Help my Refrig. not working

[PickkenickBaske]

Hi, I have just purchased a used Wilderness Camper, it is in OUTSTANDING condition I think except. It was not used for over 2 years, and when I plugged in the Elect./GAS Refig. And I set it too Elect. it does not get cold. I hear sounds that seem like it wants to work. but my question is, could it be that it was not used in such a long time that the system needs a few hours of warm up first. I did not leave it plugged in because I was worried that I may cause more damage. PS I also did not try it in the GAS position.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[prichardson]

In electric operation you should not hear anything unless someone added a vent fan. You say you plugged in the fridge - but not the RV. Unless the fridge has a 12V DC operation option; you need to have 120V AC available. If it does have the DC option you will need a very large battery bank to operate it for more than a few hours. AS others have said RV fridges need to be level and take hours to cool down.

[frankdamp]

The quickest way to check if you have a cooling unit problem is to look arund the base of the flue pipe. If there are any yellow, powdery deposits (sulfur powder) your cooling unit is dead. Typical life is 8 to 10 years.

The fridge in our '02 died last season. Since replacing the CU would cost only $200 less than a new fridge, and the rest of the fridge was 11 years old, we swallowed hard and spent $1800 to replace the old fridge with a new one.

[PickkenickBaske]

You folks are all amazing, Thank you so much for your input and advice. Happy Rving ...........

[midnightsadie]

I see your in new jer .these type frigs don,t work well in freezing temps .just play with the other toys till it gets in the 40deg range.

[Old-Biscuit]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Welcome to the forums.

Before operating the fridge make sure it is level.

Plug in and let it "cook" for 12 hours. After that time period, if it is not cold, then there is a problem.

X2
Especially the part about 'level'
Operating fridge when not level KILLS them

Initial start-up takes several hours before cooling occurs.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Welcome to the forums.

Before operating the fridge make sure it is level.

Plug in and let it "cook" for 12 hours. After that time period, if it is not cold, then there is a problem.

[jwmII]

Vapor absorption refrigerators don't make any noise when operating.
If you hear noises coming from yours and they sound like a gurgling noise the fridge is bad. The cooling unit will probably need to be changed out.

[RoyB]

It does take a long time for these type of fridges to get cold. I have waited for as long as six to eight hours sometimes to find it cold inside the fridge.

Any time we are on the road we usually switch it on 12VDC a couple of hours before arriving at the camp ground to get a head start on it cooling down...

I would leave it on for a few hours to see if it is starting to work. On the back of mine on the outside wall is a vented door and inside is a black tank canister and it should be getting very hot to touch when it is working... When mine is on 12VDC I can feel the heat coming from the outside vented door very noticeable.

Roy Ken