Dometic CFX-50 runs continuously and won't freeze.

[jg45]

I purchased a Dometic CFX-50 less than 90 days ago. I am about to go on a two week camping trip and was testing everything to make sure I am ready to go. The unit will not freeze the contents of the top shelf. When set to 24 degrees, it would not freeze 4-2 Liter bottles of water in the lower section and small water bottles on the upper shelf. Only when set to 0 will it freeze things in the lower section of the unit, but not the top shelf. At the 0 degree setting it will not get below 10 degrees and runs continuously. This is when plugged into A/C, in my garage out of direct sunlight, temps in the upper 80s to mid 90s, and with the insulated cover from Dometic. Is this normal behavior? I hope not.

 

[dreadlocks]

My camper came with a dometic about that size, used it twice and then gave it away, hardly kept food cold, ran constantly and required enormous amounts of energy.. bought an Engel and could not been happier.. looking at specs that CFX-50 is basically the same, just a lil fancier and more expensive than the one that came w/my camper (was not digital display, no bluetooth).. that 8A of power usage is absurd.. my MT80 uses 3.6A of power and can freeze the hell out of anything I put in it and still runs intermittently, even in a 100 degree trailer.

 

[(none)]

How much stuff do you have in it? It will run quite a bit in it's near empty. the food and such inside help it keep temperature. My 40 (i think that's what it is) will freeze stuff in the back section while i have it set to 27-29F. The little tray above the compressor (closest to the front display) won't get very cold. I just keep things up there i don't want to freeze.

 

[dreadlocks]

Freezing something takes a ton more energy than just keeping something frozen.

 

[67cj5]

I purchased a Dometic CFX-50 less than 90 days ago. I am about to go on a two week camping trip and was testing everything to make sure I am ready to go. The unit will not freeze the contents of the top shelf. When set to 24 degrees, it would not freeze 4-2 Liter bottles of water in the lower section and small water bottles on the upper shelf. Only when set to 0 will it freeze things in the lower section of the unit, but not the top shelf. At the 0 degree setting it will not get below 10 degrees and runs continuously. This is when plugged into A/C, in my garage out of direct sunlight, temps in the upper 80s to mid 90s, and with the insulated cover from Dometic. Is this normal behavior? I hope not.

Sounds like it's knackered, the cfx range should go down to about -8*f / -22*c, At 0*f that is -18*c so it should be mega cold things up on the shelf can be anything from 5 to 9*c warmer so setting it at 24*f things in the top of the fridge should not freeze, 24*f is only -4.4*c so I would expect nothing to freeze really because every time you open it will keep it just on the edge,

If you want to use it as a Fridge and a Freezer then Set it to -12*c / which is 10.4*f any warmer than that and meat will start to thaw out, Freeze everything you want frozen in the House Freezer and cool down your CFX down to -12*c / 10.4*f and then put the frozen food in there and it should stay frozen, At that Temperature you will still be able to use the Top Dairy area as a Fridge But if you set it any warmer than that your frozen good will start to Thaw. If you want to seriously freeze things like Ice Cream then you must set it colder than -15*c /5*f or below because Ice Cream has stuff in it that makes it soften above -15*c / 5*f so 6 or 7*f is a Big Bad NO NO. ok.

If you fridge has been running since you got it, Turn it off for 24/48 hours and let it settle, because if the Idiots who deliver them have turned it up on end then it will take a while for the fluid/gas to equalize, even though they are made to be able to handle angles of 30* etc they don't like being up ended Like some brain dead idiot did with one of mine, So I ran it for 24 hours and then shut it off for a week or two and it corrected it's self, Same thing happens with domestic fridges only worse, But how ever long that have been sitting and an angle you must then let them rest for the same amount of time in the upright position and sometimes even double the time So just be aware of that even though some people on YT turn them up on end to wash them out that is the worst thing you can do.

Hope that helps.

 

[jg45]

So this sounds like normal operation? To be clear I had 4 2-liter water bottles two in each of the baskets and a 3 small water bottles on the shelf. This was set to 24 degrees and left unopened for over 12 hours. Nothing was frozen. Turning it to 0 got things to freeze when left unattended for 18 hours but seemed to run continuously. Also, it never reached 0. Best it did was 10.

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[67cj5]

So this sounds like normal operation? To be clear I had 4 2-liter water bottles two in each of the baskets and a 3 small water bottles on the shelf. This was set to 24 degrees and left unopened for over 12 hours. Nothing was frozen. Turning it to 0 got things to freeze when left unattended for 18 hours but seemed to run continuously. Also, it never reached 0. Best it did was 10.

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No that should not happen, If you set it to -8*f / -22*c then that is where it should be, Mind you if you have it set to the ECO mode that could happen, Although mine are ARB's when you set them to the Max they get way colder than normal Domestic Freezers. and Dometic are meant to be able to be set to -8*f/-22*c but my ARBs get a lot colder than that.

 

[Mgyver1]

My camper came with a dometic about that size, used it twice and then gave it away, hardly kept food cold, ran constantly and required enormous amounts of energy.. bought an Engel and could not been happier.. looking at specs that CFX-50 is basically the same, just a lil fancier and more expensive than the one that came w/my camper (was not digital display, no bluetooth).. that 8A of power usage is absurd.. my MT80 uses 3.6A of power and can freeze the hell out of anything I put in it and still runs intermittently, even in a 100 degree trailer.

I have my plain & simple Engel MT45 running as a secondary freezer in my house right now. It’s showing 6.8 degrees (only have the temp set to 4) on my external thermometer and everything in there is rock hard. It cycles on & off and I’m very happy with it.

 

[Kerensky97]

Those Dometics temperature gauge don't very accurately reflect the temperature of the cooler too well, it varies a ton depending on location in the box and I think their temp sensor is mounted on the coldest point against the refrigerator coils. They let in a lot of heat through the top so things up against the lid or on the "fruit shelf" will never be as cold as what's in the bottom of the cooler. Remember its not a commercial chest freezer. Like somebody said before, try to pre-freeze items or it will take all night with the compressor running almost full time to suck all the energy out of those water bottles; and that's only if you don't open or close it and put it in a temperature neutral area where it's not fighting with high ambient temps.

As for the temp you set, unless you're only worried about items on bottom right up against the cooling tubes I'd drop the temperature setting a bit. In actual I use 30 degrees for refrigeration, and 16 if I want to be a freezer. Things that need to be coldest on the bottom, general items in the middle, the fruit shelf for... fruit. Or chocolate, butter, eggs I just want to keep cool.

Remember there are no cooling coils around that shelf. Only what air drifts over from the cooling compartment, and every time you open the cooler most of that air will be swapped with ambient temp air.

Also if you're on 12V make sure you have direct power to the battery and not the vehicle's crap cigarette port wiring. It may sound like the compressor is on 100% but it may be constantly cycling on and off because the auto-cut out is detecting too low of voltage. So you're sucking lots of power but not not really getting efficient cooling. It's good to test the cooler on 110 just to be sure the problem is in the cooler and not the vehicle wiring.

 

[67cj5]

If this fridge is not getting to really low temps then it either has a Gas problem either a leak or a lack of Gas, All these fridges are way higher spec'd than domestic fridges, It's true the top area is warmer but they do not loose a lot of heat through the lid although that area is the primary Cold loss area simply because the cold air sinks to the bottom and heat rises.

Personally I would take all the stuff out of it and cool it down to 0*f / -18*c and then Stand a Glass of water in there and then check the Glass in about 2 hours because it should have Ice on top and semi Slush below the Ice and if it does than give it another couple of hours and see if it goes solid, If it does then fill it a 3rd full with frozen food from the House freezer and see how it behaves for about 6 hours and then 1/2 fill it and do the same again and then 3/4 and see what happens and only then will you have an idea of how it is behaving, But you need to call the place where you got it and let them know of the issue,

Good Luck.

 

[AbleGuy]

Here’s the XP review on your fridge, FWIW:

Field Tested: Dometic CFX-50 Fridge/Freezer - Expedition Portal

This price-minded 12V chiller offers great performance at a reasonable price.

expeditionportal.com

 

[AbleGuy]

If this fridge is not getting to really low temps then it either has a Gas problem either a leak or a lack of Gas,

I’m not that well informed about these portable fridges. What is the “gas” you’re referring to here?
Surely not propane since these are all electric. Do you mean the Freon?

If so, can you recharge these units?

 

[67cj5]

I’m not that well informed about these portable fridges. What is the “gas” you’re referring to here?
Surely not propane since these are all electric. Do you mean the Freon?

If so, can you recharge these units?

Yes I am talking about Freon, and yes they are serviceable,

Good luck.

 

[67cj5]

Here’s the XP review on your fridge, FWIW:

Field Tested: Dometic CFX-50 Fridge/Freezer - Expedition Portal

This price-minded 12V chiller offers great performance at a reasonable price.

expeditionportal.com

That report contradicts it's self, In one breath they say it uses less power than the ARB and in the next breath they say it uses 2.3 Amps per Hour on Average when set at 40*f, I Own 2 ARB Fridge Freezers and when set to 40*f both of them running together will not use 1.2 to 1.5 Amps, At that Temp setting my 47L uses less than 0.398 to 0.404Ah over a 24 hour period and the 78L version uses about 0.600 to 0.750 Ah when set to 40*f,

In this thread from a few months back it clearly shows that the 63L ARB chews 0.638Ah per hour and the Dometic CFX50 chews 0.92 Ah Not 2.3Ah as claimed in that portal Review, The CFX 50 is a Great fridge and although they make the ARB fridge freezers they took many of ARBs Ideas and added them to their own products they are still quality fridge/freezers.

Actual Fridge Power Draws

I'm attempting to guesstimate my total power needs for our family when we move FT into our FWC and I can't figure out what a fridge will draw. Dometic states "Energy Consumption 12VDC (Ambient@90F, Internal@41F) 0.85 Ah/h" which I believed to be, on average we can expect under those conditions...

expeditionportal.com

 

[jg45]

Interesting development. It seems to be working now. We had a storm and the power flickered. Now I can see it to -8 and it gets there. Things are frozen in all parts of the cooler too. That's with a heat advisory in effect and my garage being in the 90s. Guess it just needed a power cycle?!

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