Defrosted it yesterday and went to put the shelves back in. One of them wouldn't go in and I struggled and struggled and ended up poking one end into the wall of the fridge. Now it's not cooling adequately to keep my food from spoiling. Am I screwed or do you think the problem might be something else? BTW, I didn't try to remove that wire that went through the wall, fearing I would make the hole much worse. I put duct tape over the hole as best as I could. Read that can be done on another forum.I fear I am screwed.

So you just poked a hole in the plastic liner with the end of a wire shelf?Um, fill or cover the hole.....AFTER you remove the offending piece.if this is just a small pencil sized hole, it is not the cause of your fridge not cooling well. However the fact that not only is it probably a 37 year old fridge, but that you warmed it up to room temp yesterday in the dead of summer, wherever you're at, could both be contributors. But not the hole.

The "Works" in an RV fridge are all on the back wall. Encased in metal and you would find them hard to damage.The side walls are just plastic sheeting over Styrofoam.. Just like the disposable coffee cup. Depending on the hole.. If it's just the plastic slap a square of Eternabond over it (They sell 11" by 11" patches) if it goes all the way through the foam insulation.. Well you might wish to fix that (no suggestions as to how)

Cheryl_B wrote: Now it's not cooling adequately to keep my food from spoiling. ------ BTW, I didn't try to remove that wire that went through the wall, fearing I would make the hole much worse. Is it not cooling now because of the HOT weather? A small hole should not effect the cooling. If you have damaged something serious the gas AMMONIA would have leak and you would HAVE SMELLED it.Did you poke the hole at the same place as the wire? If so pull the wire out a little and see if the insulation is cut. Picture of the hole and wire!!!!!The big problem will be ice building up on the patch. A small amount of spray foam may work but be VERY careful and not get too much. You can trim the foam after it cures.

Is the hole in the back or the side? If in the side you did not damage the cooling. If in the back you possibly damaged the cooling but it's highly unlikely. Well that is unless you hit the rack with a hammer or something to get it to go in. The easy check is to open the outside panel of the refrigerator. If you smell ammonia or see that everything is dusted with yellow powder you have a problem. If no smell and no powder you are probably okay. If no smell or powder I would pull the wire out. Then get a tube of some caulking (whatever you have on hand) and squeeze it into the hole. Take a wet finger and smooth the caulking out so it is just neatly filling the hole but not making a big glob inside the refrigerator. Let the caulking dry and don't give it another thought.

If it's not the hole (in the side, not the back), then why will it not get cold? I defrosted it because it was struggling to stay in the mid-low 40's, now it's almost 60 in there and I'm about to go up to the ice machine down the street and fill up a few coolers. There is a thermister thing on one of the fins and I'm playing with that to see if that would help but it only continually gets warmer. I've tried propane over electric and nothing helps. Food is too expensive these days to lose a whole freezer full of meat.

Poked a hole in the wall of my refrigerator. Is it toast?

22 Replies

pianotuna
Nomad III
Sep 05, 2022
https://jc-refrigeration.com/
bucky
Explorer II
Sep 05, 2022
They have. The following is one of them.

clicky
pianotuna
Nomad III
Sep 05, 2022
I wish someone would design an electric cooling unit to be retro fitted.

Thanks for letting us know Cheryl
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Sep 04, 2022
Cheryl_B wrote:
Smells like ammonia or something awful.

Yup. that is a failed cooling unit.. and it smells like ammonia because it is ammonia (And some other stuff that's more or less odorless).

Normally I'd suggest a new cooling unit but since you holed it I'm guessing it's old and brittle.. Drop in a new one.. Way way easier than you think to do or hire a pro like I did for the cooling unit.
dougrainer
Nomad
Sep 04, 2022
Cheryl_B wrote:
Wow. Yesterday I decided to shut the power off to the refrigerator since it wasn't working anyway. I thought maybe it would start again after a break. (???) Today I decided to open the door up a bit so it won't get icky inside and I smelled something horrible. I'm guessing that is the gas you guys said I would smell if it was truly beyond hope. I don't know why it took so long for the smell to appear, but WOW. It's there now. Smells like ammonia or something awful. I had to close the door again to keep the gas from leaking out. Well, I now have my answer.

You did NOT cause the leak. Unless you drill a screw or use a drill bit, there is no way you will poke a hole in the Steel tubing of the cooling unit. It is just a coincidence you have this leak after punching the hole. Doug
Cheryl_B
Explorer
Sep 04, 2022
Wow. Yesterday I decided to shut the power off to the refrigerator since it wasn't working anyway. I thought maybe it would start again after a break. (???) Today I decided to open the door up a bit so it won't get icky inside and I smelled something horrible. I'm guessing that is the gas you guys said I would smell if it was truly beyond hope. I don't know why it took so long for the smell to appear, but WOW. It's there now. Smells like ammonia or something awful. I had to close the door again to keep the gas from leaking out. Well, I now have my answer.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Sep 01, 2022
Cheryl_B,

Have you tried it on propane?
Cheryl_B
Explorer
Sep 01, 2022
It's not working. All power is going to it, all lights are lit, nothing's cooling. I haven't gone out and removed the cover to inspect the back yet but I will. I have lived in an RV for over 6 years now so I'm sure that the reason it was having trouble cooling was directly related to the excessive amount of ice that had built up on the fins. I'm a procrastinator and I should have done it sooner.

Once I had this experience in a Class C that I lived in (the one in my signature line. I had just defrosted it.) I discovered that it was due to me moving the thermister to another fin than the one it was supposed to be on, not knowing that it mattered. But I found out it was supposed to be on the "7th fin from the right" by the manufacturer that I contacted. After that, it worked perfectly.

I'm thinking it's something like that but I'm failing in my troubleshooting. Thank you all for your suggestions. I will update when I have something to add. For now, I am in an RV park and was able to find room in the freezer and fridge up at the clubhouse, and I have several coolers to keep things that I need often close at hand.

I'm hoping I find the answer and that it's something simple, like the last time with the other RV. Fingers and toes crossed. Like I said, I'll update when I find out what came of this situation. Thanks again.

PS: I've checked the fuses and they're fine. And the power is present, like I said.
bucky
Explorer II
Sep 01, 2022
So how were the temps after 24 hours?
Grit_dog
Navigator II
Aug 31, 2022
wa8yxm wrote:
Skibane wrote:
wa8yxm wrote:
The side walls are just plastic sheeting over Styrofoam.. Just like the disposable coffee cup. Depending on the hole.. If it's just the plastic slap a square of Eternabond over it (They sell 11" by 11" patches) if it goes all the way through the foam insulation.. Well you might wish to fix that (no suggestions as to how)

A squirt of expanding urethane foam sealer ("Great Stuff" or similar) would probably come pretty close to matching the performance of the original insulation.

It expands a LOT as it cures, so use it sparingly.

I was thinking about that but that stuff is messy... I'd want to pull the fridge and apply it so I could trim and that's a bit of work (not as much as most folks think however... Really easy if you have two people one of whom knows how to do it.. (Been there. my RV-GIRL knows how to do it)

"Pull the fridge"? IE remove it to patch a hole in the inside plastic?
Considering the fridge is probably SUPER OLD, or even if not, I can't see how this would do any more than make a small problem bigger.

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Poked a hole in the wall of my refrigerator. Is it toast?

22 Replies

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