Hope this is not the start of how this will go.. Picked up my 2014 LivinLite VRV toyhauler.. earlier this month, but due to the cold, the dealer had told me that it was already winterized so we did not get a chance to test much out. He told me that this coming spring, I can swing by and he can help me test it and unwinterized it. so that is the plan for the plumbing part.Now, today we had some good weather up in the 50s.. sunny and it was a nice day to get out and play around with all the electricals.. I plugged the livinlite to shore power, tested the propane "furnace, stove top.. all seems to work. I then went to turn on the Domestic brand (2 door) re-fridge and got an E3 error. From the manual it reads "The cooling unit has malfunctioned. Contact a Service Center"now, off to email my dealer. I found another posting somewhere that had some bad stories on their unit. I hope I won't be singing the same song, just a different verse of it.Arrrggg.hobbicam..

First, congratulations on your new Livin' Lite- my dream trailer! It's rough to have any problems at all with a new rig, so sure understand your concern there...but if it's any comfort, this problem isn't related to its construction, so no worries there, right? The "E3" error code on a Dometic may be a real simple fix. I THINK there's a red "reset" button on the back of that fridge. If it's there, it may need to be reset....If that doesn't work, I'm sure others will have suggestions- and if NOTHING works, I'm betting that Camplite will step right up, even though appliances are usually covered by their various mfr's. They have a very good customer service rep, and want to keep it.Good luck!

The refer needs 12 volts DC, battery power, along with the propane in order for it to work. Make sure the propane is ON at the tank and that you light the stove burner first and let it burn until it burns steady, this will get the air out of the line, Then make sure the battery is fully charged, 12.6 volts, and that the battery disconnect switch is in the ON position then turn the refer to GAS and you should hear the igniter try and light the refer. It might be best to disconnect from shore power while doing this test so you are just testing the gas part of the refer. If you have the refer on AUTO and plugged into shore power, it will automatically switch to 120 V AC and you wont hear any noise indicating that it is working because it is silent in operating on shore power. Give it a try and let us know what happens.

Got the new rig and doing a little 'driveway camping' I take it??Would you happen to have leveled the rig before trying to run the fridge??There is a reset located on the left side of the fridge inside the lower outside vent. It is between a couple wires and hard to find. Push the tiny button back in and reset the thermal device.And don't operate fridge off level........it will cause damage.

othertonka wrote:The refer needs 12 volts DC, battery power, along with the propane in order for it to work. Make sure the propane is ON at the tank and that you light the stove burner first and let it burn until it burns steady, this will get the air out of the line, .yep, how long//many times did you wait to try to get the refer to work. might take several tries initially as you say to purge the lines.bumpy

And don't operate fridge off level........it will cause damage. I am confused by that statement. These refrigerators are designed to be on while driving down the road. Hardly a level environment while doing that.

spanking new.. problems.. | Good Sam Community

Francesca_Knowl
Explorer
Dec 29, 2013
First, congratulations on your new Livin' Lite- my dream trailer! It's rough to have any problems at all with a new rig, so sure understand your concern there...but if it's any comfort, this problem isn't related to its construction, so no worries there, right?

The "E3" error code on a Dometic may be a real simple fix. I THINK there's a red "reset" button on the back of that fridge. If it's there, it may need to be reset....

If that doesn't work, I'm sure others will have suggestions- and if NOTHING works, I'm betting that Camplite will step right up, even though appliances are usually covered by their various mfr's. They have a very good customer service rep, and want to keep it.

Good luck!
othertonka
Explorer
Dec 29, 2013
The refer needs 12 volts DC, battery power, along with the propane in order for it to work. Make sure the propane is ON at the tank and that you light the stove burner first and let it burn until it burns steady, this will get the air out of the line, Then make sure the battery is fully charged, 12.6 volts, and that the battery disconnect switch is in the ON position then turn the refer to GAS and you should hear the igniter try and light the refer. It might be best to disconnect from shore power while doing this test so you are just testing the gas part of the refer. If you have the refer on AUTO and plugged into shore power, it will automatically switch to 120 V AC and you wont hear any noise indicating that it is working because it is silent in operating on shore power. Give it a try and let us know what happens.
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Dec 29, 2013
Got the new rig and doing a little 'driveway camping' I take it??

Would you happen to have leveled the rig before trying to run the fridge??

There is a reset located on the left side of the fridge inside the lower outside vent. It is between a couple wires and hard to find. Push the tiny button back in and reset the thermal device.

And don't operate fridge off level........it will cause damage.
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Dec 29, 2013
othertonka wrote:
The refer needs 12 volts DC, battery power, along with the propane in order for it to work. Make sure the propane is ON at the tank and that you light the stove burner first and let it burn until it burns steady, this will get the air out of the line, .

yep, how long//many times did you wait to try to get the refer to work. might take several tries initially as you say to purge the lines.
bumpy
sportsman_500
Explorer
Dec 29, 2013
And don't operate fridge off level........it will cause damage.

I am confused by that statement. These refrigerators are designed to be on while driving down the road. Hardly a level environment while doing that.
RoyB
Explorer II
Dec 29, 2013
Whenever I first try to use my propane I always light off the stove top burners to purge the propane lines... Sometimes my furnace won't lit off the first couple of times if I don't purge the lines first.

Roy Ken
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Dec 29, 2013
sportsman 500 wrote:
And don't operate fridge off level........it will cause damage.

I am confused by that statement. These refrigerators are designed to be on while driving down the road. Hardly a level environment while doing that.

bouncing around driving down the road sort of negates the need to have it plumb level.
bumpy
mpierce
Explorer
Dec 29, 2013
sportsman 500 wrote:
And don't operate fridge off level........it will cause damage.

I am confused by that statement. These refrigerators are designed to be on while driving down the road. Hardly a level environment while doing that.

If unlevel enough, the ammonia cannot circulate, and it will be ruined. It settles in the low spots.

However, when on the road, you are moving, and sloshing, etc. No problem.

These newer ones take off level better than the older models did. If level enough to be reasonably comfortable in the trailer, it is OK.
naturist
Nomad
Dec 29, 2013
I assume that fridge can be run on 120 v electrical as well as propane, and that it might run on 12 v too.

And most certainly I wouldn't try to run it at all unless the rig was level.

I get the error message, too, if I try to run it on propane when propane is unavailable, either because it isn't turned on, or because the propane lines have not yet been purged of air. The fridge will try to light the burner 3 times, and if it fails to light, you get an error code.

There are a couple things you might do. One is to make sure that it is set to 120 v electrical mode. Another is to turn on range top burner and get the lines purged that far before trying the fridge. You can also shut the fridge off after getting the error, give it 30 seconds or so to reset itself, and try again. On occasion, I've had to do THAT two or three times before success.
Dirtclods
Explorer
Dec 29, 2013
RoyB wrote:
Whenever I first try to use my propane I always light off the stove top burners to purge the propane lines... Sometimes my furnace won't lit off the first couple of times if I don't purge the lines first.

Roy Ken

2nd that!!