10 Essential Tips to Keep Your RV Fridge Cool in Hot Weather

RV Life

Your RV fridge has a very important job to do. After all, you can’t eat certain foods that haven’t been kept cold enough, and nobody wants to drink warm soda or beer.

Unfortunately, we have had our fair share of refrigerator problems while traveling full time. The good news? We’ve also learned a lot about how to keep an absorption RV refrigerator running smoothly.

Give it Time to Cool Down

It’s important to note that an RV fridge does take some time to cool down, especially in hot weather. If you turn your fridge off between trips, make sure you turn it on a day or two before each getaway. That will ensure it is totally cooled down for your camping adventures.

Fill with Cold Foods

Once your fridge is cooled down, you can add food. If you want to make sure the refrigerator stays cold, try adding only pre-chilled foods and drinks. This reduces the amount of work the RV fridge has to do. And that’s something that will be especially helpful to the appliance in the heat of summer.

Don’t Fill it Too Full

Another thing to keep in mind when filling your RV fridge? Filling it too full can actually make it difficult for the fridge to keep up. Cold air can’t circulate well if every inch of the appliance is stuffed full. So, you should leave a little space between things for that chilly air to reach every item in the refrigerator.

This can be an issue for us when we are headed somewhere without many grocery stores, but we make do by buying more canned goods and dry goods.

Park on a Level Surface

Because of the way an RV fridge works, it will run best when level. Parking on an unlevel surface could actually damage the unit and might even cause it to stop working entirely. Make sure you pack some leveling blocks and try to pick campsites that are relatively level in order to keep your fridge running smoothly.

We’ve been in campsites that required us to use two packs of leveling blocks, and while it wasn’t fun getting set up, it was worth it to be comfortable and keep our fridge up and running.

Park in the Shade

Another important factor to consider when parking your rig in hot weather? Shade. It seems obvious to say, but shade can make an enormous difference when it comes to keeping your rig comfortably cool during the summer. Not only that, but the slightly lower temperature helps your refrigerator keep up. For this reason, if your RV fridge is having trouble, parking in the shade is a must.

Keep it Shut

Obviously, allowing cold air to escape the fridge (and warm air to get inside) is going to slow down the efficiency of the appliance. It might even mean the fridge can’t keep up if the weather is super hot. Fortunately, as long as the fridge seal is good, you can avoid this problem by only opening the door when absolutely necessary. Knowing what you need before you open the fridge and getting everything you need out at once can help a lot.

Check the Seal

We mentioned the fridge seal above. Unfortunately, the seals around the doors of RV refrigerators have a tendency to get worn out. A squished, cracking, or out-of-place seal can allow cold air to escape and hot air to enter the unit, leading to a fridge that simply cannot stay cool in hot weather.

If your seal looks less than awesome and your RV fridge isn’t staying cool, you might need to replace the seal. This is relatively easy to do as long as you have a bit of patience.

The video below can help with this process.

Thaw it Out

As full time RVers, we run our RV fridge constantly. Eventually, this leads to a buildup of ice on the fins, and after a while this buildup can get so thick that the refrigerator is no longer able to cool as well.

Fortunately, it’s super easy to solve this problem. Simply turn off the fridge and let the ice melt away, making sure to clean up the water that collects in the bottom of the fridge and freezer before it overflows onto the floor. To speed the process up, use a hair dryer.

Check for Obstructions

Your fridge vents are there for a reason. The appliance really needs to be able to breathe in order to work properly. Unfortunately, debris can get into the vents, causing obstructions and leading to an RV fridge that can’t keep food cold enough.

For this reason, it’s a good idea to check your fridge vents at the beginning and end of each camping season. Additionally, if you notice the fridge isn’t working as well as usual, the vents should be one of the first things you check.

Install a Fan

If you’ve tried all of the suggestions above and your RV fridge still isn’t able to get ahead of the heat, it might be time to give the appliance a bit of an upgrade. This is where an additional fan comes into play.

Some choose to install fans behind the fridge to help pull hot air away from the fridge. That said, little fans that are installed inside the fridge are much easier to deal with and work almost as well.

The video below is a good example of how to install an interior fridge fan.

The tips above should ensure your RV fridge stays up and running smoothly even in the hottest weather, allowing you to focus less on how cold your food is and more on having an amazing time. Happy camping!