1995 Topaz fridge

Hi. We have only just bought 'Hetty' and love her already. We are going to take our first trip tomorrow. Unfortunately we are struggling with the operation of the fridge. As we only ever intend to run it on electric, we have hooked up to a 240v supply and it works well. So that will be fine when we are on-site. The instructions say that it will run on 12v while the engine is running. So that is fine when we are driving. My question is, what happens to the fridge when you leave the site and drive somewhere and park for a few hours?

I think we all have the same problem, after an hour or more driving, its well cold, park up in a town somewhere & we have to rely on its insulation to keep everything cool. 

 I suppose you COULD if stopping for a few hours, switch the gas on & fire it up  until you set off again.

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. Now we know we haven't read the instructions wrongly, and that was a great help. I am not too keen on turning the gas on as we would have to fiddle about unpacking all the stuff in the cupboard to get to the gas switches, then do it all again to turn it off before we drove off.
I think that if I leave some icepacks frozen in the freezing compartment, that would help keep it cool for a while at least. Thanks again for your help.

why not leave the gas taps on and just turn the gas off at the bottle.we do and have had no problem for the last five years.works well on gas.

fisherman3 wrote:why not leave the gas taps on and just turn the gas off at the bottle.we do and have had no problem for the last five years.works well on gas.

Agree entirely.

Just a few simple rules going from EHU > 12V > Gas > 12V > EHU:

1.  When you disconnect the EHU switch the fridge from 240V (Green Switch) to 12V (Red Switch). (Before you move off, with the engine running, check that the Red Switch is "On" so you know that the 12V system is running.)

2.  When you switch the engine off turn off the Red Switch (12V), turn on the gas at the bottle, turn the gas knob to the "Flame" symbol, depress the knob and switch the Igniter (Amber Switch) to "On".  The light should "flick" on and off as the igniter fires.  When the "flicker" stops it means that the gas flame is lit.  Check that you can see a small blue flame through the viewer in the bottom of the fridge then switch the Igniter to "Off".  (If for any reason the flame ever goes out the Igniter will attempt to re-ignite the flame.  However, without the knob being depressed gas cannot reach the igniter so all it does is time-out or wear itself out trying.)

3.  Before you move off turn the gas knob to the "Circle" (Off) symbol and switch on the 12V supply; then with the engine running, check that the Red Switch is "On" so you know that the 12V system is running.

4.  When you arrive at somewhere with EHU just switch the 12V (Red Switch) off and the 240V (Green Switch) on and check that you have 240V.

Easy, and when you get used to it, you will do it automatically.

Incidentally, your idea of putting freezer blocks in the freezer compartment will definitely help keep the fridge temperature down when the fridge isn't on anything. 

However, it also means that you don't have any ice available for your G&T when you arrive; and I know where my own sympathies lie! 

Hope this helps. 

Best regards,

Thank you all for your advice, it has been very helpful. Short reply as just off to Mablethorpe to try it all out!

I know it doesn't but why isn't there an option for leaving the 12v turned on when parked up for a few hours. I know we can switch the gas on but the 12v would be much simpler,I suppose there must be a reason for it.....cheers...Algy

algy wrote:I know it doesn't but why isn't there an option for leaving the 12v turned on when parked up for a few hours.

Because it's way too easy to trash your leisure battery that way.

It varies by model, but IIRC many of the 3-way fridges take around 6 Amps all the time on 12V. Lead-acid batteries are not good at supplying that sort of load for hours.

The more recent compressor-based fridges can typically be set to run on 12V with the van parked up, but they take significantly less power - and they don't have a gas option as an alternative anyway. They also have a built-in voltage sensor which cuts the fridge if the battery voltage gets too low (so instead of ruining your battery, it ruins your food instead!).

Thanks Mojo, I knew there must be a reason.

Not had our Topaz that long, a year, but found the fridge keeps cool when the van is parked for a while.  We turn the thermostat up to the coldest, leave both red and green switches on so it automatically choses the 12 volt when we are on the road and not had any problems with food, so far!
 

may see you in mablethorpe on tuesday.ours is a rambler gl.

We have just returned from Mablethorpe on our maiden voyage in dear old 'Hetty'. Well we learned a lot, mostly that as we are not exactly skinny people that there is a way of getting around the van without getting stuck belly to belly!
Joking aside, concerning the fridge issue. When we left home I put already frozen ice blocks and a pint of frozen milk in the freezer compartment. We drove the a couple of hours with the 12v light happily on. We then parked for more than a couple of hours, then eventually arrived on site and hooked up. I changed it to 240V. When I opened the fridge the food was still cold and the iceblocks and milk still frozen.
We parked up for 4 hours the next day and it was all still frozen. When we arrived home today, everything was still frozen.
It would seem sensible to turn it on to gas if we were going to leave it any longer than 4 hours though.
Hope you enjoyed Mablethorpe fisherman 3, we did. Thanks again for everyone's help.

we looked round for you but as you know it was pretty busy there ,so no contact.we enjoyed our day thank's.you seem to have got the hang of the fridge.moving round the van ,if we collide it is always my fault according to my wife.im'e sure you will have found this to be the case also. g.