# More Fridge Problems



## toolman (Jul 12, 2005)

Currently my Freezer works great but the fridge isn't the slightest bit cool. I am running on propane with full tanks. I turned it on yesturday @ 2:00pm and I'm leaving on a trip tomorrow morning. Anybody have any ideas? I am at a loss.

Thanks for the help

Toolman


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

The fridge and the freezer use the same cooling system, first to the freezer then to the fridge. The temp control is in the fridge and will cool until the temperature reaches 34 to 36 at the temp sensor. The freezer will get as cold as it can until the system cycles due to fridge temperature.

You need to load things in the fridge to help get a sensation of cold in there. So when you turn on the fridge load bottles of cold water. This speeds the cooling process and supplies mass to maintain then cooling.

Are you using thermometers in both the freezer and fridge?? Freezer should be between 0 and 10 degree F and the fridge should be between 34 and 36 degree F.

The coldest spot on the cooling fins in the fridge is the top center of the fins. These can operate well below freezing so make sure your temperature sensor is clipped to the last fin and near the bottom.


----------



## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

CamperAndy said:


> The coldest spot on the cooling fins in the fridge is the top center of the fins. These can operate well below freezing so make sure your temperature sensor is clipped to the last fin and near the bottom.


I'm a little confused -- my book says that for coldest operation the sliding thing is clipped to the last fin and placed near the TOP ..

Top it gets cold...









Bottom it gets warmer...









This is what my instructions /directions indicate...

So my sliding thingy is opn the last fin and at the top and its gets right at 32 with the fridge loaded...

CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG..


----------



## h2oman (Nov 17, 2005)

Ghosty said:


> The coldest spot on the cooling fins in the fridge is the top center of the fins. These can operate well below freezing so make sure your temperature sensor is clipped to the last fin and near the bottom.


I'm a little confused -- my book says that for coldest operation the sliding thing is clipped to the last fin and placed near the TOP ..

Top it gets cold...









Bottom it gets warmer...









This is what my instructions /directions indicate...

So my sliding thingy is opn the last fin and at the top and its gets right at 32 with the fridge loaded...

CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG..
[/quote]

That's what mine says too.


----------



## fishnmagician (Dec 27, 2005)

Just a quick reminder don't block the fins in the firg, a friend of our put a loaf of bread in front of the fins it acts as a insulator wouldn't let the rest of the frig cool down. it should work if the freezer is.


----------



## aplvlykat (Jan 25, 2004)

I hate to say it and I hope it's not your problem but when the frige loses is refrigerant it will act just like you are discribing. Look in the back and inside and see if there is any kind of yellowish residue near any of the coils. Also it is possible to get a blockage in the tubing that will cause this problem of lack of cooling between the freezer and refrige section. Is your refrige on the recall list? Is it under warrenty? The only other thing you may try is if there is a blockage sometimes if you remove the refrige and turn it over/ upside down for 24 hours then reinstall it they sometimes start working again. Again I have never had any luck with this method and it is a pain to remove then reinstall the frige only to have it still not work but it is kind of like a last resort before you have to replace the unit. I hope it is something else because a new one will run around $1000.00. Kirk


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

h2oman said:


> The coldest spot on the cooling fins in the fridge is the top center of the fins. These can operate well below freezing so make sure your temperature sensor is clipped to the last fin and near the bottom.


I'm a little confused -- my book says that for coldest operation the sliding thing is clipped to the last fin and placed near the TOP ..

Top it gets cold...









Bottom it gets warmer...









This is what my instructions /directions indicate...

So my sliding thingy is opn the last fin and at the top and its gets right at 32 with the fridge loaded...

CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG..
[/quote]

That's what mine says too.
[/quote]

Who said you have to read a book, I will have to loo to see what mine says!!!!!! Practical experience here, I leave the fridge on 24/7 during the season and monitor the frost ball in the fins to see when or if I need to shut the whole thing down to defrost. The end of the fin assemble top or bottom will have more or less the same temp. A center fin and the top will be much colder then the bottom. Max cold on the system is when you disconnect the slider (and thermistor) from the fin and operate only on air temperature.


----------



## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

CamperAndy said:


> The coldest spot on the cooling fins in the fridge is the top center of the fins. These can operate well below freezing so make sure your temperature sensor is clipped to the last fin and near the bottom.


I'm a little confused -- my book says that for coldest operation the sliding thing is clipped to the last fin and placed near the TOP ..

Top it gets cold...









Bottom it gets warmer...









This is what my instructions /directions indicate...

So my sliding thingy is opn the last fin and at the top and its gets right at 32 with the fridge loaded...

CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG..
[/quote]

That's what mine says too.
[/quote]

Who said you have to read a book, I will have to loo to see what mine says!!!!!! Practical experience here, I leave the fridge on 24/7 during the season and monitor the frost ball in the fins to see when or if I need to shut the whole thing down to defrost. The end of the fin assemble top or bottom will have more or less the same temp. A center fin and the top will be much colder then the bottom. Max cold on the system is when you disconnect the slider (and thermistor) from the fin and operate only on air temperature.
[/quote]

here's what i know from experience --

If i put the sensor on the right far fin and to the very top my fridge stays right at 33 (+/-) degrees ... if I move the fin all the way to the bottom is stays right at 42 (+/-) ....

The book says bascially the same thing .....

also -- the fins DO need air to be able to mopvre around them to cool ... so if you have something blocking them -- it will not get as cold as you would like...


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Ghosty said:


> here's what i know from experience --
> 
> If i put the sensor on the right far fin and to the very top my fridge stays right at 33 (+/-) degrees ... if I move the fin all the way to the bottom is stays right at 42 (+/-) ....
> 
> ...


I guess I need a book and page number as there is not a reference to the thermistor location in my Dometic manual.

*This is the text from my manual.*

___________________________________________________________

This refrigerator is equipped with a control system, which
can be set to automatically select either 120 volt AC or
LP gas operation (AUTO mode), or if desired LP gas
only (GAS mode).
In both AUTO mode and GAS mode operation, the temperature
is controlled by a factory preset temperature
setting.

*And This is in there also*.

_______________________________________________
HOW TO USE THE REFRIGERATOR
FOOD STORAGE COMPARTMENT
The food storage compartment is completely closed and
unventilated, which is necessary to maintain the required
low temperature for food storage. Consequently, foods
having a strong odor or those that absorb odors easily
should be covered. Vegetables, salads etc. should be
covered to retain their crispness. The coldest positions
in the refrigerator are under the cooling fins and at the
bottom of the refrigerator. The warmer areas are on the
upper door shelves. This should be considered when
placing different types of food in the refrigerator.


----------



## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

CamperAndy said:


> here's what i know from experience --
> 
> If i put the sensor on the right far fin and to the very top my fridge stays right at 33 (+/-) degrees ... if I move the fin all the way to the bottom is stays right at 42 (+/-) ....
> 
> ...


I guess I need a book and page number as there is not a reference to the thermistor location in my Dometic manual.

*This is the text from my manual.*

___________________________________________________________

This refrigerator is equipped with a control system, which
can be set to automatically select either 120 volt AC or
LP gas operation (AUTO mode), or if desired LP gas
only (GAS mode).
In both AUTO mode and GAS mode operation, the temperature
is controlled by a factory preset temperature
setting.

*And This is in there also*.

_______________________________________________
HOW TO USE THE REFRIGERATOR
FOOD STORAGE COMPARTMENT
The food storage compartment is completely closed and
unventilated, which is necessary to maintain the required
low temperature for food storage. Consequently, foods
having a strong odor or those that absorb odors easily
should be covered. Vegetables, salads etc. should be
covered to retain their crispness. The coldest positions
in the refrigerator are under the cooling fins and at the
bottom of the refrigerator. The warmer areas are on the
upper door shelves. This should be considered when
placing different types of food in the refrigerator.
[/quote]

Go out and look at the fridge ---

Printed on the right side of the wall of the fridge (on the inside right ) perpendicular to the fins is a picture of a sliding scale ...

On the top of the scale (next to the top of the right fin) mine says COLDER --- on the bottom of the scale (near the bottom of the right fin) mine says WARMER ..

That leads me to think that if I move the slider to the top mine gets colder .. and toward the bottom mine gets warmer...

No where in my manual does it say "In both AUTO mode and GAS mode operation, the temperature
is controlled by a factory preset temperature setting." which leads me to believe that we have different model or model years...


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

This is what mine looked like last year when I was defrosting it. No sticker indicating warmer or colder.


----------



## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

Andy and Ghosty,

Both of you are right.

Andy quoted the User Manual, which said, "The coldest positions in the refrigerator are under the cooling fins and at the bottom of the refrigerator. The warmer areas are on the upper door shelves. This should be considered when placing different types of food in the refrigerator." My manual says the same thing.

And I agree wholeheartedly. From experience, that is where the warm and cold spots are in the refrigerator. But that is not in reference to where to place the thermistor.

Ghosty posted, "If I put the sensor on the right far fin and to the very top my fridge stays right at 33 (+/-) degrees ... if I move the fin all the way to the bottom is stays right at 42 (+/-) ....

The book says bascially the same thing ....."

And Ghosty is correct, also. My book and personal experience are the same as Ghosty's. The sticker right beside the rightmost fin says:

"Warmer," with a DOWN arrow, and

"Colder," with an UP arrow.

Which means (and I've confirmed) that when you move the thermistor toward the top of the fin, the fridge will get colder - and when you move it toward the bottom of the fin, the fridge will get warmer - in general. There will still be spots colder than others, but the thermistor controls the average temp in the fridge.

When traveling with a full fridge, and when I have the thermistor at the bottom of the far right fin, I have a hard time keeping the fridge above 32 degrees. I have to move it to a position where half of the thermistor is hanging down below the fin. I believe that this is due to the increased draft through the flue that causes the flame to burn hotter.

When camping, I move the thermistor up to the middle of the fin and the temp stays at about 36 degrees. This was my experience for two weeks traveling to Orlando and back (from Illinois) a month ago. (I keep my fridge thermometer hanging from the second shelf, along the right side of the fridge.)

Hopefully I haven't clouded this issue more.

Mike


----------



## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

Where are these things made. The manual is probably written in Engrish.

I imagine what the "preset" is referring to is that you can't actually set the temperature per se directly. It will shut off when the thermistor reaches the preset temp - period. But by controlling that relative to the rest of the fridge, you can adjust the resulting temp somewhat indirectly.

So, everybody is right!


----------



## GoVols (Oct 7, 2005)

I'm jumping into this discussion with a problem too.

Exactly as described above, with the refrigerator EMPTY:
Freezer temp around 5 degrees
Refrigerator temp is about 44 degrees.

The slider thingy is all the way to the top of the fin.

I tried running electric and gas to see if one or the other mattered, but there is no difference.


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

GoVols said:


> I'm jumping into this discussion with a problem too.
> 
> Exactly as described above, with the refrigerator EMPTY:
> Freezer temp around 5 degrees
> ...


Gas and Electric should operate exactly the same.

Try this, pull the clip and thermistor off the fin and check it tomorrow and tell us what the temperatures are. Also make sure there is some mass in the fridge like a couple of gallons on water.


----------



## Lady Di (Oct 28, 2005)

Hey guys! Thank you for this thread! Our manual read the same as Andy's. We looked in the back of the fridge and couldn't find anything to say how to control it, and there is nothing anywhere to indicate that there is even a thermistor. Today I learned something new. We CAN control the temp. At least somewhat.

We have a thermistor. Wow!


----------



## wtscl (May 22, 2007)

Just to add a little logic: Heat rises, so the top of the fridge is going to be the warmest part, so if the Thermistor is at the top, the fridge will keep cooling until that Thermistor gets to the proper temp.


----------



## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Interestingly, when my fins freeze-up there is solid ice all along the top of the fins which tapers off then dissapears at the bottom of the fins. I just defrosted last night because it was a sold block of ice on the top of the fins, and on the right side.


----------



## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

I just found out some info on this problem that may help out, although you may not like hearing it!
Another member (camptoddski) - too shy to post here - has had the same problem. Dometic unit. Freezer works fine, refrigerator not at all (or barely). Several trips to the dealer yielded no help, as they kept maintaining it was fine.

Finally he called our local Mobile RV repair guys (these guys are GREAT!!!). They went through, and decided that the coils needed replacing. This requires removing the refrigerator from its hole. After replacing the coils, he was having a difficult time getting the back panel to line up and seal as it should. When he pulled it off, he found that the coils has gotten so hot, they were melting the styrofoam insulation on the other side of the back panel. Seriously melting! This was the problem.

He ended up taking video of the damage, along with the old coils and sent it all off to Dometic. Understand, Todd's unit is well out of warranty. To make a long story slightly shorter. Dometic is sending a complete new refrigerator and picking up the bill for the whole thing. The coils were not the issue. The mobile RV guy said this is not an unheard of problem with the Dometic's, but he has never seen one this bad before.

I hope this is not your problem, but the symptoms were the same, and this may give you some ammunition to go back to your own shop with. And, of course, the good news is that Dometic seems to be willing to make good on the problem.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Happy Trails,
Doug


----------

