First off the poor construction of Norcold and Dometic fridges over the last ~20 years is the major cause of the problem followed by designs allowing the RV fridge boiler temperatures to run wild.
I was pretty surprised to learn how critical running the RV fridge 3 degrees from level is. An 8% grade is like 5 degrees off level. So driving with the fridge on can let the boiler temps run high enough to cause long term damage going up and down the numerous long grades we have around here. Long term damage is ruining the anti-corrosion agents from extreme boiler temps. The cooling units then corrode from the inside out and hopefully the eventual cracks or leaks of ammonia and hydrogen gas doesn't explode or catch fire.
The good news is the 2 class action lawsuits filed over the poor construction of Norcold and Dometic RV fridge cooling units has a 3 year extended warranty from the 2016 settlement date on some Norcold models. The Dometic lawsuit is still ongoing.
One aftermarket device is available to shut off the heat source and prevents the boiler from getting hot enough to ruin the anti-corrosion agent in the refrigerant. Not a cure all for poor quality and construction. https://www.arprv.com/index.php
The aftermarket has also stepped up with better made cooling units that use thicker tubing for the boiler section and more cooling coils in some cases for the most troublesome 4 door RV fridges. Amish made cooling units http://rvcoolingunit.com/Default.aspx
Another solution with more cooling coils for the bigger RV fridges: http://www.arcticoldstore.com/about-our-cooling-systems/
I was pretty surprised to learn how critical running the RV fridge 3 degrees from level is. An 8% grade is like 5 degrees off level. So driving with the fridge on can let the boiler temps run high enough to cause long term damage going up and down the numerous long grades we have around here. Long term damage is ruining the anti-corrosion agents from extreme boiler temps. The cooling units then corrode from the inside out and hopefully the eventual cracks or leaks of ammonia and hydrogen gas doesn't explode or catch fire.
The good news is the 2 class action lawsuits filed over the poor construction of Norcold and Dometic RV fridge cooling units has a 3 year extended warranty from the 2016 settlement date on some Norcold models. The Dometic lawsuit is still ongoing.
One aftermarket device is available to shut off the heat source and prevents the boiler from getting hot enough to ruin the anti-corrosion agent in the refrigerant. Not a cure all for poor quality and construction. https://www.arprv.com/index.php
The aftermarket has also stepped up with better made cooling units that use thicker tubing for the boiler section and more cooling coils in some cases for the most troublesome 4 door RV fridges. Amish made cooling units http://rvcoolingunit.com/Default.aspx
Another solution with more cooling coils for the bigger RV fridges: http://www.arcticoldstore.com/about-our-cooling-systems/