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82tpsmith's avatar
82tpsmith
Explorer
Dec 14, 2013

I'm at a loss and need help :(

Well I've have tried almost everything. My refrigerator quick cooling about a week ago. I'm living in whitefish, MT and the temps got down to -18 degrees one night and were at -5 to -10 for several nights. I've got the trailer all ready for winter, except I didn't insulate the fridge. Sooo...

I've looked on all the forums, done lot of research online and still can't get it to start cooling again. Here's what I've done so far.

After I noticed the fridge was not cooling, I put a 150W clear bulb back there to try and generate some heat. Waited a day nothing. Then I got some of the reflect-ix bubble insulation stuff and covered 2 of the 3 vents on the lower access doors to the refrigerator. Waited a couple of days, nothing. I've tried running on gas for a day and back to electric, nothing. Then decided since it was still cold outside I would pull the fridge out and try to warm it up. So I pulled the fridge out and had it sitting in our living room for 2 days with a heater aimed at the back side to warm up all the coils and totally thaw anything that might be frozen out. Put it back in today around 11 and have not seen a temperature drop in the inside of the fridge. It has been about 3 hours. I would have thought that I would see temps go down at least 5 or 10 degrees but thermometer still says 62. I just don't know where els to go here.

We bough our fifth wheel new and it is about 3 years old. Never had any other problems with the fridge in the three years we've had it.

Would love some ideas what might still be wrong, or what else I might do.

Thank you so much
  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    Dec 14, 2013
    First..
    at those air temps there is a good chance that the cooling medium (ammonia, water, hydrogen and a anti-corrosion agent) has gelled and therefore can not properly cycle (liquid to vapor to liquid)

    Adding the light bulb is a good step
    Blocking some of the vents on lower access cover is a good step.....using refectix may be blocking air flow across coils. Might want to just use duct tape on top slot of lower vent cover so air flow is not obstructed across coils vs reduced.

    When you tried in on electric and gas.....
    Did the gas flame come on?
    Did the element get hot?
    What temps inside fridge did you get? Freezer section & food section

    When you pulled it and then reinstalled it........
    Did you get it back in and properly connected....venting, flue etc?
    All panel controls/lights working?

    3 hours just may not be long enough period to see a cool down after restart with higher temps inside fridge (62 degrees is in food section not freezer section---correct?)

    Check freezer temps?
    Wait a few more hours for cooling down.
    Freezer section has to get cold before food section will start cooling down

    Leave the light bulb on in outside compartment.....locate just above lower 'tank'
    Block no more then two rolls of slots (upper rolls) of lower vent cover with tape so you aren't obstructing air flow just reducing it
  • Krusty's avatar
    Krusty
    Nomad II
    Dec 14, 2013
    When you had it out, did you flip it upside down at all? My fridge quit cooling one time. I took it out, set it upside down for an hour, then flipped it end for end several times while shaking it. I reinstalled it and it has been working perfectly ever since. That was in 2006.
  • 82tpsmith's avatar
    82tpsmith
    Explorer
    Dec 14, 2013
    Old-Biscuit wrote:
    First..
    at those air temps there is a good chance that the cooling medium (ammonia, water, hydrogen and a anti-corrosion agent) has gelled and therefore can not properly cycle (liquid to vapor to liquid)

    Adding the light bulb is a good step
    Blocking some of the vents on lower access cover is a good step.....using refectix may be blocking air flow across coils. Might want to just use duct tape on top slot of lower vent cover so air flow is not obstructed across coils vs reduced.

    When you tried in on electric and gas.....
    Did the gas flame come on?
    Did the element get hot?
    What temps inside fridge did you get? Freezer section & food section

    When you pulled it and then reinstalled it........
    Did you get it back in and properly connected....venting, flue etc?
    All panel controls/lights working?

    3 hours just may not be long enough period to see a cool down after restart with higher temps inside fridge (62 degrees is in food section not freezer section---correct?)

    Check freezer temps?
    Wait a few more hours for cooling down.
    Freezer section has to get cold before food section will start cooling down

    Leave the light bulb on in outside compartment.....locate just above lower 'tank'
    Block no more then two rolls of slots (upper rolls) of lower vent cover with tape so you aren't obstructing air flow just reducing it


    thanks for the quick reply and helpful insight.

    When i switch it over to gas the burner does indeed light, you can hear and see the blue glow. As far as the element getting hot, if your talking about the pipe near the top and the fins then yes, it will burn your hand.

    Intersting to know the freezer will get colder first. i now put a thermometer in the freezer and fridge to check both. As of now the freezer does seem to be a bit cooler, 55, as compared to 64. So maybe this is a good sign.

    After putting back in, everything seems to be working correclty. All lights working, no check light lit. The flu?? Well there is no top flu, it is side mounted on my slide so??? But yes I'm pretty sure everything went back in correctly.

    I added 2 pic to show what I've got here. The bulb is pointed mostly at the big cilinder at the bottom of the fridge but heat is getting to the back as well.






    I switched this around a little bit to hopfully get some more air flow. i had the bottom two blocked and switched to the top two. i think with the way my fridge is installed I get a little better airflow.

    I check the temps a bit latter. Thanks for the info!!!!!
  • 82tpsmith's avatar
    82tpsmith
    Explorer
    Dec 14, 2013
    Krusty wrote:
    When you had it out, did you flip it upside down at all? My fridge quit cooling one time. I took it out, set it upside down for an hour, then flipped it end for end several times while shaking it. I reinstalled it and it has been working perfectly ever since. That was in 2006.


    Ohh yea.. I had it upside down for a good while, rolled it down the hill and then brought it back in to heat it up :E:h

    If that really worked, I am amazed, more power to you though. You never know what might happen if you just start smakkin around a bit :)
  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    Dec 14, 2013
    Turning fridge upside down is a bandaid fix.......nothing more.

    The 'idea' is that cooling flow has become blocked due to improper fluid flow and overheating which causes crystallization that sticks to inside wall of tubes.
    Turning it upside down is suppose to dislodge the build up and allow the cooling fluid to flow again.

    The build up has already occurred....it is stuck permanently to tubes
    Turning it upside down may dislodge the crystals but they do NOT dissolve back into solution. Once formed they are permanent.

    They form due to off level operation...and accumulate overtime. They will not go away.

    '82tpsmith'
    Need some air flow thru lower vent cover.
    Upper vent cover should be fully open...no blocking and I take it the fans are not on? (some folks have them manual vs t-stat controlled)
  • 82tpsmith's avatar
    82tpsmith
    Explorer
    Dec 14, 2013
    Old-Biscuit wrote:
    Turning fridge upside down is a bandaid fix.......nothing more.

    The 'idea' is that cooling flow has become blocked due to improper fluid flow and overheating which causes crystallization that sticks to inside wall of tubes.
    Turning it upside down is suppose to dislodge the build up and allow the cooling fluid to flow again.

    The build up has already occurred....it is stuck permanently to tubes
    Turning it upside down may dislodge the crystals but they do NOT dissolve back into solution. Once formed they are permanent.

    They form due to off level operation...and accumulate overtime. They will not go away.

    '82tpsmith'
    Need some air flow thru lower vent cover.
    Upper vent cover should be fully open...no blocking and I take it the fans are not on? (some folks have them manual vs t-stat controlled)


    Upper ent cover is still fully open, only the lower of the two accsess covers that I have "blocked" And the fan is not on, it is a thermostaticaly controlled fan. I wonder if I put a small fan in the bottom is that might help air flow a bit.

    Just checked the temps again

    Freezer - 67
    Refrigerator - 66

    This is after at least 5 hours of being back on???

    I've got the fridge turned to coldest setting? good idea?

    Also, it's been on gas all this time, think I might try electric now?

    Outside temps today we mid 30's below freezing tonight. Not nearly as bad as it was though.
  • RVUSA's avatar
    RVUSA
    Explorer
    Dec 15, 2013
    In those temps you have the wrong bulb. You need a sun lamp or an infared warmer "spot light".
  • Lurker52's avatar
    Lurker52
    Explorer
    Dec 15, 2013
    A guy I worked with did the turning upside down trick and it worked. He did this in june and it was still running good in October. You may want to give it a try.
  • 82tpsmith's avatar
    82tpsmith
    Explorer
    Dec 15, 2013
    Well...the temps are still in the 60's so needless to say something isn't right. I couldn't believe when I heard about flipping it upside down, but with all these people saying it might work i might have to give it a try.

    Also read some stuff on the thermistor? Possibly could this be bad? Not sure what the signs might be, but strange it would go at the same time we had those super cold nights.

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