Suzie and I went up to Lake Manatee for the weekend and our 9 year old 2 way didn't do the job. The freezer was just able to keep ice frozen and the fridge only maintained about 50. Doesn't seem to matter if it's on gas or 110. We were level, had 117 volts from the power pole, but it was pretty warm, about 77 for a low and 90s during the day. Thoughts?

Bypass the control board and wire ac directly to the heater. This will check out the cooling unit as it runs wide open for as long as you keep it plugged in.

If it doesn't cool down as needed it may need a new cooling unit.

If it cools way down (should go down to at least zero in the freezer) then probably thermostat or control board.

Some folks have had luck by removing refrigerator and turning upside or a while and then restarting.

Good luck.

Disconnect the 120VAC from the control board so you don't backfeed and damage it. However, the symptoms are more of a refrigerant leak, since it doesn't run well on LPG. Also note that Dometics tend to be very sensitive to being level.

You can also check the position of the thermocouple; pull it from the fins to run the reefer at a higher output.

quote:

Originally posted by Gary Carter:
Some folks have had luck by removing refrigerator and turning upside or a while and then restarting.
Good luck.

I have heard the same thing. Leave upside down for a day, then right side up for a day then turn on and test. I have not done this myself but I have heard from 2 different people it worked for them.

Dometic had a recall for 1997 to 2003 models and it has been expanded to 2003 to 2006 models. Refer to www.dometic.com for specific model mumbers

Shut the fridge off all day yesterday and leveled the coach and started it back up last night. This am +2 in the freezer and 30 in the fridge. I didn't have the coach leveled when I turned it on last week and we never shut it down to thaw out. Comments?

It sounds like it's working normally. The Dometic in my SOB would work left-side-high, but was sensitive to right side even a bit high.

Premature celebration. By this afternoon we had 25 in the freezer and 50 in the fridge.

Check the outside compartment for a yellow tint; that's indicative of a leak. DO NOT run it it anymore if that's seen.

I'd guess that it's at end-of-life...

No yellow tint, and no odor of ammonia. The old one stunk really bad when it went. Sure hope I'd get more than 9 years out of a 1300 dollar fridge! My partner suggested the flue could be clogged. I'll be checking that next, then try some of the electrical testing if I can figure out what you guys are talking about.

Try the upside down thing. It has worked twice for people I've talked to. Costs little to try… if you have to remove it to replace it, then flip it and set it on the ground to test.

It could be a flue problem, there is often soot built up in there. This is one of the reasons why these things have a reputation for fires, people don't keep them clean. OTOH, flue problems usually don't bother the performance except when running on gas.

9 years is a bit short and them things ain't cheap.

I have always leveled my coach to avoid a frig problem. Does anyone know if you were to park on the shoulder of a road on a 3% to a 5% angle (for several hours) (with the frig NOT in current use)would this cause future problems???...Carl

Reefer quitting when not level will usually recover when levelled. Inverting the unit as previously mentioned will sometimes shake the internal compounds loose.

As a preventive measure, reefers should be run every couple of months.

Steve, I checked with a local crane company and they said it would be at least a thousand dollars to turn the coach over, and thinking about all the stuff inside I really don't want to go that route.
The flue sounds like a cheap next try. My partner mentioned a chain in the top of the flue that you just yank on a few times and it's supposed to clean the gunk out. He thinks this is for a Norcold but is not sure.
The longest this fridge has sat unused might be about 3 months. We really try to use the coach at least that much.

quote:

I checked with a local crane company and they said it would be at least a thousand dollars to turn the coach over, and thinking about all the stuff inside I really don't want to go that route.

You should have posted that one April first