My rig has a Dometic NDA1402 refrigerator. When I turned the fridge on this afternoon I got error code 12. According to the service manual, error code 12 means there is a problem with the refrigerator side cooling fin heater element. I checked the element with a multimeterand found an open circuit (no resistance). I should be seeing 3 to 4ohms. Long story short, I have determined it needs to be replaced.
Looking online, it appears the part (3850674015) is discontinued and unavailable everywhere I have looked. I would HATE to replace the entire fridge for this one simple part. Has anyone else run into this problem? Can I use a different heater element to accomplish the same task and fool the fridge into working?
Does anyone know if I could simply add a jumper in place of the heating element to trick the refrigerator into working? If this is a bad idea or dangerous, please let me know. I am just brain storming at this point.
Looking online, it appears the part (3850674015) is discontinued and unavailable everywhere I have looked. I would HATE to replace the entire fridge for this one simple part. Has anyone else run into this problem? Can I use a different heater element to accomplish the same task and fool the fridge into working?
Does anyone know if I could simply add a jumper in place of the heating element to trick the refrigerator into working? If this is a bad idea or dangerous, please let me know. I am just brain storming at this point.
Carla, the heating pad I purchased worked like a charm. It is self adhesive and all I had to do was splice the wires into the existing wiring harness that I took off the broken heating pad. I used this one because it had the correct resistance: Heating Pad
LittleBill wrote:
why not just buy a 10 cent 4 ohm resistor?
I thought about that, but I wasn't sure if a small resistor could survive the 4amp load from the circuit.
The heating pad I added seems to have worked. The fridge fired up as normal and I am waiting to see if it cools. The good news is, no more error code. I could not mount the heating pad in the exact space the previous heater was, but hopefully it won't matter. The new pad is on the back of the cooling fins, but towards the top due to screw holes in the middle. At 50w, I'm hoping the pad doesn't get hot enough to damage anything.
dougrainer wrote:
Other than the Fail code, have you seen abnormal icing on the fins? I would not throw away a good functioning refer just because a defrost element has failed. Even with the Fail code, the refer should still be functioning. Doug
This is what I have replaced over the years as the most common defrost failure. It may be able to be used in place of the discontinued part. Just have to modify how it is installed.
https://rvpartsexpress.com/product/dometic-3851411011-heating-element-water-drain/
The crazy thing is that the refrigerator DOES NOT function with an error code....at least not error code 12. I have never seen icing on my cooling fins, so I am not even concerned about the absence of the heater.
I purchased a 12v 50w heating pad from Amazon that is designed as an oil pan warmer. That should give me the 3-4ohms of resistance the computer board is looking for at start up. I am hoping the heater pad tricks the computer board into thinking all the right parts are there so the fridge turns on. I am not a full timer, so frozen coils aren't an issue for us. We rarely camp for more than two weeks at a time.
Thanks for the reply. My signature needs to be updated an I can seem to figure out where to do that. I have a 2009 Discovery 40x now. I may have to look at that option, but for the cost I may just go residential if it comes to that. Iโd get a big boost in capacity for just a little more money.
