How Does a Refrigerator in a Camper Work?

Everyone knows the importance of a refrigerator. Especially when camping, a refrigerator gives the advantage of less “roughing it." Having cold drinks and keeping food from spoiling requires a refrigerator. Such a luxury can make the camping experience all the more enjoyable.

Basic workings:

Like its regular counterpart, the camper refrigerator has cooling coils in the back compartment. They are what actually cool the interior of the refrigerator, although the method of cooling the coils is somewhat different. However, it does not have a motor requiring it to run. Instead, it has components in the bottom of the refrigerator that make it work: a separator, condenser, evaporator, generator and absorber. 

Working components:

• On the underside of the camper refrigerator is a generator, which mixes water and ammonia. 


• A burner, which is connected to the propane tank on the camper, is situated beneath the refrigerator's generator and has the job of heating the water and ammonia.


• Once the two substances come to a boil, it moves through piping to reach into a separator. 


• The ammonia rises up, moving into the condenser, even as the water moves down into the absorber.


• As the heat put out by the boiling ammonia fades while in the condenser, it changes back to its original form of liquid. 


• The liquid ammonia next goes into an evaporator, which has hydrogen gas. The mixture of the ammonia and hydrogen is sent into the coils of the refrigerator, which keeps everything in the refrigerator cool.