Dometic refrigerator frost and ice

[rollindownthero]

I bought a used 2018 Prime Time Tracer TT in April. Only used it on weekends initially. Moved into it full time a month ago. I'm getting frost in the freezer on the back wall and ice on the fins in the refrigerator. Is this normal and do I just need to defrost it? Or does the seal need to be replaced on both? This is my first RV.

Thanks for your help.

[jkilroy]

wa8yxm wrote:
Ah you youngsters.
Yes it is normal
Modern RESIDENTIAL refrigerators have heaters in them (Defrost elements) so first they cool then they heat.. That way you don't need to defrost so often

RV units don't have the BTU's to spare so they just cool and like Refrigerators of old when you open the door and warm air rushes in...

or when the ice maker (Which by the way may have a heater built in) cycles and warm water rushes in.. Frost forms on the cooling plates.

What can reduce it

Well I had a 3 fan version of this.. Wish I'd have had a 4 fan but that's another item

Fridge fan

It mounts in front of the fins and did a fairly good job on the area it blew on. Thing is my fridge was wider than the assembly (Why I needed the 4th fan)

How do you wire this item? I’m having same issue of frosting

[Old-Biscuit]

doxiemom11 wrote:
I have a Norcold 1200 4 dr and I just shut it off, put the food in the big cooler and it defrost and water runs out the tray to the outside. Only takes a couple of hours. I do have to soak water up off the freezer bottoms though. Good time to clean it. We added one of the small fans on the rt side fin area and it has helped a lot. That was the area where the ice started all the time.

Guess you have an older 1200 model....no 'defrost' cycle?
S/N 83170 and lower doesn't have that

S/N 83171 and higher has a 'frost' management power board.
Shuts down cooling cycle every 40-48 hrs
When Food Compartment fin temp reaches roughly 32*F (41-42*F Air temp) the frost management restarts cooling cycle

Freeze temp plate will reach rough;y 22*F...so food stays frozen/no defrosting in freezer

[doxiemom11]

I have a Norcold 1200 4 dr and I just shut it off, put the food in the big cooler and it defrost and water runs out the tray to the outside. Only takes a couple of hours. I do have to soak water up off the freezer bottoms though. Good time to clean it. We added one of the small fans on the rt side fin area and it has helped a lot. That was the area where the ice started all the time.

[wa8yxm]

dedmiston wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
Ah but to me 63 IS a youngster.. I remember Fridges you had to defrost.

"I remember the man from the ice house delivering blocks of ice in his horse drawn wagon."

Good lord. Everyone over 40 remembers defrosting their freezer.

Patronize much?

I'm not QUITE that old. but... My mother tells me that her father made one of the first Refrigerators in California.

He was a refrigeration engineer workign on the big Fishing processing boats (They moved the fish processing onto boats back than so the fleets could catch more fish not having to return to port to offload)

He converted an ice box to a Fridge.

Alas I never met him. he died just weeks before I was born.
I do recall Grandma however.

[dedmiston]

wa8yxm wrote:
Ah but to me 63 IS a youngster.. I remember Fridges you had to defrost.

"I remember the man from the ice house delivering blocks of ice in his horse drawn wagon."

Good lord. Everyone over 40 remembers defrosting their freezer.

Patronize much?

[rollindownthero]

To: wa8xym - I remember my mom defrosting the freezer when I was growing up. She set up a small fan in the door and would scrap the frost and ice out.

No ice maker in the freezer in my RV.

[wa8yxm]

rollindowntheroad wrote:
LOL.... I'm not a youngster, 63 years old here. However, this is my first RV. Thanks for the info.

Ah but to me 63 IS a youngster.. I remember Fridges you had to defrost.
And RV fridges... You still do.

On one thing that will cut down on the frost in the freezer.

KILL or Rip out the ice maker and use a countertop (Portable).. I did.

More ice (up to 26 pounds a day) and less moisture in the freezer due to that "Warm (more than 32 degrees) water thing I mentioned.

And when the counter top unit went compressor up.. All I needed to fix it was a browser.. a phone, a car, a plastic retangle (Credit/debit card) and a knife (to cut the tape on the box).

You need all those for the Built in ice maker too but TOOLS. lots of TOOLS and you may need to remove the fridge to replace one part.

[Old-Biscuit]

Do the dollar bill test (bill between seals/frame door closed and pull it out---should be tight/have resistance
Do it in Several places


Clean seals/frame so you get good clean contact between the two

IF seals are not making good contact you can 'reset' them:
Place cottonball under seal in each corner
Then WARM entire seal using hair-driers (do not overheat but need to get the whole seal warm)

Then close door and let the warm seals cool///resetting them

If seals are good...dollar bill test then it could just be the warm humid air replacing the cool air when you open fridge doors---especially if you lookie-lou


Model of fridge??????????????

[rollindownthero]

LOL.... I'm not a youngster, 63 years old here. However, this is my first RV. Thanks for the info.

[wa8yxm]

Ah you youngsters.
Yes it is normal
Modern RESIDENTIAL refrigerators have heaters in them (Defrost elements) so first they cool then they heat.. That way you don't need to defrost so often

RV units don't have the BTU's to spare so they just cool and like Refrigerators of old when you open the door and warm air rushes in...

or when the ice maker (Which by the way may have a heater built in) cycles and warm water rushes in.. Frost forms on the cooling plates.

What can reduce it

Well I had a 3 fan version of this.. Wish I'd have had a 4 fan but that's another item

Fridge fan

It mounts in front of the fins and did a fairly good job on the area it blew on. Thing is my fridge was wider than the assembly (Why I needed the 4th fan)

[rav]

Our MH had a norcold fridge and we would defrost it. It was a 4 door so I would do one side at a time. Would use a hair dryer and a few towels to soak up the water. Didn't take that long to do.

[rrupert]

rollindowntheroad wrote:
So I need to just defrost manually when necessary?

You can do that. Don't be as concerned about the freezer section frosting up as much as the cooling fins in the main section. They need to be relatively frost-free to function properly. As mentioned above, most newer RV fridges have an auto-defrost function that will basically turn off the fridge for a short period of time to allow the frost to melt off the fins.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

Yes

[rollindownthero]

So I need to just defrost manually when necessary?