My van (Swift Sandymere - Charisma)has a Thetford N112 which after 2 years has stopped cooling on 240v (gas OK) Warm air comes from the top Ventilator which would seem to indicate some sort of life but it doesn't cool at all. Last week on site I paid £40 to have a man come out, take out the fly screens then tell me the element was working! It still didn't cool at all. Can anyone suggest further things to try?
Fridge not cooling on 240v
- Thread starter Chris_374469465
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Damian
Moderator
- Mar 14, 2005
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If it is working well on gas, then the 240v element must be at fault.
Just taking the flyscreens off and feeling the element is not adequate.
The only way to ascertain if it is at fault is to measure the resistance of the element. Should be 470ohms on a good element.
From your description it would seem that it has gone high on resistance and whilst feeling hot, is not getting hot enough to work correctly
Just taking the flyscreens off and feeling the element is not adequate.
The only way to ascertain if it is at fault is to measure the resistance of the element. Should be 470ohms on a good element.
From your description it would seem that it has gone high on resistance and whilst feeling hot, is not getting hot enough to work correctly
One other possibility is the element is 'over' heating?
Normally elenents 'go high' and stop working, in simple terms the actual element breaks and there is therefore no, circuit, no resistance to measure and no heat
However, there is another strange reason whereby the resistance through the element decreases? don't ask me?? but it seems to drop to around 370 ohms!
This though increases the heat it produces! thereby overheating the cooling unit and the result is still a non-working fridge!
Normally elenents 'go high' and stop working, in simple terms the actual element breaks and there is therefore no, circuit, no resistance to measure and no heat
However, there is another strange reason whereby the resistance through the element decreases? don't ask me?? but it seems to drop to around 370 ohms!
This though increases the heat it produces! thereby overheating the cooling unit and the result is still a non-working fridge!
I forgot, again rare but the switch can itself become high resistance, still allows some current through but reduces the heat produced by the element.
Never tried this but sure it will work, quick check of the circuit without disturbing the fridge is to find the mains cable connecting it, if it's plugged in somewhere alls the better.
For safety, mains totally disconnected from van
With elements switch in the on position, simply measure the resistance between the live and neutral wires or those two pins on the plug, for the common 125w element you should get 470 ohms or very close to this figure.
Never tried this but sure it will work, quick check of the circuit without disturbing the fridge is to find the mains cable connecting it, if it's plugged in somewhere alls the better.
For safety, mains totally disconnected from van
With elements switch in the on position, simply measure the resistance between the live and neutral wires or those two pins on the plug, for the common 125w element you should get 470 ohms or very close to this figure.
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