Problems with my refrigerator.

[Atlee]

I have a 6 cuft Dometic DM 2652 2 door refrigerator. It has stopped cooling.

When I push the button on the front to cut it on, nothing happens. The interior light will not come on. And it smells of ammonia when I sniff the outside of it.

I know I have DC power, the trailer is plugged into a 30 amp pedestal, The DC fuse that goes to the refrigerator is ok.

Outside of the obvious of it being dead due to the ammonia gas being given off, is there anything else I could check?

[Old-Biscuit]

dougrainer wrote:

wolfe10 wrote:
Do NOT attempt to run a refrigerator that has leaked its coolant.

It will NEVER cool again with that cooling unit and you could start a fire if you run it with an empty or leaking boiler.

Once the Ammonia is gone, there is NOTHING to catch fire. Doug

The NFPA has assigned a flammability rating of '1' (slight fire hazard) to ammonia

The hydrogen gas would be of more concern but it also dissipates almost immediately when leaked

Fire hazard, if any, is long gone after cooling unit leaks and thermofuse operated shutting down system

[dougrainer]

wolfe10 wrote:
Do NOT attempt to run a refrigerator that has leaked its coolant.

It will NEVER cool again with that cooling unit and you could start a fire if you run it with an empty or leaking boiler.

Once the Ammonia is gone, there is NOTHING to catch fire. Doug

[jalichty]

Is it one of the fridges subject to the class action lawsuit? Sounds like what was happening with the fridges in that lawsuit, causing fires once in a while. Maybe not, that one was for Norcold.

[beemerphile1]

Your refrigerator is a fire hazard, be glad it stopped working. You need a new cooling unit or refrigerator. DO NOT TRY TO OPERATE THE REFRIGERATOR!

[wolfe10]

Do NOT attempt to run a refrigerator that has leaked its coolant.

It will NEVER cool again with that cooling unit and you could start a fire if you run it with an empty or leaking boiler.

[Old-Biscuit]

Ammonia smell....

Only reason is due to a crack in cooling unit tubing which has allowed the coolant solution to escape (Ammonia, water, sodium chromate & hydrogen gas under 300 psi)

The reason you don't have an interior light or any controls is because the high temp thermofuse on perk tube (tube next to flue where coolant solution gets heated) has tripped.

It has a manual reset button BUT it will just trip again due to high temp.....no coolant

Cooling unit is toast.


Off level operation and poor welds are common causes of failures.
Off level causes obstructions
Poor welds (over penetration/high amp) at the electric heater element holder where it is welded to perk tube

[ScottG]

Yep, it's done. And for a 2012 model that's ridiculous.
Now you have a choice as to whether you repair it with a new cooling unit or replace the entire fridge.

[lc0338]

downtheroad is probably correct. when I posted the troubleshooting clicky's I did a little reading. If you smell ammonia the cooling unit is bad and no further testing is required... from the second clicky I posted.

[lc0338]

trouble shooting clicky

[downtheroad]

Not good. I hate to bring this kind of news
If you are smelling ammonia your frig is probably toast.
On a previous rig, this is exactly what happened to us.

Hopefully others will be more positive.

[lc0338]

manuals including troubleshooting