Update: Measured the ohms on the thermistor and it appeared to be low. Ordered a new one and installed it yesterday. Turned on fridge and put thermometer inside at about 75 degrees. Woke up this morning and thought everything was fine. Inside temp of fridge was 38 degrees. However... as the day wore on (about 2pm), and outside temp rose to about 85 degrees (as well as inside the coach), the inside of the fridge soared to 60 degrees. Not quite sure what's going on, but 60 degrees won't cut it. The coach is parked with no AC running, and the fridge is running on AC power. I think its time to send it to the repair shop and have them look at it. I see some posts where fans were installed on the outside, but not quite sure where to place them. Also, what does one do when you are dry camping... fans running will draw down on batteries quickly.
LARRYAG wrote: Update: Measured the ohms on the thermistor and it appeared to be low. Ordered a new one and installed it yesterday. Turned on fridge and put thermometer inside at about 75 degrees. Woke up this morning and thought everything was fine. Inside temp of fridge was 38 degrees. However... as the day wore on (about 2pm), and outside temp rose to about 85 degrees (as well as inside the coach), the inside of the fridge soared to 60 degrees. Not quite sure what's going on, but 60 degrees won't cut it. The coach is parked with no AC running, and the fridge is running on AC power. I think its time to send it to the repair shop and have them look at it. I see some posts where fans were installed on the outside, but not quite sure where to place them. Also, what does one do when you are dry camping... fans running will draw down on batteries quickly.
Have you ever "burped" the fridge? You have to do all the prep as if you're pulling it out. Take it out, and sit it on the floor. Have someone help you and lean it side to side. I wouldn't turn it upside down as suggested earlier. Just atke it from one side to the other about 3-4 times, and take it till it almost touches the floor, then over to the other side. Put it back in it's spot, and rehook everything up, and let it sit for about an hour or so. Turn on the gas, and light it on gas. If you don't start getting cold in the fridge portion in 2-3 hours, you probably have a bad cooling unit, or that would be my diagnosis. If anybody cares, I've worked on RV's for about 10 years after I retired from the AF. I was trained and certified.
Good luck,
BBTank
edit to add: if your fridge takes 24 hours to get cold enough to put in food, you have a problem. On gas, it should take 4-5 hours for solid cold, to add even add off the shelf items in. On 110V, it takes a little while longer, but not 24 hours, more like 7-8, at most.
And, to the OP, where is the little plastic piece that's on the fins in the back of the fridge? If it's not at the top of those fins, move it there, wait for 3-4 hours, and see what happens. If it's not any colder, do the above suggestion. (that's a kind of thermostat you can customize your fridge temp.)
BigBlockTank... I would be ecstatic if I could load the refrig in 7-8 hours. At best it takes 24. Like I posted earlier, after being on all day after replacing the thermistor at about 9:00a, the next morning it was at 38 degrees. However later in the day it was at 65 degrees. That was Sunday about 7pm. This morning (Monday) it was 50 degrees at 6:30a, and when I got home tonight (same day) it is at 65 degrees. The freezer has been fine all along... cold enough to freeze water. If the freezer section hangs in there with the same ambient temp as the frige, then wouldn't that mean the cooling guts are working reasonably well? i.e would "burping" do any good? When I thought I needed to pull the box out to replace the thermistor (which it turned out I didn't), I looked in there and it looked like a big job to pull it out. Looked like I needed to disconnect the gas vent stack, and a bunch of other stuff.
LARRYAG wrote: Update: 89 degrees in the coach. 68 degrees in the fridge and 18 degrees in the freezer compartment.
That's really strange, to get 68 in the fridge and 18 in the freezer. Did you check all the seals in the fridge? I assume it has been defrosted since you said it was down and all. You might try moving the sensor on the refrigerator fins up or down (don't remember which way is colder).
LARRYAG wrote: Update: 89 degrees in the coach. 68 degrees in the fridge and 18 degrees in the freezer compartment.
That's really strange, to get 68 in the fridge and 18 in the freezer. Did you check all the seals in the fridge? I assume it has been defrosted since you said it was down and all. You might try moving the sensor on the refrigerator fins up or down (don't remember which way is colder).
Hot air rises, so you want to put that thermistor at the top of the fins, as I stated above.
Just an update... perhaps some of you can relate. Believe it or not just after my last post on 7/19, I took the coach to the dealer for repair of the refrigerator. ==> I just got it back Thursday ! What a fiasco ! It took the dealer over 2 weeks to determine it needed a new refrigerator. Given that the freezer portion maintained a constant temperature of about 15 degrees no matter the exterior temperature, the dealer saying it needed a completely new unit said to me they just didn't know what was wrong with it and decided to take the easy route to repair. Since I had an extended warranty, with a $50.00 deductible, I authorized the repair. Well, they called the warranty company and they would only authorize a "cooling unit" replacement, not a complete unit. That was ok with me... all I wanted was a functioning refrigerator. After about another 3 weeks the dealer tells me that the cooling units are on back order and it will likely be another 3-4 weeks before the parts would be in. BUT... they had good news... the recall work was complete. (oh yes, they sold me the unit with a refrigerator that had been recalled and never made the repairs prior to delivering the unit). Although the unit had been "thoroughly inspected" prior to delivery (in May of this year), they missed not only the recall, but the fact that the refrigerator would not maintain a reasonable temperature. So... long story short, I wrote a letter to the owner of the dealership, laid out the history, and asked if they would consider just replacing the entire refrigerator with a new one, at no extra cost to me... and they agreed. They received the correspondence on Monday, and by Wednesday it was ready to be picked up. So, what was a bad situation, was made right by the dealer. They stepped up and made the situation right. Not only did they provide a brand new refrigerator, they filled both (empty) propane bottles, washed the unit, and paid my $50.00 deductible. Mistakes do happen, but the dealer did the right thing and graciously made a bad situation right. So... I'm back in the saddle again, off we go this weekend to enjoy the RV life once again !
Hello all... yes, I have moved the thermistor to different positions, and replaced it with a new one on Sunday. There is a graphic on the fridge interior wall indicating which direction is colder and which is warmer. Colder is up, and I have it all the way to the top. Just checked it a few minutes ago, after sitting all day without being opened, and its 72 in the refrigerator section, and 17 in the freezer compartment. There is little or no condensation in the fridge section, and a little frost in the freezer. I am struggling to understand how the freezer can maintain pretty much a constant temperature in the low teens, getting as low as 7 degrees yesterday, while the fridge fluctuates between about 55 first thing in the morning, and 72 at 5:00p. Good thought about the seal, it appears ok, and when I open the door I can hear and feel the suction when the door opens. That, I think, indicates the seal is tight. I took a look at the vented area behind the unit last night and it seems clear, and there is heat being expelled at the top, so it appears the draft is working. The thought hit me last night that perhaps the circuit board that the thermistor plugs into is bad, i.e. getting the right info from the thermistor but not acting correctly on the information? But then I go back to my question that if the freezer is working fine, and there is only one cooling unit for both the freezer and refrigerator why is the fridge so hot. Does anyone know if there is anything separate about the freezer over the fridge? How does it know to cool the freezer compartment colder than the fridge compartment? BTW... contacted the repair shop and they never called me back. Not looking good there either.
I'm not an expert on these frig's but I do remember many years ago an Old Timer RV repair person came out to fix our refrigerator. The problem was "spiders" - he said spiders like the gas/propane. Dh isn't home yet, so I don't remember what he did to fix the problem - cleaned out something...a line maybe. Also did you check to see if your unit is under the Dometic recall? Here a link to just one of the recalls: http://67.238.126.140/recall.php
Read #4 on this link: http://rx4rv.com/archives/28 There are many others who've posted on this link with the same model you have. You may get lucky posting here to see what others ended up doing. The link also shows where Dometic was bought out and who took them over.
Good luck!
PS: I have on Thor recall that no one ever responds back to us on. All the rest have been taken care of over the year, but this one. These companies drive me CRAZY!!!
Offline
