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jungleexplorer's avatar
jungleexplorer
Explorer
Jun 13, 2015

Help! Domestic Refrigerator not getting cold.

My Mom and Dad recently acquired a 1998 Fortravel Unicoach Series M-4000 U320. It is a really nice unit. The parked at an RV park by a lake and while they were out of town, the lake flooded due to heavy rains and I had to make a mad dash down to the lake to get it out before the water got to high. The water was lapping at the tires when I got there and by some miracle I was able to back this monstrosity out against the directional flow of the parks design ( because the front was pointed at the lake). I got it to high ground and parked it and spent the rest of the day rescuing seven elderly RVers that desperately need help and had no truck to pull their rvs out with.

Bottom line, mom and dad's RV went without power for a week (lost all the food in the fridge. When the water went down and I got it all hooked up again, everything worked, but the refrigerator will not get cold. It will get slightly cool (maybe around 55 or 60 degrees) but not cold like it used to. It is a side by side and the freezer part is working fine and will freeze water, but no matter what I do, the refrigerator will not cool down. I have tried switching it off for a while and then back on and running it on LP. We left it alone for a whole week and when we got back it was still not cold. What is wrong?
Class A
  • bullydogs1's avatar
    bullydogs1
    Explorer
    Jun 13, 2015
    You are saying the freezer part works, the fridge is not cold enough...any ammonia smell or yellowy substance around..?..There may also be a thermistor (sliding white thing) on the fins of the fridge..that may have to be slid up ...but it sounds like the cooling unit may be on its way out...sorry.
  • midnightsadie's avatar
    midnightsadie
    Explorer II
    Jun 13, 2015
    shut down try running on lp. for 6hrs .it should cold.make sure the doors are shut.just some thing to try.
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Jun 13, 2015
    Any chance the cooling coils just need to be cleaned up? If you have pets and carpet in the area they can get fuzzy fast.
  • WILDEBILL308's avatar
    WILDEBILL308
    Explorer II
    Jun 13, 2015
    ScottG wrote:
    Any chance the cooling coils just need to be cleaned up? If you have pets and carpet in the area they can get fuzzy fast.

    How are pet hairs going to get on the coils that are on the out side of the coach?
    Cleaning the coils and making shore the airflow isn't blocked would be a good place to start. Is it level?
    Bill
  • RayChez's avatar
    RayChez
    Explorer
    Jun 13, 2015
    I agree with midnighsadie. Try switching from AC to propane and see if it will cool down. Where do you have the settings at. On the Norcold 1200 LRIM best setting on the knob is on six, but if you want colder you go up in the numbers, not down. I would also check the thermister on the fins. Slide it up about half an inch and it should cool down.

    I just noticed on your post the word Domestic? Are you telling us that it is a Dometic refrigerator? If it is I am not sure how the settings work on Dometic refrigerators. Not sure if they are like the Norcold.
  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    Jun 13, 2015
    Level?

    Freezer freezing.......food section still warm. Blockage in cooling unit between low temp evap section (freezer) and high temp evap section.

    When you moved it due to flooding.....you unplugged shore power/fridge swapped to propane. You parked RV on higher ground.......but it probably wasn't re-leveled.

    Fridge operation in an off level condition can cause blockage in a cooling unit after less than 20 mins. of run time.

    Test cooling unit.......
    Unplug electric heat element and plug it directly into an AC power source.
    Run it on direct AC power for at least 12 hrs.
    Then check temps in freezer and food section.

    If food section still warm cooling unit is blocked.....replacement time
  • jungleexplorer's avatar
    jungleexplorer
    Explorer
    Jun 13, 2015
    Thanks for all the replies. To answer a few questions. When I moved the RV, I did not re-level it (I did not know how. This thing is complicated). There was no RV hookup where I parked it but there was access to a 110v outlet from a house. Using an adapter I found underneath in the storage area I was able to plug it into the 110 outlet. My thought was to just power the fridge to keep the food from spoiling. When I cam back after a week, all the food was rotten and the refrigerator button was in the OFF position. I have no idea how it got turned off, and I know that I did not do it. I don't know if the unit has some sort of safety device that would turn it off, but if it did, that would explain how it got turned off. The other possibility is that it got bumped somehow and was turned off and never was running the whole time it was unlevel. It was parked on a very level drive way, so if it was out of level, it was not by much.

    I will take a look at all the suggestions given tomorrow in the daylight. Thanks again.
  • Ivylog's avatar
    Ivylog
    Explorer III
    Jun 13, 2015
    I had much the same symptoms after running mine out of level. Here is my old post on how I got it to work OK, but never great when it was hot out.

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