RV fridge trouble shooting !!

[lattery1]

Looking for suggestions to troubleshoot my RV fridge. Was working fine and now will not work on gas or power! Want to try to fix myself before going to RV shop and waiting weeks or months.
Thanks in Advance

Les

[Joe Fehr]

Did you plug in the power... Make sure the propane is on...
Does the light come on....
3-way? 2-way fridge?
Check your fuses, other then that you'll be pulling it apart and rebuilding it, might need a recharge.

[JB_AOL]

Check Fuses and breakers.

Have you pulled the exterior cover off the back of the fridge? Anything funny in there?

[bat119]

Hers a good article

http://www.rverscorner.com/RV_Fridge...eshooting.html

Can you smell ammonia ?

Is the heating element working ?

feel the pot is it warm?

[jacobmu]

Had a similar situation myself. Worked fine at home prior to trip, get to campground and nothing. Checked fuses, outside behind the vent and everything looked fine. Ended up having to buy a cooler for rest of trip. Took it in and behind the control panel a wire had come loose.

[elkdump]

There is a recall on certain models of " tm NORCOLD RV Fridges, the recall goes back about 15+ years,

If you have a NORCOLD RV fridge ? Then Google " NORCOLD recall Hot Line ! For model Identification directions

Ps ; they have burned up hundreds of RV,s and killed several persons, there was huge class action USA Supreme Court Judgement Lawsuit

[spaded]

More details the better,what type of fridge?
How old?

[lattery1]

Power to the transformer, propane was on and I had propane to the valves. No power anywhere past the initial plug on the transformer, so propane solenoid will not open to light it manually. No lights on the front/ top of fridge either. It is a 2 way fridge. Damn thing was working fine at home on both sources but was a no go at the lake. I hate warm beer LOL

[JohninAB]

One suggestion is to take off the outside vent/panel on the backside of the fridge and check and make sure no crap has falling down the chimney and laying on top of the pilot light tube/burner. Have had that happen before and the fridge will not work. Easy fix, just blow the crap out and away ya go.

Other issue with mine was the main control board went on the front. Nothing would work. That was covered under warranty thankfully.

Also if a Dometic fridge, check the website and some models were recalled a couple of years ago.

[elkdump]

Originally Posted by spaded

More details the better,what type of fridge?
How old?

It,s TOP Secret what brand of fridge it is,,,,

[Hevishot]

Last time I had a dometic fridge in a Rv it cost me 1800 bucks to get a new one installed when it failed (both gas and electric would not work). The one they installed also started to fail and they replaced that one with a new one under warranty and I sold the trailer soon after that.

[mountain]

Mine crapped out 1 year ago this weekend . It was the thermal fuse . Only a 5 dollar part . There were a whole bunch of flies gathered near the burner ...when the burner ignited the flies caught fire and got hot enough to fry the fuse . I have since put fine screen on the inside of the inspection panel to keep flies out . I did discover though after we got home that you can use a jumper wire to bypass the themal fuse if it fails to get you through thr trip . And also get a spare thermal fuse .

[elkdump]

Did I mention , I love propane EXPLOSIONS !

[bat119]

Originally Posted by Hevishot

Last time I had a dometic fridge in a Rv it cost me 1800 bucks to get a new one installed when it failed (both gas and electric would not work). The one they installed also started to fail and they replaced that one with a new one under warranty and I sold the trailer soon after that.

New fridge is costly I replaced the cooling unit in one a few years ago for about $500 I bought from these guys

http://arscanada.com/

[357xp]

here is another older thread on them....I got a new fridge on my 1993 unit out of the recall.

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=221678

[mountain]

Originally Posted by mountain

Mine crapped out 1 year ago this weekend . It was the thermal fuse . Only a 5 dollar part . There were a whole bunch of flies gathered near the burner ...when the burner ignited the flies caught fire and got hot enough to fry the fuse . I have since put fine screen on the inside of the inspection panel to keep flies out . I did discover though after we got home that you can use a jumper wire to bypass the themal fuse if it fails to get you through thr trip . And also get a spare thermal fuse .

I should also mention that when the thermal fuse is blown , the fridge will not work on gas 12V or shore power

[WhistlePig]

Originally Posted by lattery1

Power to the transformer, propane was on and I had propane to the valves. No power anywhere past the initial plug on the transformer, so propane solenoid will not open to light it manually. No lights on the front/ top of fridge either. It is a 2 way fridge. Damn thing was working fine at home on both sources but was a no go at the lake. I hate warm beer LOL

So you are or are not getting 12V on the secondary side of the transformer? If not sounds like a bad transformer. If so than bad wiring/connection.
Does it work when your trailer is hooked up to a generator/120V power? If so then maybe a bad battery?

[Jimboy]

Originally Posted by johninab

one suggestion is to take off the outside vent/panel on the backside of the fridge and check and make sure no crap has falling down the chimney and laying on top of the pilot light tube/burner. Have had that happen before and the fridge will not work. Easy fix, just blow the crap out and away ya go.

Other issue with mine was the main control board went on the front. Nothing would work. That was covered under warranty thankfully.

Also if a dometic fridge, check the website and some models were recalled a couple of years ago.

yup

[oilngas]

Like Johnnb I had soot fall down my chimney (rough road) and short out the electronic spark device` That shut down the whole shebang. Technician explained the issue, I took it apart and he had guessed right. So I would try that first, remove the wind screen from burner, look for flakes that have fallen off chimney and are shorting out the burner. The electronics would not send propane or use electricity to run the burner as a fail safe logic.

[curtz]

Originally Posted by JB_AOL

Check Fuses and breakers.

Have you pulled the exterior cover off the back of the fridge? Anything funny in there?

x2

[harrydude]

More info would help

But if you smell ammonia then your cooling coil is leaking