# Help, I Can't Get The Fridge Running!!



## 1stTimeAround (Sep 22, 2004)

Alright guys and girls, I need to hear from you and your collective experiences.

My wife and I have had a fit, every time we have gone camping with getting the fridge to cool down, prior to departure from our home. So, tonight we brought the 28RSS home and proceeded to check the lights and radio and various other things. Everything checked out alright and when we were prepared to leave the camper we cut on the refridgerator, clicked the auto button and walked outside.

We checked back in about 5 minutes and the "Check" light had come on. My wife cut the fridge off and then back on, at this time I heard a clicking noise coming from the vent shield for the fridge on the outside of the TT. The clicking stopped after about a minute and then the "Check" light came on again. We again, cut it off and then back on, with the same result each time.

Finally we came up with two trains of thought. One, after reading the manual, it may be possible that the fridge is unable to get the 120V that it needs from my garage outlet and therefore is looking to supplement with gas and I don't have the gas on. Two, we could cut the gas on but really don't want to waste gas while the camper is in our street waiting to go camping, when electricity should work fine. When you hook up power to your fridge, does anyone hook directly to the fridge using the plug inside the vent shield? I noticed it tonight and thought that may be another solution.

Please help. We want a nice cold fridge before leaving on Friday!!

Thanks

Jason


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Jason,

I may be wrong on this, but I think the problem is "clicking on the auto mode". Take a close look at the symbol on the button, you are probably - in reality - switching from auto mode to gas only mode. The sound you are hearing is the ignitor trying to light up. When it fails, because (guessing here) your gas is shut off at the tank, the alert light comes on.

Or, you might have a defective frig.

In any case, your home AC will easily handle the load.

Happy Trails,
Doug


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## jnk36jnk (Mar 9, 2004)

Without actually going out and looking, and assuming you have the same model reefer I do, that is with two buttons on the control panel, I believe you have to have both buttons depressed to get it to run on electricity.


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

This is a question, not necessarily an answer but is the TT approximately level? I don't know if they will turn on if they aren't level. Jolly posted that the coolant doesn't circulate properly but have they also put in a cutoff if not level?

BBB


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## Drifter (Aug 22, 2004)

Gotta question for your question. You said you "check the lights and radio and various other things". What various other things? The lights and radio will run off of the DC. Did you try the MW or the Air? What I am getting at is are you sure you are getting 120 in the trailer? If so, I again vote with Doug. Oh, yeah and always check your breakers.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

If it is truly in Auto mode then it is sensing a loss of AC and is trying Gas mode. Check for 120 vac in the back of the frig to see if you have it. If it is there then you are most likely putting it into gas mode and thinking you are in Auto. There is not really a lot of difference in how the buttons look when pushed in and when they are pushed out.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Also, the fridge uses very little gas when operated on gas. You can run a long time on a bottle of gas. So you might test it before heading to the hills. Turn the gas on, then light all your stove burners (then turn them off). This purges the air out of the gas line and gets the gas closer to the fridge. Then put the fridge into gas-only mode and click it on. "Believe" the gas-only mode is when the button is pushed in (maybe someone can confirm that). Once you can detect that it is cooling with gas (3 or 4 hours), switch it to auto. If you have the electricty plugged in, then it will switch to electric automatically and continue to cool on down.

When traveling, some people will leave the fridge going and some won't. However, it may be against the law to pulll in for fuel if the fridge is going, but I'm not certain of that. The night before a trip, I will normally stuff the fridge full of ballast (in the form of beer) and let it cool all night. That way, I can travel almost all day with the fridge turned off and the contents won't get very warm. It makes for a safer trip.


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## 1stTimeAround (Sep 22, 2004)

I will try to answer some of your questions which may help determine the issue.

Doug - I am in Auto mode. My fridge has a light that comes on when in "Auto" mode and it is on.

BBB- I am level within about a 1/16".

Drifter- The microwave is working and the breakers have been checked. I did not try the A/C, I might do that when I get home.

CamperAndy - I guess your analysis is my concern. Why would it not sense the 120V from my home? I know that you may not know the answer, but that is what I am wondering.

Vdub- Last night after posting this I went outside and purged the gas line, just as you recommended and this morning when I got up the fridge was cold. I guess my concern is that I shouldn't have to waste the gas while hooked up to power. I know that it does not use a great deal of gas, but I would still rather save it for camping and towing rather than cooling at my house.

Well the good news is that after purging the gas lines last night, obviously that fixed the problem, because the fridge was freezing this morning, however that also leads me to believe that I'm running the fridge off of the gas and not the electric. That is my concern. I haven't had problems running it at campgrounds and the like so maybe it's running off of the gas there also.

I may call and see what the proper procedure for running off of "electricity only" is. I think I read in the owners manual last night that your choices are "Auto" and "Gas Only", and not "electric only".

Thanks as always for your help!!

Jason


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## jgerni (Nov 10, 2003)

Jason,

You should see an electrical plug/outlet when you remove the outside refrigerator access panel. You could disconnect that plug and either use an AC tester, radio or lamp to see if power is getting to that outlet. I canâ€™t remember if there were any fuses on the back side of the refrigerator or not but you may want to take a look around.

Also, if you propane is turned on try to purge your lines by running the cook stove for a minute or so.

Josh


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## 1stTimeAround (Sep 22, 2004)

Hey Josh,

I did run the gas through the stove and was able to get the fridge cold by this morning. I guess I need to take a look at that outlet that the fridge is hooked up to, that is a good idea.

Are you coming to the rally?

Jason


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## jgerni (Nov 10, 2003)

Jason,

Our plans actually worked out that we could come but on Monday our 2 year old came down with the rotavirus (damn daycare). The doctor said that it could be 7 to 10 days before she gets over it. It a nasty virus and I can't imagine her making the 3 1/2 drive. I think the kids were more disappointed than the wife and I. We may try to go to Asheboro Zoo next weekend.

Hopefully, I can catch some of the Mid Atlantic outbackers out sometime this year and hopefully make it to the rally again next year.

Josh


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

There is a 3 amp dc fuse and a 5 amp ac fuse outside. Lower left corner when you take the outside cover off you will see a small Black box you will need to open to check the fuses.

I would say the 3 amp fuse is okay because it still works on gas. So it looks like you may have a blown 5 amp fuse. I would also check the GFI outlet in the bathroom. The fridge is on a regular out let and I think all the regular outlets go through the GFI, the Microwave is wired directly to the breaker panel.


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## 1stTimeAround (Sep 22, 2004)

Thanks Andy!! I don't know how you know all the electrical stuff, but I'm sure glad you do!!!

Jason


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## begood (Jun 9, 2004)

i'm not sure if it's a good idea, but i would disconnect the battery so if you still get light in the fridge you have 120v on!


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## missouricamper (Jun 28, 2004)

We have always had to "start" our frig on propane. It always runs fine on electricity once it is cold, but it seems to take forever to start cooling. Now I wonder if there is a problem....

On a similar note, we downloaded the dometic service manual:

http://gasrefrigeration.net/dom_techdata/26121_2852SM.PDF

and it gave instructions for cleaning the burner periodically. DH did this and a bunch of gunk came out. Only took him a few minutes - might be worth you time.


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