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GMT830's avatar
GMT830
Explorer
May 26, 2013

Two way fridge on DC?

Our Dometic fridge is a two way. It works perfectly on 110 VAC, and is well insulated. We towed without power for about two hours. Everything was still nice and cold or frozen solid. But it was cloudy and 55 degrees or so. The previous owner said he spent several hundred dollars having the fridge repaired. I tried once last year to run it on propane with no luck. The selector switch does not have a solid feel at all. I would prefer to leave it alone at this point, maybe fool with it again in the fall. If it needs repair it would be easier to deal with at the end of the season.

So I'm considering running an inverter to power the fridge while traveling. Anyone done this? Any suggestions?

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  • GMT830's avatar
    GMT830
    Explorer
    May 26, 2013
    Thanks for the info guys. I'm only looking to run the fridge on DC while towing the camper. We don't intend to do any dry camping, at least not this season.

    I need to pull the cover off and poke around in there to see what's going on.
  • daveshan's avatar
    daveshan
    Explorer
    May 26, 2013
    The resistance heater in a gas/AC frige draws a lot of wattage, the very small 5CF unit in my TC has a 150W/120v heater, the side by side in the coach is twice that. This will put a pretty big draw on your batteries, figure 13-25A and that's not allowing for inverter losses.


    IMO fix the propane issue and use the inverter for watching TVs.
  • Homer1's avatar
    Homer1
    Explorer
    May 26, 2013
    One thing that happens to the propane side of the fridge that causes them not work, is the easiest fix in the world. Check the propane burner on the back of the fridge. It may be completely covered up with rust dust from the chimney. Just use a little low pressure compressed air and blow it out. Usually they will fire right up and work fine. I have had to do this at least once a year to every fridge I ever owned.It is cheap, easy (as always go the easy route first). If a dealer does this for you, it will cost you $50+. There is a small access door on the burner just for this reason.PLEASE DO NOT DISCONNECT ANY GAS LINES. You do not need to.
  • GMT830's avatar
    GMT830
    Explorer
    May 26, 2013
    I don't know that it doesn't work on gas. But I do know the selector switch feels almost broken. Just don't want to upset the apple cart at this point in the season.
  • donn0128's avatar
    donn0128
    Explorer II
    May 26, 2013
    How do you know it does not work on gas? Do you just turn your gas on at the tank and immediately attempt to get the refer to light off?
    If your propane has been off for more than five minutes, you probably need to purge the air out of the gas lines before the refer will startup. Also depending on the year/model of Dometic it might be electronic ingition and will not light off until cooling is called for.

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