Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Topic: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!! (Read 1525 times) previous topic - next topic

Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

February 24, 2011, 03:09:39 pm

I have a 98 4200 dgfe layout with the 2 door fridge. It has a built in ice maker.

Every time I turn on the ice maker it starts to smell in the coach. Now, get ready for this, it smells like maple crisp cereal. I know, I know, you are thinking that this is just a joke,

but it is not. The odor gets stronger and stronger until we can't stand it anymore and we have to turn off the ice maker. After shutting it off the smell dissipates in about 30-40 minutes.

OK, to clarify, the ice doesn't smell. It also does not smell inside the freezer or fridge, so that means that it is coming out of the mechanism (refrigeration unit) and you do smell it in the outside cabinet, but not as strong as it is in the coach. Also, the ice does not have any odd flavor or smell to it either.

Any help?

Thank Jeff
98/04 4200 dgfe
03 Yukon

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #1 – February 24, 2011, 04:25:19 pm

Does the icemaker run through a complete cycle and produce ice during these smoking incidents OR have you turned it off before ice has been made? If the ice maker tray fills with water and it makes ice and then drops perfect ice cubes it will be hard to find the problem. If the ice cubes are small, deformed, or not perfect then, it might lead to a solution. I would imagine that the ice maker heats the tray before dumping. Could be a relay staying on when it should not. Any more info??

Regards,
Jon Twork

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #2 – February 24, 2011, 04:32:36 pm

Yes and sorry to say, the ice system works fine.

It does not make any smoke of any kind. There is no sign of odor in the freezer.

That is what is making this all so difficult. I have talked to refrigerator techs and they have not heard of anything like this before.

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #3 – February 24, 2011, 04:42:48 pm

What part of the country do you reside and where do you do your traveling? Can the techs tell you if there is anything external to the freezer that has a reason to heat up during the ice making process? When you say that you "turned off" the icemaker, do you know what circuits or parts you are affecting when you do it? It almost has to be something you are activating when you turn the icemaker ON....

Regards,
Jon Twork

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #4 – February 24, 2011, 04:45:20 pm

Keebler elf stuck in wiring.

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #5 – February 24, 2011, 04:49:21 pm

Nice Matt, thanks... Maybe Keebler has a reward?

Jon, the switch that I am referring to is the on/off switch below the freezer door.

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #6 – February 24, 2011, 04:57:55 pm

You need to find a schematic for the icemaker and determine what is being activated when you turn it off or on. What area of the country are you from or in since this happened?

Regards,
Jon Twork

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #7 – February 24, 2011, 07:23:44 pm

Could there be an old nest of bees or yellow jackets in the wall behind the fridge? Somewhere that honey in an abandoned hive remnant would come into contact with heat and be "cooking"? Wild guess ... but goofy things happen, after all. And I have a great imagination!

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #8 – February 24, 2011, 07:28:11 pm

Carol,
That is a very creative guess....You never know.

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #9 – February 24, 2011, 07:35:43 pm

My money is on this one.
Very real possibility

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #10 – February 24, 2011, 07:40:44 pm

Quote from: Carol Savournin – February 24, 2011, 07:23:44 pm

Could there be an old nest of bees or yellow jackets in the wall behind the fridge? Somewhere that honey in an abandoned hive remnant would come into contact with heat and be "cooking"? Wild guess ... but goofy things happen, after all. And I have a great imagination!

Hmmm...in order for this smell to be "maple crisp" the bees would have to come from Vermont...

Sorry Carol, I couldn't resist....appologies to all...

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #11 – February 26, 2011, 06:57:31 pm

We have been all over from MI to FL to MS to TX to TN to VA.... The smell get so strong that you are gagging on it. Weird, I know.

I couldn't imagine that a hive of honey would keep getting stronger and stronger inside and only a light odor outside.

But I will start to look in that area.

Jeff

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #12 – February 27, 2011, 12:27:55 am

I think what Jon is trying to pinpoint is where you were when this first was noticed, and maybe where you were right before that. And that is a interesting thought.

But what about the Dometic Two Door frig? Have you checked to see if it has been recalled? Some built in that time frame have been. You can check at Official Dometic Recall - DometicUSA. Also possible you have a leak and the smell, being sweet, is the water system antifreeze which leaked out. But why it is getting stronger?

? is beyond me. Have you checked the outside area behind frig?

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #13 – February 27, 2011, 06:27:38 am

How about a dead mouse back there and when you turn it on it heats up behind it....

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #14 – February 27, 2011, 08:13:43 am

If the mouse had a steady diet of caramel? Possibly. I've smelled dead mouse way too often in our house near a wood and a river. The smell ain't the same.

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #15 – February 27, 2011, 09:16:55 am

Have you removed the vent cover below the ice maker? A lot of owners have pets and the pet hair tends to collect inside the vent cover. So much so that it might create a problem. Our U-LINE had a "fragrance" (not totally intolerable) and when I removed the cover to tighten a waterline I found a solid wall of hair from the previous owner's dogs. I vacuumed hair out--odor gone.

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #16 – February 27, 2011, 09:39:06 am

Jeff,
How long have you owned the coach? If you've owned it for a long time my idea will not apply. But, it could be the previous owner had the "dead mouse" problem and solved it temporarily by addig large amounts of some sort of odor neutralizer in the area of the fridge where there is a heating element for the ice maker...FWIW

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #17 – February 27, 2011, 11:15:44 am

Quote from: Peter & Beth – February 24, 2011, 07:40:44 pm

Hmmm...in order for this smell to be "maple crisp" the bees would have to come from Vermont...

Sorry Carol, I couldn't resist....appologies to all...

You don't need to apologize.
But Western New York State exports all their dark "buddy" maple syrup to Vermont and Vermont would not have their claim to fame if they didn't get the buddy syrup from us. So they could have gotten it in the western southern tier of NYS.

But they would of had to live with that problem all last summer. Cause the buds are only out in the spring. And I don't know if the bees pollinate maple tree buds, or not.

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #18 – April 09, 2011, 05:22:44 pm

Hahaha, to all of the funny answers. We have had this smell since we arrived in FL with the coach in the winter of 09. We then have shut it off for as long as 6 mo to a year, yet when we turn it on again, the smell is there just like before.

Jeff

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #19 – April 09, 2011, 05:26:24 pm

We acquired the coach in Nov. of 08 and didn't use it until we got to FL because I had to replace the water valve in the back. And just to clarify, the smell comes right back and keeps getting stronger and stronger until you can't stand being in the coach and then we have to shut the ice maker off again.

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #20 – April 09, 2011, 05:51:30 pm

OK, my two cents....I, on occasion, get blinded when looking for a problem. By this, I mean the answer has absolutely nothing to do with what I believe the problem to be. When I can clear my mind and look at something totally different the problem is sometimes very obvious. Remember, that was worth two cents....

and probably less

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #21 – April 09, 2011, 06:07:19 pm

Quote from: Jon Twork – February 24, 2011, 04:42:48 pm

Can the techs tell you if there is anything external to the freezer that has a reason to heat up during the ice making process? When you say that you "turned off" the icemaker, do you know what circuits or parts you are affecting when you do it? It almost has to be something you are activating when you turn the icemaker ON....

Quote from: PatC – February 27, 2011, 12:27:55 am

But why it is getting stronger?? is beyond me. Have you checked the outside area behind frig?

Jon and Pat have some good suggestions/ideas. There must be something heating up that's causing the odor.

Some power electronic components can have an oil in them that can smell when they leak and heat up. I wouldn't call it "maple syrup" or sweet, though. It's a pretty distinctive odor.

Have you tried pulling the fridge forward into the coach a few inches and then looking at the back of it (from the outside access panel)? Follow the lines of the icemaker (there's a heater wire wrapped in with the clear water supply tubing). Perhaps the heater wire is exposed and causing something to melt and give off the odor? There's also the power to the water supply solenoid. If I recall, the heater wire is serpentined around the area of the solenoid/water valve, but that would give you a stronger odor outside than inside.

Michelle

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #22 – April 09, 2011, 06:51:24 pm

When the smell is the strongest, check the fan motor behind the condenser to see how hot it is.

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #23 – April 09, 2011, 11:50:17 pm

Take the icemaker completely out of the coach, hook it up to an independent power supply, turn it on, then check for smells and/or components heating up beyond design specifications. Seems extreme but this is the best way to do it that is not mostly speculation.

Re: Ok, guys, no one has been able to ID this for me!!!

Reply #24 – April 10, 2011, 07:18:37 am

Just a possibility, Jeff is having some fun with this Maple Syrup smell. Only a thought as I have never smelled any dead anything that smelled like Maple Syrup. Or am I deprived again?

Affiliate Notice