Electrolux 212B fridge

[Iain_5062081]

Hi.

I've recently been given an old Sovereign 5 berth caravan to renovate. The last problem I have is with the fridge. Just can't get it to run.

The previous owner says it was working on 240V when they last used the caravan some 2 to 3 years ago.

Is this likely to be an easy problem to fix, or am I looking at a replacement?

Thanks for reading

Iain

 

[Damian]

Iain, depending on what kind of fridge it is, ie absorbtion or not, it may be worth taking the fridge out, turning it upside down for 24 hours, then righting it, leave for 2 hours connect to power and see if that has made any difference. Long term storage can cause the refrigerant to do funny things, and "mixing" it up sometimes sorts it out.

 

[gary]

Lack of use allows the coolant mixture to seperate and turning upside down several times will remix this, there is no need to wait between turns or at the end. If you can hear more than ten seconds of 'trickling' of the fluid as you turn it each way then the fridge will work. The thin pipes can get blocked and this will reduce the time you can hear the fluid moving. This can often be cured with some vigorous shaking while the fluid is moving one way or the other.

I have never failed to fix a 'leaking' fridge as they are often wrongly discribed but if they do leak they will smell of Ammonia and the fridge will need replacing

 

[Iain_5062081]

Thanks very much. I'll give the upside down treatment a whirl if you'll forgive the pun! Having just found out how much a replacement would be, I'll try anything.

Iain

 

[VIP2006]

Hope you resolve your problem soon, although with the weather we are experiencing this year a fridge is probably not needed

as well as shaking the fridge also shake the weather gods for some decent weather!!!

 

[Iain_5062081]

Well I took the fridge out this evening. Only took about 20 minutes. Turned it upsidedown until the trickling stopped, then turned it back. Repeated this three or four times, left it for an hour, reconnected the 240V and turned it on. Just been out to check it, and ...... Success!

Many thanks to all you replied to my plea for help. I now have a caravan it will be worth fitting a towbar for, although the towbar will probably cost me more than the caravan did!

The kids, 11, 9 and six months are really excited about the prospect of going away in it now, and I have to admit, so am I.

'erindoors is not so sure - yet!

Iain

 

[Damian]

Iain,,glad you have fixed the fridge, and it took so little time.

Now with the money you saved on buying a new one yo ushoul dhave a great time away!!!!

 

[Iain_5062081]

Spoke to soon! Whilst it was definately cooling down, it stopped working.

All that was left was an ice-cube in the bowl of water I'd put in there. Floating in the middle so it had obviously frozen totally and then defrosted.

I repeated taking it out and turning it, with a shake, then let it settle and re-installed it.

Same thing happened.

As the van is currently temporarily parked on the drive whilst we sort it out, and the drive is not level by a long way, it's not exactly perfectly level itself - not by a long way in fact. Could this be causing it to stop once it's going?

I'm going to try taking it out again (I've got it down to 8 minutes now!) and doing the turning treatment and then set it up on a level bench in the garage and see if that works.

If anyone else has got any other bright ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks

Iain

 

[MikeP]

Spoke to soon! Whilst it was definately cooling down, it stopped working.

All that was left was an ice-cube in the bowl of water I'd put in there. Floating in the middle so it had obviously frozen totally and then defrosted.

I repeated taking it out and turning it, with a shake, then let it settle and re-installed it.

Same thing happened.

As the van is currently temporarily parked on the drive whilst we sort it out, and the drive is not level by a long way, it's not exactly perfectly level itself - not by a long way in fact. Could this be causing it to stop once it's going?

I'm going to try taking it out again (I've got it down to 8 minutes now!) and doing the turning treatment and then set it up on a level bench in the garage and see if that works.

If anyone else has got any other bright ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks

Iain

Your fridge will only work properly - at home or on site - if it is level. When you are towing (and running on 12v) the constant motion means that it does not have to be constantly level.