Caravan Fridge problem, melting plastic smell?

[stevie_vee]

Hi

I wonder if anyone else has had this problem. We have a 2004 Bailey Pageant Monarch and last weekend noticed an awful smell like melting plastic. I thought it was something to do with the oven at first as i was using this at the time, but after i turned it off the smell was still there and getting worse. I then checked the fridge vent outside and the smell was definately coming from the fridge. I turned the fridge off and the smell went away.

Can anyone give me an idea what could be causing the problem and how i might go about fixing it....

Meant to be going away for ten days on friday and our local dealer cant look at it this week.....arrrgghhhh help!!!

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Steve,

Caravan fridges work by using heat to drive the cooling fluid around the fridge - so there are three heat soucres in the fridge: 240 Volt heater cartrdige, 12 volt heater cartridge (car supply only), and a gas heater.

All of these are fitted inside the vertical tube on the right hand side of the fridge (looking from outside) - and you should be able to gain reasonable access to the rear of the fridge via the upper and lower vents - these have twist locks.

A plastic smell? This could be a misplaced wire or insulation touching one of the heaters, or a piece of insulation has fallen inside the heater tube, or some other contact between plastic and a hot surface.

If you do find the cause and rectify the problem - do make sure that if the burning smell was caused by damage to insulation - that the wire is still in safe condition afterwards.

Robert

 

[stevie_vee]

Hi Steve,

Caravan fridges work by using heat to drive the cooling fluid around the fridge - so there are three heat soucres in the fridge: 240 Volt heater cartrdige, 12 volt heater cartridge (car supply only), and a gas heater.

All of these are fitted inside the vertical tube on the right hand side of the fridge (looking from outside) - and you should be able to gain reasonable access to the rear of the fridge via the upper and lower vents - these have twist locks.

A plastic smell? This could be a misplaced wire or insulation touching one of the heaters, or a piece of insulation has fallen inside the heater tube, or some other contact between plastic and a hot surface.

If you do find the cause and rectify the problem - do make sure that if the burning smell was caused by damage to insulation - that the wire is still in safe condition afterwards.

Robert

Hi Rob

Thanks for the advice. I'll have a look at it this afternoon and post on here what i find out

Cheers

Steve

 

[metz]

Hi Steve, I,ve had a look at a couple of fridges this week with a similar problem, one a dometic and the other a Thetford, in both cases the fridge flue was virtually blocked with soot and debris, neither had been serviced and were burning incorrectly, the rear of the vents were melting,i think because the flue's orifice were reduced by the soot, the heat was more intense and therefore melting the vents,creating the smell, i would get your dealer or a mobile engineer to service the fridge, could be you have the same problem.