Hi all.. I'm new here but recently picked up a new-to-me ARB 63 Qt fridge/freezer. It seems to work but I've not really used it yet outside of my home environment (high desert in the Los Angeles area) where it's generally about 100F daily in the summer.
The thing that messes with my brain is that when there's nothing in it, the display reads one temp reading and my digital thermometer that is hanging off the basket claims a rather different number and I tend to trust it better. Sometimes the two pretty much jive but other times they're 5F different. I put in a Camco fridge fan earlier today and that seems to be helping I believe but should I even be taking these numbers to heart with the fridge completely empty or wait until it's jammed with food before taking the readings seriously? I've monkeyed with the calibration thing and have it +4F (or is that +4C?) on the display and that seems to make the numbers generally closer together.
One odd observation which I assume it just normal behavior is that if I set the desired temp to say 30F, it shoots past that and eventually shuts off and then the temp rises sometimes above that perhaps to something like 34-36 before the compressor kicks in again. Right now I have it set at 30F and its currently displaying 29F and still going colder (the digital fridge thermo from my kitchen fridge is showing 25 at this time too). Eventually it shutoff at 27F (my other thermo still claims 25).. Is this normal?
Also, I'm not planning on putting any ice in there but gather that some people might to perhaps buffer things a bit.. Anyway, I'm leaving tomorrow morning for my first real use of this thing and I guess I'm looking at trying to figure out the best way to get the most out of it and not over analyze it too much, etc..
No, I don't believe any mods have been done to this one -- I do plan to do the different mods posted elsewhere here including insulating the shelf, but it will have to wait til I get back as I just don't have the time to tackle that right now.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts/suggestions!
The thing that messes with my brain is that when there's nothing in it, the display reads one temp reading and my digital thermometer that is hanging off the basket claims a rather different number and I tend to trust it better. Sometimes the two pretty much jive but other times they're 5F different. I put in a Camco fridge fan earlier today and that seems to be helping I believe but should I even be taking these numbers to heart with the fridge completely empty or wait until it's jammed with food before taking the readings seriously? I've monkeyed with the calibration thing and have it +4F (or is that +4C?) on the display and that seems to make the numbers generally closer together.
One odd observation which I assume it just normal behavior is that if I set the desired temp to say 30F, it shoots past that and eventually shuts off and then the temp rises sometimes above that perhaps to something like 34-36 before the compressor kicks in again. Right now I have it set at 30F and its currently displaying 29F and still going colder (the digital fridge thermo from my kitchen fridge is showing 25 at this time too). Eventually it shutoff at 27F (my other thermo still claims 25).. Is this normal?
Also, I'm not planning on putting any ice in there but gather that some people might to perhaps buffer things a bit.. Anyway, I'm leaving tomorrow morning for my first real use of this thing and I guess I'm looking at trying to figure out the best way to get the most out of it and not over analyze it too much, etc..
No, I don't believe any mods have been done to this one -- I do plan to do the different mods posted elsewhere here including insulating the shelf, but it will have to wait til I get back as I just don't have the time to tackle that right now.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts/suggestions!
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