I have managed well with the standard absorption fridge over the years but have learned 2 things.
1) Make sure that the rear of the fridge is vented well. The best is when the fridge is mounted outside of a slide so that the vent goes straight up to the roof. This provides a good natural draft. The worst is when the fridge is mounted in a slide and must be vented out the side (like my present unit). This makes venting problematic and at best you need to make sure that everything is kept clean so nothing obstructs the vent (i.e. spider webs, dirt, etc). At worst you may need to add a fan to promote air movement, especially if you are using the fridge in high ambient temperatures.
2) Keep the propane burner clean. On several occasions, I have found that spiders have built their webs in the fire tube which obstructs air flow and reduces efficiency substantially. One time, the webs were all the way up the tube and kept the propane from remaining lit for more than a few seconds before it starved for oxygen. Every year now, I use a compressor to blow air up the fire tube to clean it out.
I have never had a problem with the fridge working when I have been parked off level although knowing how they work, I suspect it is possible when parking it somewhere where you have not levelled it sufficiently for sleeping.
I guess I should have asked how much battery capacity you have, as well?
Very impressed with your ability to live for 100 days/year out of a 3.1 cu foot refrigerator.
We go about 90 days minus an on-grid day or two about every 7-10 days to do laundry, resupply, water, ice, etc. Our 90 days are continuous from late July into October in the West so it's pretty hot conditions. Even with our 6 cu foot absorption fridge, we make regular use of a Coleman Xtreme ice chest for our drinks so we dont open up the fridge for every beer and glass of Sauv Blanc.
We have done this on the group 24 lead-acid battery that came with the unit, if you can believe it. But we dont have a TV.
I am adding a 130w solar panel before this summer and upgrading to a Lifeline 31XT batt. I have a 40 quart (not sure what that is in cu ft) Norcold compressor fridge with the Danfoos compressor that I may use instead of the ice chest this year. But with us living on the road for such a continuous period, I've always felt safe having a low tech back up system like an ice chest.
I have two group 31 AGM batteries.
very easy for the two of us to live out of 3.1 cu ft fridge and we ABSOLUTELY NEVER use coolers or buy ice(too cheap)and have space left over in the fridge.the how to is simple and can be summed up in one word PACKAGING,stay away from bulky items.
we open our frige as often as we want without a second thought ,just like home.
in the past when we owned an absorption fridge we also traveled with a cooler as our fail safe.
very impressed with your ability to travel 90 plus days with only the 1 group 24 battery.is this totally boondocking or mixed in with campgrounds?
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