Corrosion at back of fridge

[izzeybear1]

Whilst checking out my Caravan (1999 Abbey GTS Vogue 215) I noticed that that black protective paint on the back of the fridge was coming away exposing bare metal. I assume the parts affected are the cooling tubes etc. Any suggestion how to stop further 'decay' without the need to remove the fridge entirely

 

[RayS]

Local Dometic technician when looking at my fridge for a different reason reckoned that the burn-off of some of this paint was inevitable over the years, and providing you use the fridge fairly ofter - and therefore keep that area warm and dry - no problem. If you cannot do this, I would be very careful about applying anything else as whatever you put on will vapourise to some extent and may result in smell inside the van. I suppose radiator paint might be possible.

 

[Damian]

Iain, the paint on the burner tube readily burns off when the fridge is used on gas.

The paint on the cooler tubes gets hot and does flake after time.

You can tidy the finish up by applying a high temperature paint, but it will smell for a while when it gets hot until it cures properly.

 

[gary]

My first fridge cooler unit from 1980 was caked in rust, I wire brushed it as best as possible and gave it a coat of standard car type primer spray paint from an aerosol. This being matt will stand fairly high temperature and it won't smell much if at all.

I would say it's the environment it lives in that causes excess corrosion, this could be caused simply by the way the vents face during storage over winter, vent covers would help here. As it happens this cooler unit was transfered into a much later fridge body, in my case the damp at the back of the fridge cured and it's still working fine today.