Saturday (6) - Today was a short driving day though NM seems to have some of the worst roads anywhere. Narrow, potholes, tons of construction zones with no activity.
We are staying at what used to be a work camp north of town. It’s more challenging to find places to stay during a weekend especially one that borders on Spring Break. After finding a place to stay in the Carlsbad area, Bridget looked up the caverns. To visit Carlsbad Caverns, you need to make a reservation for a specific date and time. Sunday was already sold out so our appointment is on Monday morning.
The road into the RV park was pretty dusty and it shows it on the car. We haven’t washed it in a while. Maybe tomorrow before the ham radio test session.
Sunday (7) - The "project of the day" was defrosting the refrigerator so I could install this fan unit. It blows into the fins to both circulate the air in the refrigerator for more even cooling and help minimize frost buildup. The last couple of months in the humidity of southern Texas caused the fins to build up ice and frost much faster than normal. The fans run off of 12VDC which I got from the interior light. The air circulation was really needed. Produce wasn't lasting as long as it had in the past and there was occasionally water in the produce drawers.
The picture is the cooling fins at the back of the absorption refrigerator. The get cold and this cools the inside of the refrigerator. The freezer doesn’t have similar fins but the entire back wall of the freezer is a metal plate that gets cold. Typically under 10°F. And, after this defrosting exercise, the ice maker works again. Not that essential in an RV but I do like ice in my drinks.
Interesting solution to frost build up. I have a different problem with my RV fridge but I doubt this solution will help. I'm driving up to Summit Lake this week for a week long camp out and after a few days the fridge starts to warm up despite it being on and appearing to function normally. Didn't seem to matter if it was on AC (w?gen) or on propane. The dealer replaced a sensor but that didn't help. What has helped is insulating the maintenance access door which is on the outside of the RV. I left a small area open to allow combustion air. Last time out it failed again later in the week so I did a better job of insulating. Will see if it helps. Temps are sometimes negative at night and 20's+ during the day. Looking forward to your cavern report.
ReplyDeleteI think the solution for these absorption refrigerators is a 12V compressor modification. The same company that makes the fan has kets to modify your existing refrigerator to a 12VDC (or 115VAC) compressor.
DeleteNM does not seem to put a lot of $$ into the roads. Shame because there is so much to see in the state. I love Carlsbad. Been twice, it is so cool. Hope you enjoy your tour.
ReplyDeleteLast year when we went through this area, everything was closed. Even six months ago, all of the state parks were closed and campgrounds required you to quarantine for 2 weeks upon arrival.
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