Freezer works...refrige doesn't....

For absorption fridges, a small fridge fan can help a lot. I use one of the Valterra ones which will run on one set of "D" batteries for almost a month. Even when the fridge is not in use and the door is held open, I keep the fan going just for air circulation.

We have a residential unit in our bus. They use a fan to move cold air from the freezer to the frig. DO RV units do this or would a small battery type fan help speed up the process of cooling?

When it comes time to replace the fridge consider a residential model, assuming you always have electric available. I'm tempted to replace my absorption fridge with a compressor type when the time comes. A friend has an older trailer in which he installed a residential fridge. The job was done so neatly you couldn't tell it wasn't installed by the trailer manufacturer.

With a residential fridge there will be no concern about leveling or other cooling problems. The only concerns may be retrofitting the newer fridge to replace the old and getting them through the door of the RV.

Fixyourfridge.com This guy is the best source of refrigerator repair I have found. Willing to work with you over the phone.

It's also best to put cold items into the refrigerator or freezer. They are not as efficient as your home model.

Heat causes the ammonia to turn into a vapor. The vapor rises to the condensing coils where it turns into liquid (very cold liquid). It flows to evaporator section where it mixes with hydrogen which causes it to evaporate which pulls the heat out of freezer section, then continues to flow downward and evaporate where it then pulls heat out of food section. IT then flows thru absorber section where hydrogen is released and the ammonia flows down to liquid chamber to repeat the cycle.

Freezer gets coolest due to the high heat transfer as the ammonia evaporates and then food section cools but less due to lower evaporation rate and the heat already absorbed from freezer section

This is going on inside the cooling unit and is added by the outside air flow.
And gravity.
Off level operation restricts proper flow.....and can cause damage which is accumulative until cooling unit is clogged.

Takes several hours for this process to cool the fridge.....freezer section first then food section.

Being level and patience.........cold fridge.

If you are in a cold climate, your fridge may act differently. Had this happen in Dec a couple years ago....got further south with warmer outside temps & all was ok. Same thing happened to a friend. Dont know scientific explanation except it's related to ammonia in outside coils which cools. I turned mine on today, 34 degrees now, will check in the morning.

If the freezer is working the fridge is working and yes it can take a day for the fridge portion to get cold.

It can take 12 hours to cool down. If you look in the upper right corner of your fridge, will probably see a temperature probe in a clip attached to one of the cooling fins. By sliding it up and down, you can adjust the fridge temp. Probably an arrow on the fridge wall. Sometime they get knock/vibrated loose out of adjustment.

I normally put a bag of ice in the freezer and some frozen food I plan to thaw in the fridge to "prime the pump". Seems to help it cool down a little quicker.

If one needs to load things, I always try to keep frozen gel packs or at least frozen bottles of water to get the fridge to an operating temperature, then load food. I also always keep a few gel packs in the freezer part and switch them out as well, which does the job.