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GuyCanRV's avatar
GuyCanRV
Explorer III
Nov 08, 2024
Solved

Dometic Servel RGE400 fridge too cold

Well it's been almost a year now since I revived my RGE400 fridge for a second time. As I mentioned in my last post about the fridge when I put it together the control rods were messed up and I did...
  • GuyCanRV's avatar
    GuyCanRV
    Dec 03, 2024

    Thanks for helping out StirCrazy!

    I finally fixed the freezing problem.  🙂

    More than 10 years ago when I was replacing the original bad thermostat I had problems connecting the
    temperature control rod to the thermostat. I gave up on it and just set the temperature blindly to something that seemed to be around 4/10 on the thermostat.
    I didn't really care about not being able to adjust the temp with the control rod because in the previous 10+ years I never touched the temp.
    When I had my cooling unit in for repairs about a year ago I must have adjusted the thermostat a bit.
    Because for the past year I had this freezing problem.

    Well a week or so ago after the new thermostat still hadn't solved the problem I decided to have a go again attaching the control rod. I found the plastic piece that was critical to connecting the rod to the thermostat. I did the whole operation with the fridge standing upright, which was quite the challenge!

    Once everything was connected properly I set the thermostat to around 2-3.
    It seemed to have fixed the problem but I didn't want to celebrate too soon. I waited a week or so before I was confident there was no more freezing. The food was still quite cold so that's why I wasn't sure at first.
    So now that everything is working properly again I really don't know if the new thermostat was necessary or not. It's quite possible that had I done the same operation with my existing thermostat it also would have fixed the problem.
    I am keeping the old one just in case and am thinking of actually buying another new one as a backup.
    I was surprised to be able to buy this new one. But it said it works on many Dometic models so it wasn't my model specifically.

    In the 26 years that I have been using my fridge (which I love) I have learned there are only two critical components; the cooling unit and the thermostat.
    Do you think I should buy another backup thermostat while I still can?

     

     

     

     

     

     

StirCrazy's avatar
StirCrazy
Moderator
Dec 03, 2024

is it way to cold in one spot, or is stuff freezing throughout the whole fridge, it is is only a spot, then a small battery powered fan could help by moving the air around and evening out the temp? 

HERE  is a video on adjusting temp.  if you have tried everything there then we can start loking for an issue.  but if you have moved the clip up and down on the fin and it made no difference it could be the thermal couple that attaches to the fin that actualy gets moved up and down.  

  • GuyCanRV's avatar
    GuyCanRV
    Explorer III
    Dec 03, 2024

    Thanks for helping out StirCrazy!

    I finally fixed the freezing problem.  🙂

    More than 10 years ago when I was replacing the original bad thermostat I had problems connecting the
    temperature control rod to the thermostat. I gave up on it and just set the temperature blindly to something that seemed to be around 4/10 on the thermostat.
    I didn't really care about not being able to adjust the temp with the control rod because in the previous 10+ years I never touched the temp.
    When I had my cooling unit in for repairs about a year ago I must have adjusted the thermostat a bit.
    Because for the past year I had this freezing problem.

    Well a week or so ago after the new thermostat still hadn't solved the problem I decided to have a go again attaching the control rod. I found the plastic piece that was critical to connecting the rod to the thermostat. I did the whole operation with the fridge standing upright, which was quite the challenge!

    Once everything was connected properly I set the thermostat to around 2-3.
    It seemed to have fixed the problem but I didn't want to celebrate too soon. I waited a week or so before I was confident there was no more freezing. The food was still quite cold so that's why I wasn't sure at first.
    So now that everything is working properly again I really don't know if the new thermostat was necessary or not. It's quite possible that had I done the same operation with my existing thermostat it also would have fixed the problem.
    I am keeping the old one just in case and am thinking of actually buying another new one as a backup.
    I was surprised to be able to buy this new one. But it said it works on many Dometic models so it wasn't my model specifically.

    In the 26 years that I have been using my fridge (which I love) I have learned there are only two critical components; the cooling unit and the thermostat.
    Do you think I should buy another backup thermostat while I still can?

     

     

     

     

     

     

    • StirCrazy's avatar
      StirCrazy
      Moderator
      Dec 03, 2024

      I don't know.  a thermostat is a pretty robust unit.  and usaly you could find a used one pretty easy, but if they are cheep why not.  

      • GuyCanRV's avatar
        GuyCanRV
        Explorer III
        Dec 03, 2024

        Well they aren't exactly cheap at $250 CAD.
        But I would gladly buy a backup to keep my fridge going in 'x' number of years should it ever fail.
        Maybe you could help me out with one other critical component I forgot to mention.
        It's the rubber seals that hold the door shut.
        They haven't been holding the door as firmly closed as I 'd like for quite some time.
        I don't know if any air is seeping in or not.
        I looked into replacement rubber seals quite a while ago but couldn't find anything.
        Maybe you could suggest something for this?


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