THETFORD FRIDGES

[Christopher_374304324]

Dear Sirs

Up until last year, my wife and I owned a 1991 Avondale Perle Orestes 2 berth caravan. We decided on a lovely summers day to have a ride out to Chicester Caravans just to see what was on the market. We fell in love straightaway with a Sprite Alpine 4 berth caravan and purchased it almost immediately.

We took the caravan away the next day to Tewkesbury where we were very impressed with the fixed bed and all the other trimmings that come with a new caravan.

We had no problems until about three months later when we where planning a weekend in the Cotswolds. Two days before we were due to leave, I turned on the fridge and filled it with beer and wine (oh, and bacon and eggs. On the day of departure, we opened up the van to discover a smell of burning. It was coming from the fridge. It was not cold. I tried to run the fridge on gas but to no avail. The fridge had simply packed up. I contacted Chichester and was told to bring the caravan back into the showroom and they would install a new fridge. The caravan was there for at least two weeks.

All went well with the new fridge until two days before Easter when we were due to leave for a week's holiday in Wales, low and behold, the second fridge was not working. The same burning smell was coming from the fridge again. This meant that we were without a fridge for a second time and the weather was quite warm.

I have contacted Chichester and the fridge manufacturer, Thetford who have offered to replace the fridge yet again but wonder if anyone else has had the same problems with this particular make of fridge.

I am not impressed as each time the fridge has needed to be repaired, I have had to make a 16 mile round trip to drop it off and pick it up. Today we finally got our caravan back after three weeks in the shop with a new fridge but no shelves. Our old caravan had an slightly ancient battered Electrolux fridge but we never had a problem with it. Or any warm beers! Regards Chris

 

[Marc1]

Chris, I have never had a fridge fault but can reccomend filling a bucket with water to keep the beer and wine cool. No idea how to look after the non essentials though. :0)

Marc

 

[Rodone]

Hello Christopher

I had one of the first Thetford (Norcold)caravan fridges in 2002.It has repeatedly let me down, and while it was in warranty, Thetford showed an interest.The entire fridge was changed at one stage, but I still get problems. Currently I have a strong burning smell, and the grill and surrounding caravan wall were sooted up. I blew the flue and burner with an air line, but tomorrow I have to take it to the Dealer to see what they can do. If I run it on mains, it works fine. Thetford do not seem interested nowadays partly I suppose because they are now established in the caravan market and partly, in my case, because I have no more warranty. I am currently looking into upgrading my van, but the ones fitted with Thetfords fridges will not even be considered. At least their loo's seem to work...!

 

[Guest]

I am sorry you have been unlucky twice with your Thetford fridge. Without really knowing what has happened I can only suggest that there is an issue with the van rather than the fridge itself. My reasoning is that 2 fridges with the same fault are unlikely and I think something in the van is creating the problem. The Thetford fridges use similar components to Dometic so to blame the brand may seem appropriate, but not necessarily correct. My own van has a Thetford fridge and works happily, in fact I would state it works better than the Electrolux model I had previously, mainly because the ducting at the rear seems to be better designed.

I can only hope that the dealers have better luck in finding the problem for you.

 

[Rodone]

Hello Scotchlad,

I previously had a Lunar which had an Electolux, and the fridge area was extremely badly sealed. I could almost keep meals warm on the surface above it!! However, the fridge gave me no problems.My current Swift is sealed much better - though not 100% otherwise I would not be able to smell the fridge in the van. My problems relate to the gas operation and I think that you will find it is this area that the Thetford and Electrolux use different jets. Ishould add that I have had far more than just two problems with the gas side of the Thetford. For instance, one fairly regular occurance is, in the middle of the night, when you can hear everything, the ignition will start firing?? At first I thought it was the noise of the metal housings contracting as a result of temperature changes, but it was not that.No, I do not think the problem lies with the Swift Group - other than they chose, at one point, to use Thetfords.

 

[Guest]

Rod,

I am not too sure what you are driving at with your post. If there is a problem with the gas side of things then that is a one matter. Of course all fridges do tend to smell for the first few times one uses them under gas, I was assuming the burning was under 240 volt electric, in which case something is definitely wrong.

Possibly regretfully for the wrong reasons I cannot say the same for my Thetford fridge. It has behaved perfectly under both gas or electric.

I could also state that there is a distinct tendency for most UK manufacturers to install fridges incorrectly, don't ask me why, it just seems to be part and parcel of the course. My van is European sourced and seems to have escaped these 'problems'.

If you are having ignition problems then my first thought would be the gas supply is inconsistent. If the ignition is lit, then why would it try to relight?? Again, you have a 'posh' fridge, mine is piezo ignition so you have to manually press it. Seriously tho', I am still suspicious that the fridge is merely trying to cope with an external problem.

 

[Rodone]

Hello again Scotchlad,

No, my fridge never smelt when it was new, on gas or electric. It ceased working on gas - but never accompanied by any sort of smell. I do know that some Thetfords had trouble with paint peeling in the flue pipe and the subsequent burning can cause a smell. Mine is to the Dealers this morning and without boring you to death, I will tell you what the result is when I collect it on Wednesday.

 

[Conquerorman]

Were on our second van fitted with a Thetford fridge. Weve had no problems at all. One of the technicians at our caravan dealer reckons that they are a better product than Dometic.

 

[Icemaker]

We have a thetford fridge fitted in our coachman vip, its been perfect and apart from defrosting has never been switched off, the van is now 9 month old.

It did smell awfull when first used on gas but once the paint had burnt off it was fine.

The basic operating system is allmost identical to the electrolux in that it uses the absorbtion principle and has a 240 volt and 12 volt heating element plus gas pilot light, the gas pilot regulates in size to control temperature the 240 and 12 volt elements are both controled from the electronic control panel and both elements cycle on the thermostat unlike the electrolux whos 12 volt element runs continuously.

the 240 element can not really create any smell, if it burns too hot it will fail open circuit and stop heating as will the 12 volt. The only real way for these to creat a burning smell is if something is touching them and burning on contact, allthough i really can not see how this can be possible as they are both encased in rock wool insulation.

The gas side on the other hand can and will smell awfull if it has a fault, the most common fault is lack of air to the flame usually caused by owners putting insulation behind the fridge to stop the draughed from under it. This is a very bad idea and should never be done, heavy soot is an indication of this.

In any case of a fault with the gas it must be seen by a qualified engineer it is not a diy job, allthough i am a fully qualified refrigeration engineer with 16 years experiance i am no longer able to work on the gas side as i have worked on the railways for 8 years and my licence has expired and i would not even try to repair my own vans gas system.

I would tend to go along with scotch lad in the case highlighted above and look at the posibility of a fault with the vans design or build.

 

[Rodone]

Hello All,

Collected the van from dealer this am and a bill for