ideal chill — assuming it's starting at room temperature.

Absorption fridges require longer periods to cool. Plan to chill your motorhome absorption fridge overnight or for 24 hours. Then, your fridge will have ample time to get to its optimal cooling temperature.

Take into account a few factors that can influence the time it takes your fridge to pre-chill, such as:

Size — a bigger fridge will usually take longer than a smaller one
Efficiency — the cooling speed will probably depend on the model of your fridge and its age
Ambient temperature — hotter days and more humid nights may slow down the cooling process
Contents — an almost empty RV fridge will chill faster than a full one.

We normally plug all our motorhomes into power the night before they go on hire. A fridge running on gas or electricity will take at least a couple of hours to get cold. The freezer will always start cooling first — as that is the primary function of the appliance.

Dale McLeish — Wilderness’ Workshop Leader

Limit the contents inside your fridge

Consider how many nights you intend to freedom camp without access to mains power. If you can, buy groceries that need refrigerating on your journey — so your motorhome fridge stays uncrowded and has more time to chill.

However, if you’ve already bought dinner items, think carefully about which ones really need to go in the fridge. One motorhome food storage solution is to keep eggs, tomatoes, fruit and even aged cheeses out of the refrigerator. They take up valuable chilled space but don’t need to be in there.

Motorhome fridge open with food inside

Since beer and wine are among the most important items to keep cold, allow space in your fridge for a few six packs or bottles. Also, avoid stocking it with warm foods — as they force the refrigerator to work harder.

Air needs to be able to circulate inside your RV fridge, so overfilling it will make the chilling process less efficient.

To add or make ice?

You may want to have ice available on your travels. Rather than force your motorhome freezer to use valuable energy making ice, add some ice to it before heading off. You could grab some from your home freezer or buy a bag of ice on the road.

Another option is to pre-freeze a container of water, place it inside your motorhome fridge to help keep it cool — and use it for cold drinks as it melts.

Optimise the fridge to keep your food and drinks cool

Drinking beer in camping chairs

Pre-chilling before setting off is vitally important, as mentioned earlier, but finding the optimal temperature for your beer and other refrigerated items while camping off-grid is also essential. Discovering that optimum will help your fridge use the least energy yet run more efficiently.

Even the most advanced fridge needs a little assistance to work optimally — especially if it’s doing its job in a motorhome environment. A few easy ways you can optimise your RV fridge include:

Stocking wisely — jamming everything in hinders air circulation and makes it more challenging to get a consistent temperature, while keeping it empty doesn’t retain the cold as effectively
Creating space — avoid blocking vents and airflow paths inside and around your fridge
Controlling the temperature — a good starting point is four degrees Celsius as it strikes a balance between efficiency, food safety and keeping your beer cool
Monitoring the actual temperature inside your RV fridge — by placing a digital fridge thermometer in the centre of your appliance.

To optimise your motorhome fridge, familiarise yourself with its settings and features. Some fridge models have different energy-saving modes or cooling zones, so read through your appliance’s manual for recommendations specific to the model of your fridge.

Can of beer cooling by a river

Plan B — the river stream chill

Your freedom camping location will often be next to a water source — a river, lake or sea. If your motorhome fridge fails to keep your beverages cold, find a safe water spot among rocks where they can be submerged and cooled down. Consider placing them in a mesh or waterproof bag to keep them together.

Be sure to respect the environment by not polluting the waterway and taking all your empties with you — leaving only footprints.

Prevent your beer from getting warm while driving

Refrigerators are designed to keep the heat out even when they aren't running. As long as your motorhome fridge draws energy from the habitation battery while driving, your beer won’t get warm. However, you can take a few steps to improve your fridge’s cooling efficiency while driving.

Cheers with beer in front of RV

The middle shelves in a fridge are often considered the sweet spot for consistent cooling, but it's worth getting to know your fridge’s model and unique cold spots. You could use a fridge thermometer to identify the coldest areas — then adjust your storage strategy accordingly.

Review your fridge’s instruction manual to see if it features a max or boost setting. Switching it on before driving may help maintain your beer’s coldness en route to your camping spot.

Before hitting the road, check whether your fridge automatically switches to 12V battery power or requires manual selection. If it's manual, switch it to 12V before starting your journey — to help keep those drinks cool on the road.

Check out our blog about charging a motorhome battery.

Tips for keeping your beer cold while freedom camping

Ensuring your drinks remain chilled when off the national grid can be challenging. Knowing some off-grid refrigeration techniques can help ensure your beverages stay refreshingly chilled — without the luxury of plugging into mains power.

A few motorhome refrigeration tips to put to use while freedom camping in your motorhome include:

Limiting fridge traffic — opening the door regularly lets cold air escape, but opening it once to take out everything you need for a meal helps minimise this issue

Parking strategically — park in a shady spot to help reduce your fridge’s workload

To park in shade or sunlight?

If you have solar panels on your recreational vehicle, it's tempting to park in full sun. However, your fridge will benefit from shade, so try to find a balance. A partially shady spot will allow your panels to soak up the sun’s rays while keeping your motorhome cool inside.

Monitoring LPG levels — should your gas run out while freedom camping, your fridge may switch to 12V battery power and begin draining it
Carrying a lightweight, collapsible cooler like the Pavillo Quellor Cooler Bag — fill it with beers and some ice at your freedom camp to avoid constantly opening the fridge

The old school cooler backup

In days gone by, camping in a tent or even under the stars involved novel ways of keeping your beer cool. One method was to freeze plastic bottles of water in the campground kitchen fridge — then transfer them to your campsite chilly bin once frozen.

If you don’t have complete faith in your RV fridge’s ability to keep drinks cold, consider storing a few small water bottles in your motorhome’s freezer. Carry a collapsible cooler bag, and if your fridge unexpectedly warms up, place the frozen water bottles and drinks inside it.

Ventilating — this is especially important in summer and when parked in direct sunlight to keep the interior of your motorhome cooler
Having a mobile RV technician’s contact details available — in case you have a significant fridge issue.

It’s difficult to find fridge repair agents in some areas of the South Island. In Christchurch, I’d use Design Coach & Body. The city also has a mobile service agent — Canfix.

Dale McLeish

Employing just some of these tips will help make your fridge a beacon of cool efficiency in New Zealand’s wilderness.

FAQs about cooling drinks and food in your motorhome

If your three-way fridge isn’t cooling enough, some potential causes could be:

Low gas pressure — inspect your LPG level and ensure the bottle is correctly connected, as a low level of gas can impact your fridge’s performance
An unlevel surface — three-way fridges rely on gravity to work correctly, so it’s important to park your campervan or motorhome on flat land
Insufficient ventilation — blockages in the flue or vents will inhibit heat dissipation
Wrong temperature setting — check inside your fridge and adjust to a cooler level.

Check out our guide to motorhome fridges and coolers.

Yes. Optimise your fridge by pre-chilling before you take off on holiday. While camping set the right temperature for your RV fridge and try to minimise door openings. If you have solar panels, park in the partial shade to harness the sun’s energy. Consider carrying a collapsible cooler bag to reduce how often you use the fridge.

Take a look at our guide on motorhome fridges and coolers.

Yes. Solar panels work by recharging your habitation battery, which provides power to your motorhome fridge and keeps it cool while camping away from mains power. The solar energy can also filter through your battery to a 12V fan in your motorhome, helping to cool down the interior.

Find out about buying a used motorhome with solar panels and the benefits of using a solar system.

If you pack a lightweight, collapsible cooler bag or chilly bin in your motorhome, it may become your best mate. Half-fill it with ice and transfer your beer into the cooler — then, keep it in the shade.

Alternatively, a nearby water source like a stream, river, lake or estuary is ideal for submerging your drinks. Place them in a waterproof container or bag so they don’t drift away. Better yet, get to know your camp neighbours and ask if they have any spare room in their fridge.

See our guide on motorhome fridges and coolers to learn about the different types of cooling systems and how they work.

It depends on the size of your 12V habitation battery, the efficiency of your fridge and even your driving style. A larger battery will store more energy. If your fridge is relatively new, it’ll likely need less power to keep your food and drink cool than an older one. Open road cruising will recharge your battery more effectively while driving at slower speeds or in a stop-start manner.

Ultimately, you’re unlikely to have an issue keeping the fridge running while driving because your engine acts like a mini power station. When your motorhome engine’s going, the alternator is constantly generating energy that’s used to recharge your habitation battery — providing a consistent power source for your fridge on the road.

Discover how to charge a motorhome battery and about freedom camping for longer with lithium batteries. Also, see our guide to powering your motorhome with 12V batteries.

Nobody likes warm beer, so preparing and optimising your fridge is essential for keeping it chilled and working well — especially when freedom camping.

Check out our helpful checklist to help get your motorhome ready for summer road trips.

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How to Keep Beer Cold in Your Motorhome