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

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 stepBlocking 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 sectionWhen 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 downLeave 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

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.

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 stepBlocking 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 sectionWhen 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 downLeave 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 itthanks 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!!!!!

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:hIf 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 :)

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 tubesTurning 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)

I'm at a loss and need help :( | Good Sam Community

BarneyS
Explorer III
Dec 15, 2013
You might ask the moderator to move this to the Tech Issues forum. One of our members, who is a well known RV tech and has his own RV repair business, frequents that forum and may join in on your thread with advice.
Barney
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Dec 15, 2013
Unplug thermistor cable from lower board and force cool it.

Also get some air flow thru that lower vent....air flow has to move across back of fridge from lower vent thru upper vent
jrobert01
Explorer
Dec 15, 2013
I do not know much about
reefer's but i would take it out and turn it upside down and keep it warm for several hours then put it in and it will work again.Same thing happened to me and i did just that and it worked 3 yrs.and was working when i sold the motor home. I read how from a repair manual from C.W.It is worth a try they suggest letting it stay upside down for 12 hrs.I certainly hope this helps replacement is expensive.
82tpsmith
Explorer
Dec 16, 2013
well I take back anything sarcastic I might have said about turning it up side down. We had put the fridge back yesterday and was still not working. I though what the heck I've tried everything else, lets turn it upside down. So this morning I took out the refrigerator, again, and turned it on it's side. Let it sit for a couple of hours. then turned it upside down, waited a couple of hours, and then flipped it from side to upside down to side again. You could hear all the liquids moving around as I did this.

Put the fridge back in about 2-3 hours ago and I'll be darned if it ain't 11 degrees in the freezer now. The refrigerator still is comming down in temperature, but I do believe that fixed it.

I would have never though of doing this. Can't imagine what I did, but I am sure glad it seems to be working.

Thank you all SOOOO much for the help, and I'll post back tomorrow to update the temps after 24 hours or so.
roy67ss
Explorer
Dec 16, 2013
It is called 'burping' the fridge. Common thing to need to do back in the days of 3 way fridges.
DiskDoctr
Explorer
Dec 16, 2013
You know the 'first' fellow to report flipping the fridge probably involved WARM beer, a couple of buddies, and a big hill, then a 'better put it back in the camper before the wife sees what I've done! :D

Next thing you know, wife says, "Guess what? We have ice cubes!"

...and a 'Redneck Repair Procedure' is born! LOL.

But seriously, it is a fairly well respected fix. If it works, you're golden. If not, you haven't lost anything.

Glad you are back and working again.
Dick_A
Explorer
Dec 16, 2013
Moved from General RV'ing forum.
82tpsmith
Explorer
Dec 21, 2013
Well just another quick update. Been several days and we still have real cold temps in the fridge. My neighbor had the same problem, and we even went over and flipped his fridge. Thanks for all the help everyone!!!

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