Dometic fridge ?

Rv refrigerators are finicky, we struggled for 3 years with ours. Ours has side vents and any air turbulence messed up the air flow. We finally figured out how to remedy that and still allow air to circulate properly. We even had a fan in the back of fridge but it still didn't cool, especially traveling. Whew, what a learning experience! All is good now.

Is your fridge in a slide? Once slides became common, it no longer worked to have a vent in the roof directly over the fridge. That was the best arrangement to keep air moving over the outside fins. With the fridge in a slide, you rely on a top and bottom wall vent and the fridge mfgs specify fans to keep the back of the fridge from overheating. The fans are pretty reliable but I see a lot of the little sensors (screwed to one of the upper fins) failing. If the fans quit, the fridge will not cool properly. Jump the sensor to see if the fans still work. In a pinch, you can just leave it jumped until you get a new sensor, you just have to put up with the slight fan noise. The cooling units are either good or bad. The ammonia/gas charge is so small a tiny leak renders them useless in one day. When the sealed cooling unit goes bad, you will see a yellowish powder around the leak area and/or smell ammonia for a day or two. If it is cooling at all, the cooling system is good. You have either a heat source (gas or electric) or outside ventilation problem.

You have it to far up put it in the middle of the fin

How old is the fridge? Does it have the proper ventilation space in back of it? ( Google for a diagram.) Does this involve operation on gas, electric or both? Are you level? As a last resort, you can hotwire the wires to the 120-volt heating element. ( Connect them directly to a 120-volt test lead.). If the unit still doesn't cool properly then your cooling unit probably needs replacement.

Thermostat controls cooling cycles based on the temp sensing by the thermistor (temp probe in the clip attached to far right fin)

Freezer temp should be at least 10*F (colder is better) and food compartment temp below 40*F

A bulb thermometer in glass of water on shelf in food compartment can accurately measure inside temps


The 'tip' of thermistor should just protrude out top of clip
Clip should be tight against fin.


To test if thermistor is issue....unplug the thermistor leads from the lower circuit board.
P2 2 pin connector on top left area.

With thermistor unplugged fridge has no temp sensing so it runs continuously
Let it operate for a least 12 hrs this way.
If issue is thermistor then food compartment will get very cold.....35*f or lower (freezer will be 0*F or colder)

IF fridge does NOT get colder then issue is with ventilation, airflow/draft or cooling unit