From: John De Armond
Subject: Re: Non-absorption Refrigeration
Message-ID: <38A90353.21C31126@bellsouth.net>
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2000 02:42:20 EST
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel

Chris Bryant wrote:
 
>         For travel rigs, I'm generally against standard household
> refrigerators, but.. if a person does want to use one, carefully
> inspect all of the tubing and compressor mounts- try shaking the whole
> thing.
>         If you find any refrigerant tubing that can vibrate or rub
> against something, either wire tie it, or put some sort of insulation
> on it to dampen the vibrations.
>         Another point of concern is the compressor- usually for sound
> suppression, the compressor will have very pliable mounts- you may
> need to limit the movement of the compressor to avoid failure of the
> tubing leading to and from the compressor.
> 
>         Also- look for a model with the condenser tubing/fins on the
> back, and not the bottom of the unit. Both G.E. and Sanyo make
> correctly sized units (50 some inches high, and 23 inches wide).
> 
>         Again- I'm all for standard units for permanent set up's, but
> against them for travel- but, YMMV...

Excellent advice. I'll add one more thing to be aware of.  Many
(most?) compressors are internally spring mounted in addition to the
external mounts.  In most instances, the high pressure line (the low
pressure side is usually the case) makes a couple of coils for
vibration isolation before attaching to the compressor housing
exhaust port.  This coil of tubing, nor the internal mounts are
really designed for much external vibration.  If the tube cracks or
the spring mounts fail, it's new compressor time.  Interstate travel
in most places will probably be OK but I'd not want to rely on a
domestic 'fridge if I planned to spend much time in the mountains or
on the intestates up north where the potholes are as large as
bulldozers.  

I think I lost a freezer to just this in one of my catering trucks. 
Compressor ran, made some compression but would not circulate
refrigerant.  Not sure because I ultimately drove the truck to the
dump and pushed the freezer out the back :-)

If you jar the 'fridge fairly firmly and hear something clang inside
the compressor housing, then the compressor is a candidate for this
type of failure.

John