Our 5-1/2 year old refrigerator has a problem. The freezer section does fine. It shows well below zero per my thermometer but the lower section shows only about 65 degrees and the cooling fins are barely cool to the touch. Moving that plastic gismo up or down on the right fin does nothing to change things. It performs this way on both gas and electric modes.
Any suggestions?
Thanks, Robert
Assume both refrigerator and freezer are defrosted-- no layers of ice "insulating" the box.
And, assume no obstruction to air flow (in at side wall, out at roof).
Make sure the restrictor is in the refrigerator condensate line-- if not, warm humid air will RISE into the refrigerator.
If both those OK: Since it does the same on both 120 VAC and propane, that points to an obstruction in the cooling unit.
After making sure that the above are OK, next decision is:
New cooling unit
New absorption refrigerator
New residential refrigerator
Sliding the thermistor up should cool the unit down. But it takes awhile to react. Also my fridge has an indicating light to make it colder. Its kind of a balancing act. Make sure your door is fully closed. Put a dollar bill between the box and door and see if you have a good seal.
What exact refer do you have. Coach is 17 years old. Refer is 5 1/2?
Maybe I'm one of the few, but I like Dometics (except for the handles on the early ones!) Got a pic? Our's was replaced in early 09, and is still running perfect. ^.^d
It could be the cooling unit BUT:
What is the inside/outside air temperature?
Have you used a dollar bill to test the door seals?
Do you have an indoor/outdoor thermometer in the refrigerator so you can check the temperature without opening the door?
Did you recently load up the refer with warm items?
What does Dometic have to say?
MOT replaced my coils with an Amish unit about 10 months ago. Three weeks ago, my refrigerator side quit cooling. I switched to gas and it worked. I then ordered new heating elements for the electric side of the cooler. In both cases, my freezer continued to work properly.
With that said, one of the facts of checking the cooling after the unit is at ambient temperature is it takes a long time to realize that the unit is getting cool. I checked mine hourly using the thermal thermometer that I use to check my tire temps. I shot the LED on the fins to really see if the temperature was getting lower.
The lessons I have learned in the process of trouble shooting my unit are:
1. If the unit leaks down, the freezer can still work.
2. If the freezer works on both gas and electric, but the refrigerator does not, it could have a blockage in the coils and needs to have them replaced or possibly the board could be bad and it is not getting power to either of the heaters. (gas/electric) Assuming that the unit has proper power and there is gas.
The board is easy to pin out to make sure that the voltage comes in and out properly. The pin out is diagrammed in the Dometic manual or it can be downloaded.
The elements were simple to replace and with the new elements, it took about 12 hours to get back to normal temps.
Hope that helps.
glen
We've had this analog unit in all our coaches, cheap, let's us know when to adjust the fridge. It's 89 inside the coach now, you can see how the thermometer is going hot, just in the couple of minutes I had the door open to take the pic. Glen is right, it's a all day process to bring it to cool after defrosting.
While driving to FOT the generator quit and it was over 90º inside the coach with ambient air mid nineties. My fridge usually runs 32-34º. It was up to 50º when I plugged in at FOT. By the next morning it was back to normal. Had me worried but it was just not able to keep up with the inside temperature so high. Also I had put some cool groceries in it before I left.
The coach was facing the west and receiving direct sun which caused the temperature to climb inside the refrigerator. I removed the outside cover to get more air and it made a big difference. I am thinking about making a cardboard awning to keep the sun off.
In the dometic there are a pair of climate control switches. One is for when it's too hot outside and air conditioner isn't used enough.
Climate Control Heater / Low Ambient Switch (http://beamalarm.com/Documents/climate_control_heater_low_ambient_switch.html)
I'm amazed that I've received these responses so quickly. Thanks. We're 100 miles from where the coach is stored but I should be able to get there in a few days. The coach is nearly 18 years old. It was delivered to the original owner in 10/2000. We bought it from Foretravel in 12/2002. This is the coach's third fridge which was replaced by PP&L in Houston in 01/2013.
The fridge was defrosted overnight twice. And we have let it sit empty for 12-24 hours before checking the temps. Per my Harbor Freight laser thermometer I read minus 20 in the freezer compartment and plus 65 in the lower compartment at the back wall aiming thru the fins.
There could be an obstruction in the air flow as we have lots of mud dauber problems where it is stored. My wife did clear some 'nests' from the outside compartment but we did not check the flue. I don't know where the restrictor and refrigerator condensate line are but this sounds like it may be my problem. Is the condensate line the solid white tube that slides into the thermistor? If so it is threaded thru the thermistor housing. What is the restrictor?
When I get to the coach I'll try to check out the flue assuming it is reasonably accessible.
Thanks again, Robert
We installed 2 computer type fans with a thermal switch to make the fans come on when it got hot behind the fridge. We have them perpendicular to the fridge towards the top and they keep the air circulated. Air comes in from from the fridge outside door panel and out the top. It was installed at JC Refrigeration in Shipshawana.
We have "muffin fans" in ours. controlled by a remote rocker switch. I run it when the humidity gets above 20%.
Instead of using the laser temp to monitor your temps, invest in the Acurite Wireless Digital Thermometer.
Amazon.com: AcuRite 00986A2 Refrigerator/Freezer Wireless Digital Thermometer... (https://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-00986A2-Refrigerator-Wireless-Thermometer/dp/B004QJVU78/ref=asc_df_B004QJVU78/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167134584690&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16338828640243818813&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021964&hvtargid=pla-273908654109&psc=1)
"Per my Harbor Freight laser thermometer I read minus 20 in the freezer compartment and plus 65 in the lower compartment at the back wall aiming thru the fins. "
From my experience, 20 below F is not possible.
I can't imagine our refrigerators only lasting six years. Mine is still the original. I'm sure we all know how critical leveling is to fridge life. I auto-level whenever the coach isn't moving.
My fridge is also an original from 95. I keep it plugged in, and my only complaint are the handles which have broken and there is no replacement for a dometic 7130. I am going to try and make some. Haven't figured that out yet.
Joe if you know someone with a 3D printer maybe they could print you one.
Quite a lot of "how long will an absorption refrigerator last" depends on how much/little it is run out of level.
This issue has resulted in quite a cottage industry for ARP who does an excellent job of shutting down the cooling unit before it overheats enough to damage the unit due to running out of level.
So, there really is no reliable projected "average life".
Not sure how the newer Dometic electronic boards are, but the old ones were junk. I had a Dometic (RM3663?) in my old coach and was having cooling problems. I replaced the board with a Dinosaur. Never had a problem after that, I also remember that the Dinosaur techs were great at troubleshooting over the phone.
I finally got to where the coach is stored under a carport next to our place in the country. When I got there I measured the temps again with my Harbor Freight laser thermometer. It measured minus 1.1 degrees in the freezing compartment and 56 degrees in the cooling compartment. After I ran both A/Cs for 3 days they measured minus 1.9 and plus 38 degrees. Our outside high temps have been ranging from 100 to 104 degrees.
Note that my Harbor Freight thermometer does not show a decimal point, nor a space for it in the minus range so I am assuming that this just a defect. It actually showed minus 19 and plus 38 degrees. I have another Harbor Freight laser thermometer in my workshop that does not have this defect and I verified those readings with it.
On our recent 3 week trip to Michigan we were having trouble keeping food cold in the cooling compartment which prompted me to check this out. We left our coach at MOT Sunday to get our seats reupholstered. I'll get them to service the fridge. It's 5-1/2 years old and has never been serviced.
Thanks again to all.
Rob,
With those temps you could benefit from installing a pancake fan or 2 in the back of the fridge (the area between the fridge and the outside wall) to help exhaust the hot air out the roof vent. We have 2 mounted just below the vent cover for such times. The reason for at the roof vent is this will cause an induced draft so you won't be putting positive air pressure in this area resulting in the possibility of this hot air to leak to the inside of the coach.
Mike
"minus 19" means 19 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. That is a pretty cold freezer! And 38 degrees in the fridge section is just about right, from our experience. Our Samsung residential keeps the freezer at -2 (2 degrees below zero) and the fridge section at 38 F. Not sure why you are so concerned about your refrigerator performance...
Save yourself much stress, warm food that should be cold and constant concern and replace the frig you have with a resident one.. I did and consider it to be the best and most useful upgrade that I made to my 98 U320. You can park not level as long as you desire with no harm to the frig. And have cold ice-cream.
Household refers were not made to be in a moving location and some designs can have the compressor motor worn more from the oil in the refrigerant splashing inside the compressor section while driving. My guru buddy has heard the gurgling of the oil in the refrigerant while driving many times.
Some refers have a vertical mounted compressor versus horizontal mount.
You will be adding heat to the interior from bottom mounted fan forced refer cooling if so equipped.
Plus if left on the heat from the cooling section goes to the interior.
No question cooler food and cold ice cream is an advantage.
I do understand some of the owners requirement of a household refer to add to their enjoyment while rv'ing.
As we like dry camping and hate running the gen anymore than necessary I would swap my gels for lifelines agm's for the quicker charging of a bigger bank.
Then upsize the alternator and maybe run two inverters for the increased charging amps.
If the gen is on always and/or the coach plugged in the difference in power consumption is a moot point.
My '81 FTX came from Foretravel with an Amana residential. I replaced it in 1994 with one from Sears outlet.and used it for 18 years before parking it and it is always hooked up and still running great. Must be one of the more rugged residential refrigerators because the HMC chassis has Mor Ryde suspension and rode like a dump truck. That was the only reason I quit using it. This is what it looks like. One on each side of rear wheels.
MO25 - Mor/Ryde RL System Rubber Shear Spring - Morryde (https://www.ultrarvproducts.com/MO25-Mor-Ryde-RL-System-Rubber-Shear-Spring)