dometic fridge intermittent

[labradorian70]

hello

im new to this forum and brand new to RVing. Bought a 2011 keystone Bullet Premier 28ft TT last fall and made my 3rd trip with in this past weekend.

The fridge is a Dometic and has only 2 buttons on the top, one ON/OFF button and one Auto/Gas button. We had it set to AUTO all weekend.

spend 3 days in it and noticed the fridge was acting funny......here's a little time line.

I hooked up the camper to the truck (friday) and turned on the fridge at the same time so it would be cold or well on it's way when we got to the camp ground 2 hrs later.
Got to camp ground, Set the fridge to AUTO, TT was plugged into 30A shore power, propane tanks were on and plenty of propane.

friday night fridge was cooling as it should, noticed saturday morning fridge was not cooling, check light was NOT on. I cycled the on/off button and auto/gas button and noticed the fridge did start getting cold again?

Put some ice cubes trays in freezer saturday afternoon with water, sunday evening the cubes were only Half frozen. Woke up monday morning(today) and cubes were completely melted, fridge was warm again. still no CHECK light

So in summary....
1. I checked breakers and fuses. all ok.
2. Fridge was set to auto.
3. Propane was on and full.
4. Shore power was connected
5. Water heater and furnace working fine on propane.
6. Everything else in trailer appears to be working.

What else should I be checking, fridge seems to start up and work but then seems to just stop and the "CHECK" light does not come on.

I know the CHECK lite works because when you first press the on button for the fridge all lights(AUTO AND CHECK) come on just for a second as a test.

I have contacted the RV Dealer with the issue today and waiting for a response but in the meanwhile and possibly save a 2hr drive to the dealer I thought I would check in here to get some ideas.

What else should I check, or does it sound like a bad fridge?

cheers and thanks.... I can get a model for the fridge if anyone needs it. It's 30min away at my mother in laws farm.

Glen

[SoundGuy]

labradorian70 wrote:
im new to this forum and brand new to RVing. Bought a 2011 keystone Bullet Premier 28ft TT last fall and made my 3rd trip with in this past weekend.

The fridge is a Dometic and has only 2 buttons on the top, one ON/OFF button and one Auto/Gas button. We had it set to AUTO all weekend.

Would also be interested in hearing the result as I have the same model fridge.

[xyzHollyxyz]

I don't know a heck of a lot about it, but my previous fridge, when it wouldn't work on 120V - there was a blown fuse on the circuit board - a real PITA to get to, but it was there and blown.

[bikepsych]

I have the same problem as labradorian. It went from working great to ZERO one trip to the next. I tried everything, shore power, no power, propane. Lights on the front work great, but no "check" light. I turned it on, off, auto, non-auto. Nothing. Checked circuits and fuses. All good. So bizarre. Taking to the dealer on the 26th.

Stay tuned.

Bruce

[MontanaCampers]

So what was the problem with your refrigerator?

[labradorian70]

NorCal Dan wrote:
I agree. Once the basic troubleshooting is done to rule out anything obvious it's time to have the pro's work it. My Norcold did the same thing, both heaters were hot hot, but the thing would not cool on gas or electric. Seems the freon (or whatever is in them) had leaked out. I noticed a yellow/green substance but it matched the color of the local pollen so didn't alarm me. In the end they replaced my entire fridge as it had a couple other problems and it was more cost effective to replace. Luckily my extended warranty covered the cost as it was over $5k before all was said and done. Between the cost of the fridge and labor it can get very expensive. Glad yours is still under warranty.

cheers
Once I find out what the deal is with the fridge I will post it.

[NorCal_Dan]

I agree. Once the basic troubleshooting is done to rule out anything obvious it's time to have the pro's work it. My Norcold did the same thing, both heaters were hot hot, but the thing would not cool on gas or electric. Seems the freon (or whatever is in them) had leaked out. I noticed a yellow/green substance but it matched the color of the local pollen so didn't alarm me. In the end they replaced my entire fridge as it had a couple other problems and it was more cost effective to replace. Luckily my extended warranty covered the cost as it was over $5k before all was said and done. Between the cost of the fridge and labor it can get very expensive. Glad yours is still under warranty.

[labradorian70]

NorCal Dan wrote:
I tested mine by turning off the fridge and waited a couple hours until the heat elements were cold. I then plugged in the fridge and within a minute they were too hot to touch. My fridge has 2 heater elements so I had to test one, then let it cool down before testing the other one.

thanks, being an hour from from my camper I can't wait for the fridge to do it's thing......

so i checked on the fridge today again after running on electric all night. inside of the fridge temp was the same as outside.

I felt the heating element and it was certainly hot. I checked the resistance on the element and it was 43.3 Ohms, and that's what's its should be. Manual says 44 but darn close enough. I also checked the voltage to the element and it was 124VAC, so that was good too.

So the heating element appears to be working, its hot, resistance check checks out,and it is placed in the hole on the flume where it should be, but the fridge is not even a little cool on electric, nadda, nothing. but works great on gas.

Fridge is still under warranty, so I will have to bring it to the dealer i guess, nothing else I can check.

Cheers
Glen

[NorCal_Dan]

I tested mine by turning off the fridge and waited a couple hours until the heat elements were cold. I then plugged in the fridge and within a minute they were too hot to touch. My fridge has 2 heater elements so I had to test one, then let it cool down before testing the other one.

[labradorian70]

Chris Bryant wrote:
It sounds like a bad heating element. The check light is only for LP operation, indicating ignition failure.

UPDATE
I think it is pointing in the direction of a bad element....in short, the fridge works on gas but not on electric. fridge has 120VAC and also 12VDC to control board, but that is far as I checked.....

timeline....


Last night I plugged in the trailer to shore power and turned on the fridge. i put a indoor outdoor thermometer inside and outside the fridge which records the MIN/MAX temps. it ran on electric all night. Checked the fridge this morning and the inside fridge temp and outside fridge temp were the same, and by looking at the MIN/MAX temps recorded on the thermometer, the fridge neverworked at all throughout the night.

this morning around 9am I simply unplugged the fridge at the back and let it switch over to gas, it did and ran all day. checked it about 5pm and the inside temp of the fridge was 1 degree C, outside temp 15 degree .C worked great all day, water in ice cube trays froze solid.

So before i came home I plugged the fridge back in, I will check tommorrow to see after switching back to electric if it worked or not.

I'm suspecting the heating element might be bad, so when I go back to the trailer tomorrow I will try to test it.

I will consult the manual, but how does one test the element? if its a Resistance test.... typically what is the wattage of these elements, so I can compare the calculated resistance with the measured resistance.

thanks

Glen

[labradorian70]

Chris Bryant wrote:
It sounds like a bad heating element. The check light is only for LP operation, indicating ignition failure.

i assume the heating element is only used for electric ......see my previous post, i think trying on electric first them switch to gas might help me isolate the problem.

cheers

[labradorian70]

ksg5000 wrote:
Providing the fridge model number might help. If you remove the outside cover and access the cooling tubes are they warm/hot or cold? Have you tried the fridge on gas (set the controls to gas rather than auto)?

i plan on hooking up the trailer friday night to shore power and turning on the fridge and maybe put it on auto and check it saturday night. then if its not working perhaps switch it to gas then and check it again sunday night.......

This could tell me if the heating element is bad? or would it?

cheers

Glen

[labradorian70]

ksg5000 wrote:
Providing the fridge model number might help. If you remove the outside cover and access the cooling tubes are they warm/hot or cold? Have you tried the fridge on gas (set the controls to gas rather than auto)?

The Model number is DM2652LBX

This evening I went out to the trailer(30min away) and started trouble shooting.

I plugged in the TT to shore power, hooked up the battery and turned on the gas.

I had 120Vac at the plug to the fridge and also at the control board, I also had 12VDC at control board, I unplugged 120VAC and it did switch over to gas, it did light. plugged ac back in and the gas did shut off and assume it switched back to electric operation. How do ya initially tell?

When running on electric how does one know the fridge is working, I mean initially.... does it make any noise? The fins in the fridge did feel cool to the touch after about 15min or so....but without any obviously noise i would have to wait till the fridge cooled inside. I did feel the heat tube(what ever ya call it) after being on electric and it was warm.

Here's another question. There is a white wire/tube running into the inside of the fridge and it is attached to the fins, you can slide it up and down(down for warmer up for colder) What is this? Is this the thermostat? It is attached to a plastic piece and clipped to fins. This was sitting in the lowest position on the fin.

I think what Im going to do is hook up the camper to shore power friday night and leave it all weekend and see what happens. It appears the fridge initially gets cold but then stops working after a half a day or so.........but why?

keep ya posted

[Chris_Bryant]

It sounds like a bad heating element. The check light is only for LP operation, indicating ignition failure.

[ksg5000]

Providing the fridge model number might help. If you remove the outside cover and access the cooling tubes are they warm/hot or cold? Have you tried the fridge on gas (set the controls to gas rather than auto)?