How to check out old Dometic gas/electric refrigerator

Thanks all for the quick reply!

I have the refrigerator out of the camper. I will bring it into the garage and plug in and see if it gets cold by tomorrow.

It had sat for 8 years not being used in this camper. I got it from my folks and they said they thought it didn't work.

I just found a model sticker on it while cleaning it. It says RM60a. Not sure if the manual for the RM66 you linked to Chris will work. A quick internet search and I didn't see anything on the particular model I have.

I will post back if it cools or not. I don't know if the gas and/or electric works at this point. When I plug it in should I hear any noise or hums?

Thanks!

Oh darn, Chris beat me to referring you to his Blogs.

and it takes about 14hrs to cool frig should get to 10deg and the box in the 35deg range.

That looks like a Dometic RM66. You can just plug it in and turn it to electric, if everything is good, it will cool, if it doesn't, then you can go from there.
I do have the service manual for that model on my service manuals page here.

Yes.

You can verify the cooling system by disconnecting the 110V heating element from the controls and connecting 110V directly to the heating element.

The cooling unit should drop to below freezing in both the freezer and the fridg when left over night.

I've done it several times and found applying power at ~4:00 pm and checking the next morning at 8:00 or 9:00 proved the unit. Some could take a full 24 hours.

You can measure the element first or if it doesn't drop below freezing, you'll then need to verify that the heating element is in good condition. Measure the current and voltage at the heating element connection and calculate the wattage.

Watts = voltage x current.

Compare that to what the element should be. You should be able to search online for info on the model of frig you have to get that info.