Halmyre wrote :
Most caravanners swear by gas fridges. Sorry, let me rephrase that: most
caravanners swear AT gas fridges. Lying on the floor for twenty minutes
repeatedly pressing the piezo igniter and looking for the elusive blue glow
through the little window that indicates successful ignition.

They have moved on since then, to electronic ignition, you just push a
button and hold it in until it ignites. If trying to run on gas, I make
sure to bleed all the air out first - turn a gas ring on, until that
burns steady, then light the fridge up.

I think running a fridge on 12V is only an option if it's already down to
temperature. This is on my elderly van, YMMV.

Agreed! Often the problem is poor install by the caravan manufacturers.
Heat from the fins at the back, needs to be disposed of quickly for
best efficiency, whether on gas, 240, or 12v. The builders ignore the
fridge manufacturers to add a deflector panel above the fins to funnel
the warmth out quickly - Heat gets trapped behind the fridge, despite
the vents. A simple cheap bit of alloy panel funnelling the warmed air
out, as advised in the fridge install instructions, makes a tremendous
difference.

I have even heard suggestions that its worth wile adding a small 12v
computer fan, worked via a stat, to the fins to improve the air flow in
really hot weather.