Dometic Fridge not working on electric, but does on propane?

Question

We took our 2011 Zinger camper out this weekend. We loaded it up Thursday night and switched the fridge “gas” so that it cooled down faster. We headed out of town Friday morning, and got to camp Friday afternoon. I switched the fridge over to “Auto” which should have forced it to run on electric.

Everything seemed fine, but when we opened the freezer Saturday night, it was melted….and we noticed that the freezer and fridge were getting warm.

I went ahead and switched it back over to “gas”….and luckily, in a few hours everything started getting cool again.

Any idea on where to start troubleshooting this issue? Could the control panel with the on/off and gas/auto buttons be faulty?

Any other ideas?

enblethen · Answer

It could be a couple things.First check for 120 volts AC coming out of circuit board.If voltage is present, check the elemnet for continuity.I beleive the circuit board has 120 volts into it, it is possible if no voltage on output of the circuit that it is bad. I would suhggest a Dinosaur Electronics circuit board as a replacement.

bfl13 · Answer

Mine has two glass fuses on the fridge's circuit board. A 3 amp for the 12v stuff and a 5 amp for the 120v element.

However, first check that the fridge has 120v where you plug it into a receptacle. That receptacle might be dead from a popped circuit breaker or from being on a GFCI circuit where the GFCI has popped.

old-biscuit · Answer

BFL13 wrote:Mine has two glass fuses on the fridge's circuit board.  A 3 amp for the 12v stuff and a 5 amp for the 120v element.However, first check that the fridge has 120v where you plug it into a receptacle.  That receptacle might be dead from a popped circuit breaker or from being on a GFCI circuit where the GFCI has popped.THIS^^^^Start with the basics.Do you have 120VAC at the Outlet fridge plugs intoYES...Then remove cover on the lower circuit board and check the GLASS fuseThat is the AC circuit FuseGot AC at/thru fuse (check it with voltmeter not just visual)YES.....Then check for AC at the 2 terminals where the Electric Element Leads plug onto the circuit boardThen do a continuity check thru the leads of the elementBlown Glass Fuse...bad elementGood fuse...no AC at element lead terminals on circuit board...BAD boardAC at terminals...no continuity thru element leads.bad element

enblethen · Answer

The circuit board sees 120 volts AC entering the circuit board. Problem is from the relay on the circuit board to the element. Fuse is good otherwise the system would revert back to propane.

imq707s · Answer

****UPDATE****Well, before I did any troubleshooting.....I went ahead and plugged the camper back into shore power....turned the fridge on, and put it on "auto".....so it was running on power, not gas. I checked it about an hour later....and sure enough, the freezer was getting frosty. So at this point...it's not a fuse, or a bad 120v receptacle.....it's intermittent.  How do I even start checking things now when it's working fine? Does that sound like a bad board or control panel? I thought that when those go bad.....they go bad, they don't start working again after a few days. Ideas?

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Dometic Fridge not working on electric, but does on propane?

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