I'm at a loss and need help :(

[82tpsmith]

Well I've have tried almost everything. My refrigerator quick cooling about a week ago. I'm living in whitefish, MT and the temps got down to -18 degrees one night and were at -5 to -10 for several nights. I've got the trailer all ready for winter, except I didn't insulate the fridge. Sooo...

I've looked on all the forums, done lot of research online and still can't get it to start cooling again. Here's what I've done so far.

After I noticed the fridge was not cooling, I put a 150W clear bulb back there to try and generate some heat. Waited a day nothing. Then I got some of the reflect-ix bubble insulation stuff and covered 2 of the 3 vents on the lower access doors to the refrigerator. Waited a couple of days, nothing. I've tried running on gas for a day and back to electric, nothing. Then decided since it was still cold outside I would pull the fridge out and try to warm it up. So I pulled the fridge out and had it sitting in our living room for 2 days with a heater aimed at the back side to warm up all the coils and totally thaw anything that might be frozen out. Put it back in today around 11 and have not seen a temperature drop in the inside of the fridge. It has been about 3 hours. I would have thought that I would see temps go down at least 5 or 10 degrees but thermometer still says 62. I just don't know where els to go here.

We bough our fifth wheel new and it is about 3 years old. Never had any other problems with the fridge in the three years we've had it.

Would love some ideas what might still be wrong, or what else I might do.

Thank you so much

[82tpsmith]

Well just another quick update. Been several days and we still have real cold temps in the fridge. My neighbor had the same problem, and we even went over and flipped his fridge. Thanks for all the help everyone!!!

[Dick_A]

Moved from General RV'ing forum.

[DiskDoctr]

You know the 'first' fellow to report flipping the fridge probably involved WARM beer, a couple of buddies, and a big hill, then a 'better put it back in the camper before the wife sees what I've done! 😄

Next thing you know, wife says, "Guess what? We have ice cubes!"

...and a 'Redneck Repair Procedure' is born! LOL.

But seriously, it is a fairly well respected fix. If it works, you're golden. If not, you haven't lost anything.

Glad you are back and working again.

[roy67ss]

It is called 'burping' the fridge. Common thing to need to do back in the days of 3 way fridges.

[82tpsmith]

well I take back anything sarcastic I might have said about turning it up side down. We had put the fridge back yesterday and was still not working. I though what the heck I've tried everything else, lets turn it upside down. So this morning I took out the refrigerator, again, and turned it on it's side. Let it sit for a couple of hours. then turned it upside down, waited a couple of hours, and then flipped it from side to upside down to side again. You could hear all the liquids moving around as I did this.

Put the fridge back in about 2-3 hours ago and I'll be darned if it ain't 11 degrees in the freezer now. The refrigerator still is comming down in temperature, but I do believe that fixed it.

I would have never though of doing this. Can't imagine what I did, but I am sure glad it seems to be working.

Thank you all SOOOO much for the help, and I'll post back tomorrow to update the temps after 24 hours or so.

[jrobert01]

I do not know much about
reefer's but i would take it out and turn it upside down and keep it warm for several hours then put it in and it will work again.Same thing happened to me and i did just that and it worked 3 yrs.and was working when i sold the motor home. I read how from a repair manual from C.W.It is worth a try they suggest letting it stay upside down for 12 hrs.I certainly hope this helps replacement is expensive.

[Old-Biscuit]

Unplug thermistor cable from lower board and force cool it.

Also get some air flow thru that lower vent....air flow has to move across back of fridge from lower vent thru upper vent

[BarneyS]

You might ask the moderator to move this to the Tech Issues forum. One of our members, who is a well known RV tech and has his own RV repair business, frequents that forum and may join in on your thread with advice.
Barney

[CavemanCharlie]

Wish I could help. All I know is what I've learned from the videos and web sites listed below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYshi631z-Y

http://rvrefrigeratorrepair.com/how_it_cools.html


http://rvrefrigeratorrepair.com/troubleshoot.html

[82tpsmith]

Well...the temps are still in the 60's so needless to say something isn't right. I couldn't believe when I heard about flipping it upside down, but with all these people saying it might work i might have to give it a try.

Also read some stuff on the thermistor? Possibly could this be bad? Not sure what the signs might be, but strange it would go at the same time we had those super cold nights.

[Lurker52]

A guy I worked with did the turning upside down trick and it worked. He did this in june and it was still running good in October. You may want to give it a try.

[RVUSA]

In those temps you have the wrong bulb. You need a sun lamp or an infared warmer "spot light".

[82tpsmith]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Turning fridge upside down is a bandaid fix.......nothing more.

The 'idea' is that cooling flow has become blocked due to improper fluid flow and overheating which causes crystallization that sticks to inside wall of tubes.
Turning it upside down is suppose to dislodge the build up and allow the cooling fluid to flow again.

The build up has already occurred....it is stuck permanently to tubes
Turning it upside down may dislodge the crystals but they do NOT dissolve back into solution. Once formed they are permanent.

They form due to off level operation...and accumulate overtime. They will not go away.

'82tpsmith'
Need some air flow thru lower vent cover.
Upper vent cover should be fully open...no blocking and I take it the fans are not on? (some folks have them manual vs t-stat controlled)

Upper ent cover is still fully open, only the lower of the two accsess covers that I have "blocked" And the fan is not on, it is a thermostaticaly controlled fan. I wonder if I put a small fan in the bottom is that might help air flow a bit.

Just checked the temps again

Freezer - 67
Refrigerator - 66

This is after at least 5 hours of being back on???

I've got the fridge turned to coldest setting? good idea?

Also, it's been on gas all this time, think I might try electric now?

Outside temps today we mid 30's below freezing tonight. Not nearly as bad as it was though.

[Old-Biscuit]

Turning fridge upside down is a bandaid fix.......nothing more.

The 'idea' is that cooling flow has become blocked due to improper fluid flow and overheating which causes crystallization that sticks to inside wall of tubes.
Turning it upside down is suppose to dislodge the build up and allow the cooling fluid to flow again.

The build up has already occurred....it is stuck permanently to tubes
Turning it upside down may dislodge the crystals but they do NOT dissolve back into solution. Once formed they are permanent.

They form due to off level operation...and accumulate overtime. They will not go away.

'82tpsmith'
Need some air flow thru lower vent cover.
Upper vent cover should be fully open...no blocking and I take it the fans are not on? (some folks have them manual vs t-stat controlled)