# Fridge Just Stopped Working!!!!



## dominer (May 20, 2007)

I have the ol 23RS parked right outside the house attached to shore power (15 amp) as I have done many times before, when I get home I leve the fridge plugged in... well been sitting for a month now.. I go out today to get something out of the trailer and open te fridge just to check it out and much to my suprise, the hot dogs in the freezer are thawed as well as the ice pops, bag of ice is gone..... well bags there the ice isnt.. lol fridge is warm to obvouusly... The light still shows "auto" on the top, check light not on... power still to trailer, any idea why it would just quit cooling???? Thanks in advance for your ideas....


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## dominer (May 20, 2007)

By the way didnt metikon that trailer is level right where it always has sat, and "burner tube " is warm as always.... thanks


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## egregg57 (Feb 13, 2006)

I am not well versed in the refridge department but from your description.....Sounds like a loss of coolant.

Eric


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## Richard1 (Oct 7, 2007)

Hi, first push the power button on the fridge off and then on. Check all your circuit breakers inside the trailer, in the power panel flip them off then on. Make sure the 12volt fuses in the panel are not blown. Reset all the GFI in the receptacles. If all of the fuses and breakers are ok, then go outside of the trailer take off the plastic panel for the fridge, check is you have 110v and 12 volts out at the fridge. If everything checks out then unplug the shore power and take off the positive 12v battery terminal. You will see a 4" x 4" black box on the back of the fridge as your viewing it from the outside with the plastic panel off. You can take a screw driver and pry where it shows on the black box; you may have to take out a screw to take off the black cover. You will see two car fuses, pull them out and check continuity to make sure they are not blown. Connect the 12v battery back and plug in shore power, have someone in the trailer push the power button on and off, while you are standing outside by the 4x4 black box you should here the relays clicking in and out. If this black box is bad they are sealed with all the circuits imbedded in resin and you will have to purchase a new one which cost about $ 120.00 dollars. If everything checks out good and you have heat on the exhaust burner tube then, it could be a couple of things, the thermostater may be bad or you have leaked out ammonia- see if you smell ammonia when you open the fridge or freezer, look for a powder ammonia residue in the fridge. Remember these are closed ammonia systems they should not leak, you may also have a restriction in the cooling or return tubes, and this is caused by the ammonia crystallizing. You can take the black box out in back of the fridge and have them test it for you at the dealer. It could be multiple problems; there is a post on the internet on troubleshooting an ammonia RV fridge. It tells you how to bypass the thermostat etc. You have to know what you are doing when working on these. You may have to take it to a dealer, they have a device that hooks to the fridge and diagnoses and tells them what and where to look for the problem. Sometimes it is hard to pinpoint the problem, so you have to take to a dealer for diagnoses. If I am missing something please add to this.

Rich



dominer said:


> I have the ol 23RS parked right outside the house attached to shore power (15 amp) as I have done many times before, when I get home I leve the fridge plugged in... well been sitting for a month now.. I go out today to get something out of the trailer and open te fridge just to check it out and much to my suprise, the hot dogs in the freezer are thawed as well as the ice pops, bag of ice is gone..... well bags there the ice isnt.. lol fridge is warm to obvouusly... The light still shows "auto" on the top, check light not on... power still to trailer, any idea why it would just quit cooling???? Thanks in advance for your ideas....


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

Richard1 said:


> Hi, first push the power button on the fridge off and then on. Check all your circuit breakers inside the trailer, in the power panel flip them off then on. Make sure the 12volt fuses in the panel are not blown. Reset all the GFI in the receptacles. If all of the fuses and breakers are ok, then go outside of the trailer take off the plastic panel for the fridge, check is you have 110v and 12 volts out at the fridge. If everything checks out then unplug the shore power and take off the positive 12v battery terminal. You will see a 4" x 4" black box on the back of the fridge as your viewing it from the outside with the plastic panel off. You can take a screw driver and pry where it shows on the black box; you may have to take out a screw to take off the black cover. You will see two car fuses, pull them out and check continuity to make sure they are not blown. Connect the 12v battery back and plug in shore power, have someone in the trailer push the power button on and off, while you are standing outside by the 4x4 black box you should here the relays clicking in and out. If this black box is bad they are sealed with all the circuits imbedded in resin and you will have to purchase a new one which cost about $ 120.00 dollars. If everything checks out good and you have heat on the exhaust burner tube then, it could be a couple of things, the thermostater may be bad or you have leaked out ammonia- see if you smell ammonia when you open the fridge or freezer, look for a powder ammonia residue in the fridge. Remember these are closed ammonia systems they should not leak, you may also have a restriction in the cooling or return tubes, and this is caused by the ammonia crystallizing. You can take the black box out in back of the fridge and have them test it for you at the dealer. It could be multiple problems; there is a post on the internet on troubleshooting an ammonia RV fridge. It tells you how to bypass the thermostat etc. You have to know what you are doing when working on these. You may have to take it to a dealer, they have a device that hooks to the fridge and diagnoses and tells them what and where to look for the problem. Sometimes it is hard to pinpoint the problem, so you have to take to a dealer for diagnoses. If I am missing something please add to this.
> 
> Rich


What he said X 2

Start with the obvious --

Check all the fuses --

Then turn onthe propane to see if it will work under propane power -- if it does then that rules out coolant problems and reverts you back to electrical..

But with mine -- if a fuse blows then none of my lights on the control box (on/off light) works either

Its going to be a fuse...


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## ccauthor (Jul 30, 2004)

Hi,

I just had to replace my cooling unit after 3 years of running. My was level and everything worked on electric and gas however it was not cooling. I noticed a small amount of yellow dust under the burner tube.
It was in fact a rupture in the boiler tube. I was able to replace the cooling unit and save a few $.

CC


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## dominer (May 20, 2007)

Thaznks for your responses, I have checked all the fuses, have power where the fridge plugs in under the exterior plastic panel, checked circuit breakers, no amonia smell, no powder residue that I can see anywhere, I have never been able to get the fridge to fire with propane....has worked fine with electric, till now... guess i might need to bite the bullet and take it the 45 miles to the dealer......


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

dominer said:


> Thaznks for your responses, I have checked all the fuses, have power where the fridge plugs in under the exterior plastic panel, checked circuit breakers, no amonia smell, no powder residue that I can see anywhere, I have never been able to get the fridge to fire with propane....has worked fine with electric, till now... guess i might need to bite the bullet and take it the 45 miles to the dealer......


When I had a heater problem, PDX_Doug sent me a link to a Mobile RV service in Beaverton. They came to my house and had the problem fixed the same day. I never had to tow my Outback to the dealer.

With gas prices where they are, it might be better for you to look into someone coming to your house.

I googled this for NC and this is the first one that came up. I don't know these guys and have NOTHING to do with their service. Just simply passing along some info.

http://www.mobilervser.com/


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## chbcso (Dec 2, 2006)

If I understood right from a dealer here, there is a recall on certain Dometic models. You may want to call dometic directly with the serial and model number to see if yours is on the list. It would be a free fix if it is. Good Luck, I hope it is.


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## dominer (May 20, 2007)

does anybody know of a way to check the control board to make sure all is well there?? Like I said I see no visible leaks, smell no ammonia, breakers good, fuses good, level, can feel the heat tube it gets hot, when inside I can turn fridge on and off and hear the relay clicking.... I can say this.... when I push the switch to gas not auto, then push "on" I do not get a "check light" even though the gas is turned off! could there be something there???


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## ccauthor (Jul 30, 2004)

I had the same problem the boiler tube would heat on electric but in my case it would also heat on gas, however all of the controls indicated normal operation. 
I would say if the boiler tube is hot your controls are working. It sounds like you have lost your charge in the unit.

Sorry!


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## dominer (May 20, 2007)

well it was a bad cooling unit..... Naturally JUST out of warranty but after a few phone calls and several shall we say "stern" emails to Dometic, they were and are willing to "GOODWILL" me a unit providing my dealer installs it and I pay them the labor.. $240 versus $980. Ill take that deal


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

Good news ..I think...It sure is amazing in life how as soon as anything runs out of warranty, a problem pops up







How do they do it?


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

built in corruption timer...never fails for us either

Glad you won the fight







It's a nice feeling isn't it??

Now to work on getting the dealer to come down


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

skippershe said:


> built in corruption timer...never fails for us either
> 
> Glad you won the fight
> 
> ...


x2


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