Freezer cold, fridge warm

[Kayteg1]

My newest purchase Lance 1161.
Check fridge buying and after 1/2 hr the freezer part got colder, so I assumed it is good, but now have it going for most of the day and when the freezer is really freezing, the refrigerator did not change the temperature.
Do I need new fridge or is it an easy fix?

[Kayteg1]

So I am on the road now and refrigerator is not performing.
PO installed wind shields that I removed to improve cooling, yet even in weather in 70's F the refrigerator stays in 50's while freezer about 10F
So is it low ammonia in it?
Somehow at home testing it empty on 120V I got it down to 40F but it is not happening again with food in it.

[GordonThree]

Kayteg1 wrote:
How can you swim in 70's ?
When I was active in water-skiing, I figured out I need at least 100F air to not shake each time I get wet. Fact that in California nights are always much colder, so we had camp fire almost every night.
Coming to my refrigerator.
Now that it got warmer before noon the refrigerator went up to 55F and I have Wi-Fi probe so I don't open the door.
Freezer stays at 5F.
102F outside and camper gets sun on front.
I am not comfortable with those temperatures, but don't have much choice.

That is true, I miss having a good swim in the inland sea. As an old man I need the water in the high 80s like luke warm bathwater. I believe the surface temps are catching up but a few feet down is freezing still.

[Lwiddis]

Thanks, Old Biscuit. Always learning...now about the order of cooling.

[Kayteg1]

How can you swim in 70's ?
When I was active in water-skiing, I figured out I need at least 100F air to not shake each time I get wet. Fact that in California nights are always much colder, so we had camp fire almost every night.
Coming to my refrigerator.
Now that it got warmer before noon the refrigerator went up to 55F and I have Wi-Fi probe so I don't open the door.
Freezer stays at 5F.
102F outside and camper gets sun on front.
I am not comfortable with those temperatures, but don't have much choice.

[GordonThree]

Glad I'm not camping where you folks do. 70ish here on Lake Michigan and almost noon

[996Pilot]

Bubtoofat wrote:
Mine is doing the same thing right now. Dometic garbage. We have had trouble with this unit since day one. Dometic is practically useless for customer service and the parts are incredibly expensive. The first week we had this thing the plastic freezer box brackets literally crumbled in our hands. The plastic is as brittle as chalk. The replacement parts were just as bad so I had to make my own. Same goes for the black plastic frame on the door front. The freezer door hinges, junk. The condensate cup turned to dust within a year. I could go on and on.

Our fridge has let us down on many many occasions. It can go for a week on LP and work fine then one day I'll open the fridge and it'll be 50 degrees. Sometimes the freezer quits and sometimes it doesn't. We always have to carry a cooler because the fridge is so unreliable. Works great on shore power. On gas it's a roll of the dice. We have invested over $300 trying to remedy the problem, not including the price of a cooler and multiple blocks of dry ice. The last time Dometic was contacted they wanted to sell me a part for $311. Add that to the $300 already wasted and I could have had a brand new unit.

We have good a good blue flame. Burner is clean. Cooling fan at the back of the unit is working fine. LP regulator has been replaced and the gas flow is exactly where it's supposed to be. Freezer is near zero and the fridge is at 80 degrees last time I checked.

If anyone has a solution PLEASE post it. Dometic can go pound sand.

Mike

Danfoss compressor 12V refrigerator freezer like HERE or HERE. I junked our Norcold 3-way and installed a 12V Danfoss Compressor refer/freezer and I don't think we'll ever look back.

[Kayteg1]

Its been 20 hr and fridge shows 48F with 90F in the camper.
I guess this is as good as it gets. I did test couple months ago on identical Dometic in my other camper and it was way better.
Thanks guys for replies.

[Hank_MI]

I would wait 24 hrs before being concerned. These fridges don't cool down quickly like a residential fridge and at 108 it's going to take awhile.

[SoundGuy]

Bubtoofat wrote:
Mine is doing the same thing right now.

Works great on shore power. On gas it's a roll of the dice.

If anyone has a solution PLEASE post it.

Ignore the gas function and run it on shore power only. Once completely cooled the interior will remain quite cold without power for many hours as long as the door(s) remain closed. If you dry camp a lot boost your battery reserve and invest in a suitably sized inverter to supply 120 vac power to keep the fridge running. Really no different an approach than what an increasing number of RVrs are doing by replacing a dead gas absorption fridge with a much less costly compressor fridge. Even some RV manufacturers have given up on gas absorption fridges and instead install a compressor fridge.

[Bubtoofat]

Mine is doing the same thing right now. Dometic garbage. We have had trouble with this unit since day one. Dometic is practically useless for customer service and the parts are incredibly expensive. The first week we had this thing the plastic freezer box brackets literally crumbled in our hands. The plastic is as brittle as chalk. The replacement parts were just as bad so I had to make my own. Same goes for the black plastic frame on the door front. The freezer door hinges, junk. The condensate cup turned to dust within a year. I could go on and on.

Our fridge has let us down on many many occasions. It can go for a week on LP and work fine then one day I'll open the fridge and it'll be 50 degrees. Sometimes the freezer quits and sometimes it doesn't. We always have to carry a cooler because the fridge is so unreliable. Works great on shore power. On gas it's a roll of the dice. We have invested over $300 trying to remedy the problem, not including the price of a cooler and multiple blocks of dry ice. The last time Dometic was contacted they wanted to sell me a part for $311. Add that to the $300 already wasted and I could have had a brand new unit.

We have good a good blue flame. Burner is clean. Cooling fan at the back of the unit is working fine. LP regulator has been replaced and the gas flow is exactly where it's supposed to be. Freezer is near zero and the fridge is at 80 degrees last time I checked.

If anyone has a solution PLEASE post it. Dometic can go pound sand.

Mike

[Old-Biscuit]

Absorption frides use ONE cooling unit with TWO evap coils
Low temp Evap is for freezer
High temp Evap is for food compartment


Freezer is FIRST to get cooling effect.
The Cold ammonia vapor absorbs the heat.......freezer being first it gets the most heat absorbed so very little heat absorption is left for food compartment UNTIL freezer gets below 10*F THEN food compartment can begin getting colder cause the cold ammonia vapor has heat absorption capability.

Colder freezer gets the more heat can be absorbed in food compartment.
12 hrs for adequate cooling effect

RV level?
Critical for proper gravity flow of liquid ammonia thru absorber tubes back to boiler

And the inside of RV remaining HOT is a hindrance....especially if one keeps opening fridge doors..cold out HOT AIR IN

[dave17352]

At 108 with a absorption fridge don't open it for a week and see if it can get down to 50 in the fridge. 🙂 Thats hot! With that kind of heat I believe you will have a very hard time keeping the fridge at a acceptable temp. If by chance you do need a new fridge I would suggest you look seriously at a 12 volt danfoss compressor fridge. I have had a chance now to use my new one extensively and could not be happier with it. Its ice cold no matter what the temp is. JMHO

[Kayteg1]

9 PM and fridge is down to 88F with camper still at 103.
So it is "cooling"
Will post what happens in the morning.
Thanks for guiding me via stressful moment.

[Lwiddis]

108 in the shade. Now that's campin'!