Dometic Fridge stopped working in cold weather? Ideas?

Hi,

To help the cause, there are a few things that stick out to me that point to an intermittent issues shutting down the entire fridge OR something intermittent shutting down the AC element.

It would help if we knew the model number, but since it is 2011 and a Zinger I'm assuming you might have a RM2652 or one close to it.

I highlighted in blue the patterns that stuck out to me.

imq707s wrote:
We took our 2011 Zinger camper

It was set to "AUTO", but I switched it over to "GAS" in order to see if that would get it cooling again. A few hours later.....things were starting to cool off again.

One strange thing I did notice is that the fan that I can usually hear cycling in and off every few minutes when things were working normally.....was constantly on in the morning when the fridge wasn't cooling.

imq707s wrote:
I will do some more troublshooting tomorrow.

I don't think that the GFI outlet tripped......I still had power to the control panel, and the door light inside the fridge worked when I opened the door. As soon as I hit the "GAS" button, it started cooling again.

I'm going to plug it into 120v power tomorrow and see if the fridge starts to cool again. I have noticed lately that the yellow light that's supposed to light up with you hit the AUTO button is kind of iffy.....depending on how you wiggle the button around, it will sometimes not turn the light on...even though the fridge is working.

Could the control panel just be flaking out?

imq707s wrote:
****UPDATE****

Well, I did a little more troubleshooting. After the camper set for a few days, I went ahead and hooked it back up to 120v power and turned the fridge to AUTO (gas was off)..it was around 5pm. Later that night I checked the fridge, and it was cool and the freezer felt really cold...everything was working like it was supposed to.

I checked it in the morning...and it was NOT cold. The AUTO light was still lit, and everything had power. I turned the fridge off, opened the fridge, and let everything air out.

A few days later, I did the same thing. This time, after being on all night long it was still cold in the morning. The temps at night were in the 30's....nothing below that.

So at this point I know it's not a fuse and it's not the GFI outlet.

It's definitely an intermittent issue that happens when it's running on 120v power, but doesn't happen with it's running on propane.

Could this be a control board issue? What kind of troubleshooting can I do not in order to narrow things down and find the issue?

A few big picture things.

The Dometic fridges I have worked on, when the 12 volt power is turned off in the camper, the fridge shuts down. When the power comes back, the fridge will start back up on it's own. You do not have to reset the auto button.

The control system (PC board on the back of the fridge) that turns the 120 electric element on and off is the same control system that turns the gas system on and off. The main PC board just selects which to turn on.

When the system switches to gas, either by loss of incoming 120 AC power when in auto mode OR you force the fridge into gas mode by pressing the LP gas button, there is a flame fault circuit that engages. If the system is on gas however it got there, and the flame blows out or never lights, it gets 3 trails for ignition to light. If that 3 tries fails, the system goes into lock out and the fault light illuminates on the console. That fault light will not reset until the 12 volt power is cycled by loss of incoming 12 volt power or you shut the fridge down and back on.

Now with all that said, tell us

1. The night you were camping and the fridge was warm come morning, did you have the LP tanks turned on? The fridge if it was in AUTO, and the 120 VAC power to the fridge went out, it should of switched to gas all on it's own and the fridge still cool in the morning if the LP tanks were on and the fridge was not in fault mode.

If the LP gas at the tanks was off or out of gas, and the AC power went out, it would of tried to light on gas, it would of failed to fire off as there was no gas and the fridge should of locked out on safety and the fault light would be on.

2. Was the fault light ever on when during any of this events, ever? and if so describe the events of the time.

3. The fans making noise, is this the power converter fans or an air circulation fan in the back of the fridge?

GFI's do not reset themselves, so if one tripped on the fridge 120 VAC line, then you would of had to reset it. Did you ever reset one?

I have seen the electric elements burn out and nothing happens and it does not come back. The neutral wire in the element sleeve corrodes to ground tripping GFI's. But when the actual element fails, I have not had one come back to life. Once dead, they stay dead. You have reported 120 AC mode works and then does not. This does not point to the actual AC element.

If you are not getting a fault light on the control panel, and the fridge is not cooling, then this points to you are not loosing the 120 AC incoming power or it would of tried to run on gas, and if gas failed, it would of shut down on safety.

There may be an issue with the relay system that controls the 120 vac element on the PC board. If the PC board stops sending power to the element, then the LP gas will never fire off as there is no loss of incoming AC power. And the fridge will get warm, yet the fridge work ok when put on gas mode. And other times, the electric works. The relay system may be intermittent.

You also mentioned the flaky acting up of Auto light at the control console/panel, that points to a loose connection or the control panel acting up. That control panel tells the fridge control board to run. That control panel is at least suspect. If the fridge turned on and off when in Auto by itself, it will warm up. When forced into gas mode, the auto circuit is not in play and may run fine on gas. The actual PC control board may have issues too.

I agree, there may be a wire connection issue with corrosion on the back of the fridge or on the control panel. That is intermittent.

Cold temperatures makes things contract, electrical connections when it is warm outside may make contact when warm and not make contact when cold as the metal contracted. And a little dirt/corrosion mixed in.

There is not enough info yet to point to one specific issue.

If you never get a fault light from a gas failure while in auto or gas mode, then the 120 VAC incoming power to the fridge does not seem to be lost.

Hope all this helps and for sure, report back what it found. Learn something new all the time.

John

You could try reseating all of the connections on the board. Taking each one off one at
A time and put it back on. See what that does.

****UPDATE****

Well, I did a little more troubleshooting. After the camper set for a few days, I went ahead and hooked it back up to 120v power and turned the fridge to AUTO (gas was off)..it was around 5pm. Later that night I checked the fridge, and it was cool and the freezer felt really cold...everything was working like it was supposed to.

I checked it in the morning...and it was NOT cold. The AUTO light was still lit, and everything had power. I turned the fridge off, opened the fridge, and let everything air out.

A few days later, I did the same thing. This time, after being on all night long it was still cold in the morning. The temps at night were in the 30's....nothing below that.

So at this point I know it's not a fuse and it's not the GFI outlet.

It's definitely an intermittent issue that happens when it's running on 120v power, but doesn't happen with it's running on propane.

Could this be a control board issue? What kind of troubleshooting can I do not in order to narrow things down and find the issue?

31 degrees ambient will not cause a problem with cooling operation. BELOW 25 degrees, then the rear of the refer outside cooling coils need a 60 watt light bulb installed to help keep the rear warmer and not slow down the Ammonia process. BELOW 10 degrees the refer will not function at all. Doug

If it gets cold enough the refer will not work.

I put a trouble light in the compartment to help keep it warm and that worked, use a real light bulb and at 60 watts or one not to exceed the recommended wattage. Outside temp was hitting 4 degrees.

JimR

imq707s wrote:
I don't think that the GFI outlet tripped......I still had power to the control panel, and the door light inside the fridge worked when I opened the door.

The control panel and door light are both 12v. They will work without 120v power.

imq707s wrote:
As soon as I hit the "GAS" button, it started cooling again.

If it cools on gas but not electric, you have a 120v problem. The GFCI would be the first thing I checked.

I will do some more troublshooting tomorrow.

I don't think that the GFI outlet tripped......I still had power to the control panel, and the door light inside the fridge worked when I opened the door. As soon as I hit the "GAS" button, it started cooling again.

I'm going to plug it into 120v power tomorrow and see if the fridge starts to cool again. I have noticed lately that the yellow light that's supposed to light up with you hit the AUTO button is kind of iffy.....depending on how you wiggle the button around, it will sometimes not turn the light on...even though the fridge is working.

Could the control panel just be flaking out?

Did you accidentally tripped the GFI That feeds 120 V to the fridge?

" One strange thing I did notice is that the fan that I can usually hear cycling on and off every few minutes when things were working normally.....was constantly on in the morning when the fridge wasn't cooling."

If that was the converter acting up and you were actually getting your 12v from the battery, it could be that the battery was too low in the cold by then to run the fridge and it came back up a little when it got warmer so the fridge worked again.

You must have had some 12v to be able to use the fridge controls though.

31F should not bother the fridge itself in either AC or Gas--both need 12v though.

The converter fan should not be cycling every few minutes when "normal" or be constantly on either. It could be the battery making the converter do that. Need to check out your 12v system.

Your fridge needs heat to circulate the fluid/gas that extracts the heat from the fridge and freezer areas. If the area in back of the fridge is too cold, the fluid/gas can't circulate. Sometimes all that's needed in colder weather is to temporarily cover the most of the vents in the outside access panel to slow the flow of cold outside air up through the roof/upper vent. In even colder weather, a 60 watt incandescent light bulb (if you can still find one) may help warm up the area. Make sure it's in a safe holder of course, such as a mechanics lead light.