Dometic Absorption Refrigerator RM 2350 in a 12' jayco starcraft.

Boo Boo,
they are slow on both 240 volts and 12 volts. I used to pull mine down on 240 volts before leaving, then use 12 when travelling. I noticed the 12 volt fuse carrier was hot and when I measured the current it was 16 amps.

I then decided to pull it out and install an Engel 12/240 volt of the same size. When removing the top Dometic vent I noticed it was starting to melt from the heat of the gas exhaust.

Have a good trip.

Most of these fridges are not installed to the manufacturers instructions.

Most Van Makers leave a pocket of air above the fridge where all the heat from the heating unit gathers, this causes the heat you felt.

It can be removed by running a computer style fan to extract the hot air via the top vent.

These fridges are not as efficient on 12 volts and generally 12 volts is only good for keeping the fridge cool whilst traveling rather than trying to cool it down.

Having said that if you can, check the voltage at the fridge whilst it is on 12 volts and see what voltage is being delivered to it. You may find it isn't getting high enough voltage to work effectively.

You should have around 12 to 12.5 volts minimum. If you haven't it is probably the size of the wires from the battery to the fridge.

Hello Boo Boo
I have a 12' Jayco Expanda fitted with that fridge. If you remove the rear top fridge vent you will find an air gap over the top of the fridge where hot air is collecting. Stuff the gap with insulation batt taking care not to interupt the hot air flow from the condenser on the rear of the fridge up & out the top vent.
As for the fridge 12 volt operation you may want to look at how the 12 volt is wired through you tow vehicle to the auxilary pin at the tailer socket. If its just regular thin auto wire then you may want to upgrade to thicker wire fused direct from the battery through a suitable relay tied to the ignition circuit. See an auto electrician.
Regards: Grant

My 3 way fridge has a label on the inside of the door stating that on 240V the power is 175 Watts and on 12V it is 125 Watts. 12V operation is only meant for keeping things cool while you are travelling.

I replaced my 3 way fridge with a 12V/240V compressor fridge.

I had a problem with my absorption fridge in hot weather and also if you stop to visit a museum for a couple of hours the 3 way fridge will switch off when the vehicle engine stops; that is unless you have one of the new 3 way smart fridges that change over to gas if other sources of power are not provided.

OK, I just took both vents off the back of the fridge.

At the top I can see the underside of the flat part of the sink. The only insulation was on top of the fridge, none above the black fins.

I also noted a black pipe with a 'T' bit on top. It was just sitting there, then I noticed it looked as though it would fit into the pipe going out the vent. It did so I pushed it into the 'vent' pipe.

I don't think it will solve the problem so I'll see if I can get a batt from a building site.

Next weekend I'll see if I can get the fan and parts from Toowooba and install that.

I'll keep you posted.

Boo Boo,
These fridges usually run better on gas, so if you are not connected to 240v and are stopped I strongly reccomend tahat you run the fridge on gas.
As said above start the fridge at least 24hrs before you want to use it and try to allways stack it with cold contents if you can.
These 3 way fridges are by no means the best performers but with adequate ventilation as said above and a little care they will do the job.