2 Way Refrigerator Replacement

[coyotesfan9898]

Hey all. Pretty new to all of this. I have a Forest River Flagstaff 25LB Superlite with a Dometic 2 way fridge. Fridge doesn't seem to want to work. I've seen people replace the 2-way fridge's with simple roughly 4.5cu mini fridge's and removal and install all seem pretty straight forward. Was wondering if anyone has done this and any concern with the heat put off with the mini fridge? Or does it seem to not be an issue with the upper vent and vent door at the floor to the outside of the camper? Seen them installed with simple foam sheet insulation to help snug everything up and was wondering along the same lines as far is it making the space to hot? Thanks all for the input!

[time2roll]

You will end up with 4+ batteries and 500+ watts solar and still need the generator periodically with a residential fridge off-grid. Great when plugged in.

[gordinho80]

Valid point. First few trips will be short and will be at sites with hook ups, so I'm not concerned with that. Eventually will be running an inverter with transfer switch and also solar panels down the line.

[BurbMan]

Before you put in a residential fridge consider how you will use the trailer. If you will be in campgrounds or parks with hook ups and traveling short distances it will be fine. If you plan on extensive road travel or bookdocking with no hookups, then consider placing with another 2-way fridge. Cooling on propane is a lot easier then managing battery/inverter/generator power all the time especially when you want to keep the food and drinks cold going down the road.

[gordinho80]

Cooling unit on mine was bad too. I ripped out the whole fridge and will be putting in a 9.9 cu ft residential unit. I'm also re-doing the entire roof so the roof vent is getting covered. I'm using the foam sheets to insulate. I'll be posting pics and details here. https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/29485866.cfm

[WayneAt63044]

Yep, that yellow stuff should be inside doing the cooling and not on the out side. Time to replace or repair. There's an outfit in Arkansas that rebuilds them but I bought a new one when mine went bad like yours has.

[coyotesfan9898]

Don't see anything on the coils but this is what the burner tube looks like... not sure if that's what you meant by yellow...

[Jim]

Not knowing what age your refer is, just be a guess, but if you didn't smell ammonia when you opened the refer, and if you don't see any yellow powdery stuff on the coils outside, then it could just be plugged due to lack of use. The cure for that is to whack on those coils outside with a rubber mallet to get some vibration going...something to break up the chemicals inside the tubing that can clump together. Might take an hour of running the mallet over the coils. Sometimes I just put an electric vibrator on them and have a beer.

[coyotesfan9898]

Yes, the trailer is level. I assume it’s running. When I first went through it I noticed the 5amp fuse on the circuit board was blown and was cause the “check” light to come on. Replaced it and light has stayed off, just no sign of cooling. Switched it over to gas and burner fired right up and boiler section started grtting hot after a few mins.

[SoundGuy]

coyotesfan9898 wrote:
I’ve had it plugged up since Saturday afternoon and it’s not getting cool at all. I understand it could potentially take 24-48hrs to start cooling. Figured by now I would see some sort of progress.

Any 6 cu ft gas absorption fridge I've owned, both Norcold and Dometic, have easily been cold enough to put food in once they've been on for no more than 5 hours. Presumably you've adequately leveled the trailer, a requirement for proper operation of any gas absorption fridge. :@ Does it run in the electric mode? :@

[coyotesfan9898]

I’ve had it plugged up since Saturday afternoon and it’s not getting cool at all. I understand it could potentially take 24-48hrs to start cooling. Figured by now I would see some sort of progress.

[Lwiddis]

RV fridges work well but your’s may need replacement. Heat is also generated by an RV fridge. A residential fridge would tie you to CGs with electricity, extensive generator use and/or a huge solar/battery system. What style of camping do you like?

[donn0128]

What do you mean exactly by seems to not work? Absprption refers do not work like compressor refers. They take about 24 hours to cool down prior to use, and they can warm up pretty fast if you leave the door open for more than a few seconds at a time. They generally work well if their installed correctly and folks understand how they operate.
Please come back and amend your original post with information on what you feel your problem is.