broken fridge

[John_5101260]

Have just been away for a week and during the last day the fridge stopped "fridging".

It was very windy at the time and I am wondering if the problem could have been caused by that.

We were running the fridge on mains, I tried it on 12v but no joy. I didnt have time to try it on gas.

Anybody got any suggestions - cant realy afforf a new one, so if this is beyond help any suggestions for secondhand.

Many thanks

John

 

[Damian]

John, it is very unlikely the wind had any effect on mains power relating to the fridge.

It needs to be tried on gas to rule out total failure, but it sounds like its the 240 volt cooling side that has gone.

The 12 volt will only work when the car is connected and running, it will NOT work just on the van battery, and will not take the fridge down to any great temp, its just a maintainence cooling while driving.

 

[chris_5068897]

John

Fridges (in my experience) are generally reliable. First, had the thermostat been turned down too far? Second, the mains supply to the fridge is controlled by a circuit breaker-had this ben tripped? Finally was there any mains power at all to the van-overloaded perhaps?

Always best to work back before condemning a unit

 

[John_5101260]

Thanks for the suggestions. Point taken about running on the leisure battery, makes sense now I think about it.

There is power going to the fridge (well the green light comes on anyway) and the thermostat is turned up.

I will be trying it on gas next weekend - mind you I begrudge running it on gas when I am paying for electric hookup. But I suppose that I would have to use a heck of a lot of gas to end up spending as much as I would have to if I bought a new fridge.

Kind Regards

John

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello John,

I hope you find the fridge continues to work on gas/12V. Of it does work, then it sounds as though the 240v thermostat or the element may have failed. These can be repaired, but it is a job for an expert.

If the fridge does not work on gas/12V then it sounds as though the refrigerant has leaked away. Sometimes this can be repaird but again it is a job for an expert.

I must comment of Damians point about the effectivness of the 12V system. Technically and in my own experience, there should be no appreciable difference in the cooling ability of the 12V sytem compared to the mains. Both systems simply generate about 100W of heat and apply it to the same part of the refriderant tubing. In fact, the 12V system is not usually thermostatically cotrolled, so it will continue to cool below the temperature that the mains system would shut off.

In practice though, because the 12V system is only supplied when towing, there is insufficent time for it to cool down fully. It is always better to have the fridge turned on mains or gas about 12 to 24 hours before journeying, and then loaded with chilled food from the domestic fridge/freezer just before leaving.

 

[Glenn_5132962]

I had the same happen to me. There is a 240v heating element in the fridge & it had gone in my case. We got someone out to fix it & the cost about

 

[Icemaker]

refrigerators in caravans work on a completely different system than those at home in that they are "absorbtion" type. the fridge works on ammonia not refrigerant gas so if the fridge was to leak you would definately know about it by the smell or the yellow stain it would leave all over your vents. the electrolux (dometic) does suffer from somewhat unreliable heating elements on the 240 volt side and this i would say is almost certainly your problem, i changed one only last week for my sister on a 2004 avondale. first as has been suggested try the fridge on gas if it works then you have narrowed it down to the stat or heating element, now are you competent with electrics ? if not get it repaired proffesionally but if you are you need to remove the fridge from the housing, turn off the gas and remove the gas supply and the mains supply, remove the fridge and plug it back in, test (with a mains voltage meter) whether you have 240 volt at the stat input and out put with the stat set on full. if voltage is not present at the output the stat is your fault if it is and the heater is still cool then the heater is at fault. the heater and stat are available from most retailers in caravans and the one i bought last week (red lead 175 watt) was

 

[John_5101260]

Thanks all for the support and advice. We are in the van this weekend so I am going to try it on gas. Thanks for the offer of help Icemaker - I am in Essex so a bit far - However I do know people who are competent with electrics (not on caravans mind but I am sure they will be able to help).

Once again thanks to all, I will let you know next week if gas worked.

Kind Regs

John

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello John,

Just a further point to consider, If you find it works on gas, then you could simply use the gas and forget the mains - It uses quite samll amount of gas and you cold run it for hundreds of hours on

 

[John_5101260]

It worked great on gas (to be honest better than on electric - maby an indication that the electric has been on its way out for a while). Thanks for all the advice, I think I am going to take John L's advice and run it on gas. Cant afford a new one and the gas is great.

Thanks again to all.

Kind regards

John