Freezer works, refridgerator doesn't.

30sweeds wrote:

dougrainer wrote:

wrgrs50s wrote:
I had a friend with a similar issue and he removed his fridge and turned it upside down overnight then flipped it back up the next day and it dislodged the blockage and all worked fine afterwards. Worth a try if all else fails.

That's like turning yourself upside down to remove a blockage on your Arteries. The blockage HAS to go somewhere. But, this is just a dig at you. Cooling unit blockages CANNOT be broken loose or removed. They are as hard as a WELD and ATTACHED at the upper metal lines. If you have a partial blockage you can "Burp",(turn upside down), and move the ammonia around. Or, you can just let the unit sit OFF for a few days to accomplish the same thing. ALL this does, is allow the unit to cool again. BUT, it will NOT cool as efficiently as an unblocked unit. When it gets HOT outside the refer will not keep up with the demand for cooling. Doug

Doug...Right and wrong. the blockage material will always remain in the system but may move around depending on what it is. Rust,weld residue,ammonia crystals,who knows. Flipping the unit DOES work! The last old MH I had...unit was flipped and the fridge worked perfect for !7 YEARS. Several other ones the same before that. I'm sure it's not a 100% deal but definitely worth a try.Let's see...free vs $1000 or more.Cooling unit alone,5,6 hundred.
My method-Flip for 1 day,upright 1 day flip 1 day,upright and so on for 4 or 5 days.

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY WRONG. I suggest you do a Cooling unit rebuilder search and they have pics of the upper coil cut in half showing the HARD WELDED blockage. I have 38 years experience as an RV Tech and extensive training by both Dometic and Norcold, and I always remind people if burping was a solution then Norcold and Dometic would utilize burping as a field fix instead of replacing the refer or cooling unit under warranty. Which they do not. If you BURP a unit and it is FULLY restored, you did not have a blockage. If you have a partial blockage you can indeed burp, but it will NOT restore the complete cooling operation. It may work, but when it comes time for 100% operational cooling in warmer weather, the refer will not perform as it should. Doug

removed to new subject.

Sounds like your cooling unit has blockage. Time to replace the cooling unit, refrigerator or go residential.

This weekend I let the fridge run on gas for a couple of days. Freezer got down to -4F, fridge was 51F. It was about 85F in the house.

Steve

dougrainer wrote:

wrgrs50s wrote:
I had a friend with a similar issue and he removed his fridge and turned it upside down overnight then flipped it back up the next day and it dislodged the blockage and all worked fine afterwards. Worth a try if all else fails.

That's like turning yourself upside down to remove a blockage on your Arteries. The blockage HAS to go somewhere. But, this is just a dig at you. Cooling unit blockages CANNOT be broken loose or removed. They are as hard as a WELD and ATTACHED at the upper metal lines. If you have a partial blockage you can "Burp",(turn upside down), and move the ammonia around. Or, you can just let the unit sit OFF for a few days to accomplish the same thing. ALL this does, is allow the unit to cool again. BUT, it will NOT cool as efficiently as an unblocked unit. When it gets HOT outside the refer will not keep up with the demand for cooling. Doug

Doug...Right and wrong. the blockage material will always remain in the system but may move around depending on what it is. Rust,weld residue,ammonia crystals,who knows. Flipping the unit DOES work! The last old MH I had...unit was flipped and the fridge worked perfect for !7 YEARS. Several other ones the same before that. I'm sure it's not a 100% deal but definitely worth a try.Let's see...free vs $1000 or more.Cooling unit alone,5,6 hundred.
My method-Flip for 1 day,upright 1 day flip 1 day,upright and so on for 4 or 5 days.

I'm betting those Danfoss fridges are $1000+, and then I'd need $300 worth of solar to run them electrically.

I think I'll go with a $300 residential fridge and run it off shore power or the generator.

Steve

Keep in mind that a residential unit with a vapor compressor is a power hog. Good if you are shore powered all the time, no good if not hooked up to a utility.

A Danfoss compressor unit on the other hand is a much more efficient compressor and uses about 1/5th the juice a residential unit does, IOW, no shore power, not a big issue so long as you have the battery power / solar / small genny to keep the batteries charged.

I have a Dometic Danfoss fridge / freezer combo I carry on the backseat of my pickup and it runs via the cigar lighter. My wife borrows it when she goes grocery shopping in the summer to keep frozen stuff frozen on the way home.

Very nice units.

at least 3 times as efficient as a residential unit and about 10 times better than an ammonia fridge.

dougrainer wrote:

wrgrs50s wrote:
I had a friend with a similar issue and he removed his fridge and turned it upside down overnight then flipped it back up the next day and it dislodged the blockage and all worked fine afterwards. Worth a try if all else fails.

That's like turning yourself upside down to remove a blockage on your Arteries. The blockage HAS to go somewhere. But, this is just a dig at you. Cooling unit blockages CANNOT be broken loose or removed. They are as hard as a WELD and ATTACHED at the upper metal lines. If you have a partial blockage you can "Burp",(turn upside down), and move the ammonia around. Or, you can just let the unit sit OFF for a few days to accomplish the same thing. ALL this does, is allow the unit to cool again. BUT, it will NOT cool as efficiently as an unblocked unit. When it gets HOT outside the refer will not keep up with the demand for cooling. Doug

I understand what your saying Doug, I don't know how it works on some and not others, but it's worth a shot if your an old poor boy.

It looks like any refrigerator with the word "RV" in it is $1000+.

If we have to replace the unit, which I'm betting we do, I'll probably go with a home model. My cutout for the Norcold is 52.25 tall x 23.875 wide x 24 deep. I'll have to find something that fits in there.

I did find this in the owner's manual:



But this seems to apply if the unit is not cooling at all. My freezer is cooling find, just not the refrigerator compartment.

My driveway is slightly off level front-to-rear, but not terribly so. Maybe 5 degrees or so. I have in the past run the fridge in the driveway and did so the day before leaving on the recent week-long trip.

Steve

Old-Biscuit wrote:

maillemaker wrote:
Like I said, I had it running for a week 2 weeks ago and the lower unit never cooled off. But the freezer was full of frozen stuff.

Steve

Thermostat uses the temp in food compartment for control of cooling cycles
Doesn't sense freezer temp....just the food compartment fin temp vai the thermistor

Food compartment NOT cooling off after running for a week and freezer staying frozen.........COOLING UNIT is bad

Blockage in cooling unit that can NOT be repaired.
Replacement of cooling unit, new fridge or go residential

Also a third solution (if replacement is required....

Go with a Danfoss compressor unit. Dometic and now Norcold offer them. Just a little bit more amp draw than a residential unit because the Danfoss has a 'smart' compressor that adjusts it's 'duty cycle' to fit the compartment temperature plus, they run on 110 shore power and 12 volt battery power (you do need solar to keep the house batteries up or a small genny but they are very efficient, cool down 10 times as fast as an Ammonia fridge and don't have to be level to operate.

When my Ammonia unit poops out it will be a Danfoss replacement, maybe sooner, who knows.