Dometic Fridge stopped working in cold weather? Ideas?

[imq707s]

We took our 2011 Zinger camper out this weekend. We've never really used it much in cold weather before. We had the camper plugged in at home the night before we left, and had the fridge set to run off of propane to cool it down faster. When we got to the camp site we switched it over to AUTO so it would run on the AC power from the camp site. It worked fine the first night and the next day...but on the second night it got down to around 31 deg at night....and when we woke up in the morning the fridge and freezer were both warm!

It was set to "AUTO", but I switched it over to "GAS" in order to see if that would get it cooling again. A few hours later.....things were starting to cool off again.

Would the cold weather at night cause issues when it was running on AC power? I haven't done any troubleshooting on it yet....but I thought I would at least ask and see if anyone had any ideas as far as wear to start. One strange thing I did notice is that the fan that I can usually hear cycling in and off every few minutes when things were working normally.....was constantly on in the morning when the fridge wasn't cooling.

Any ideas?

[Community Alumni]

If it gets cold enough the refer will not work.

I put a trouble light in the compartment to help keep it warm and that worked, use a real light bulb and at 60 watts or one not to exceed the recommended wattage. Outside temp was hitting 4 degrees.

JimR

[Bobbo]

imq707s wrote:
I don't think that the GFI outlet tripped......I still had power to the control panel, and the door light inside the fridge worked when I opened the door.

The control panel and door light are both 12v. They will work without 120v power.

imq707s wrote:
As soon as I hit the "GAS" button, it started cooling again.

If it cools on gas but not electric, you have a 120v problem. The GFCI would be the first thing I checked.

[imq707s]

I will do some more troublshooting tomorrow.

I don't think that the GFI outlet tripped......I still had power to the control panel, and the door light inside the fridge worked when I opened the door. As soon as I hit the "GAS" button, it started cooling again.

I'm going to plug it into 120v power tomorrow and see if the fridge starts to cool again. I have noticed lately that the yellow light that's supposed to light up with you hit the AUTO button is kind of iffy.....depending on how you wiggle the button around, it will sometimes not turn the light on...even though the fridge is working.

Could the control panel just be flaking out?

[Flute_Man]

Did you accidentally tripped the GFI That feeds 120 V to the fridge?

[BFL13]

" One strange thing I did notice is that the fan that I can usually hear cycling on and off every few minutes when things were working normally.....was constantly on in the morning when the fridge wasn't cooling."

If that was the converter acting up and you were actually getting your 12v from the battery, it could be that the battery was too low in the cold by then to run the fridge and it came back up a little when it got warmer so the fridge worked again.

You must have had some 12v to be able to use the fridge controls though.

31F should not bother the fridge itself in either AC or Gas--both need 12v though.

The converter fan should not be cycling every few minutes when "normal" or be constantly on either. It could be the battery making the converter do that. Need to check out your 12v system.

[Dutch_12078]

Your fridge needs heat to circulate the fluid/gas that extracts the heat from the fridge and freezer areas. If the area in back of the fridge is too cold, the fluid/gas can't circulate. Sometimes all that's needed in colder weather is to temporarily cover the most of the vents in the outside access panel to slow the flow of cold outside air up through the roof/upper vent. In even colder weather, a 60 watt incandescent light bulb (if you can still find one) may help warm up the area. Make sure it's in a safe holder of course, such as a mechanics lead light.