No 12volt at fridge (1 Viewer)

Snowbird

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Hi all,The Electrolux fridge in my Euro camper is not working on 12volt.
The red light comes on when the relay kicks in,but the fridge doesnt get cold,even after a 8 hour drive.
It works fine on gas,and as there is no mains in it cant check that.
I think the 12volt heater has burnt out,is there a way to check this??.
How big of a job is it to replace the heating element.
Was quoted £50 per hour X 2 hours minimum,plus £50 for the heater.
I can get a heater for £30 so what sort of a job is it and how do I know if the old heater is US.
Bye the way,its an elderly fridge.
 

vwalan

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Sep 23, 2008
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i always used to just run mine on gas .even when travelling .if gas goes out it should,nt keep loseing gas. any way its that cold at moment you dont need a fridge. :ROFLMAO:
 

lunarman

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Have you checked the fuse in the heater 12v feed. The fridge should have separate feeds for the heater and controls. The control feed being required for all forms of energy source.

Lunarman

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Big Momma

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Oct 3, 2009
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Check the fuse on top of your leisure battery. This happened to me once when I was travelling in france. I was very Nieve and did not know that the leisure battery had a separate fuse :Doh: a call to the dealer diagnosed the problem and told me where the fuse was :thumb:
 
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Snowbird

Snowbird

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Have you checked the fuse in the heater 12v feed. The fridge should have separate feeds for the heater and controls. The control feed being required for all forms of energy source.

Lunarman
Hi is there a fuse between the red 12volt switch and the heater,becouse the 12volt switch comes on but nothing happens.
 
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Snowbird

Snowbird

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Check the fuse on top of your leisure battery. This happened to me once when I was travelling in france. I was very Nieve and did not know that the leisure battery had a separate fuse :Doh: a call to the dealer diagnosed the problem and told me where the fuse was :thumb:
The 12volt side of my fridge is wired via a relay from the alternater and engine battery so that when you switch off the engine the fridge goes off,to save flattening batteries.

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Lenny HB

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i always used to just run mine on gas .even when travelling .if gas goes out it should,nt keep loseing gas. any way its that cold at moment you dont need a fridge. :ROFLMAO:

About 15 years ago a petrol station near us destroyed by someone driving in with a fridge running on gas.
:Doh::Doh::Doh::Doh:
 

lunarman

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There is normally 2 12v connections to the fridge. The control circuitry is connected to the common 12v service circuit so that 12v is available to power the controls for gas and mains connection.

The heater is connected using heavier gauge wiring direct to the battery via the relays. It will be fused with and in line 25 or 30 amp fuse.

Lunarman
 

GJH

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From what I've read the 12v system (live only whilst the engine is running) is not meant to cool the fridge down but only to stop an already cold fridge from warming up whilst travelling. We always use mains hook-up to cool down the fridge before setting off.

Graham

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Snowbird

Snowbird

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From what I've read the 12v system (live only whilst the engine is running) is not meant to cool the fridge down but only to stop an already cold fridge from warming up whilst travelling. We always use mains hook-up to cool down the fridge before setting off.

Graham
I have read this too,but after driving non stop for 8 hours,it should have done somthing.
 

vwalan

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hi dave .you have,nt told us the type ,age of fridge .early electrolux 3 ways you dont need any electric to use gas .mains is just plug in . the i2v could be through a relay and as you say it as lights at the switch we can assume power is that far.they used to work flat out on 12 volt by the time you got where you were going things were really cold. thats why lots of people just used gas. i,m assumng yours is the original in th lt.
best not stop at garages to fill any gas bottles as it could cause a fire.
bet you dont stop for diesel do you.haha.
never mind it only takes one spark to cause a fire good job petrol vehicles dont have a spark. see you soon .cheers alan.

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pappajohn

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hi dave,
is it possible to remove the switch from the fridge ?
if it is then pull off the wires at the switch, connect a volt meter to one of the wires and earth to determine which is live.
set the meter to OHMs and connect to the other, non-live, wire and earth.
if the element has died the meter wont do anything....if its ok you will get a reading on the meter.
the element is simply a resistance between live and earth, just like a regular light bulb.
 
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Snowbird

Snowbird

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Good man John,thats the info I was looking for.
Will go and try it now,will keep you posted.:thumb:
 

Lenny HB

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From what I've read the 12v system (live only whilst the engine is running) is not meant to cool the fridge down but only to stop an already cold fridge from warming up whilst travelling. We always use mains hook-up to cool down the fridge before setting off.

Graham

The newer fridges like the Dometic Tec Tower now have thermostatic control on 12v and work the same as if on gas or mains.

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cjs_surf

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Mar 8, 2009
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Mine's an old van so your's is probably different - the fridge is powered off a relay when the engine is running but as you don't aways want the run the fridge when driving the is connector you can unplug. Is is there one? Or maybe two switches one for the gas ignition one for on the road.

To check the switch you have turn off the zig and run the engine if it doesn't light then it's for lighting the gas and nothing else. If there is a connector then ohm it out the element will be about one to two ohms mine's a 75W so 1.8 Ohms. Now check if there is power going to the connector / fridge. If possible measure the voltage with andwith out the fridge connected. If there is power with the fridge disconnected but none when it is connected then the relay might be nackered, high resistance.

As others have said it will keep a fridge cold but take a long time to cool one down but I would expect some ice to form on the tray after about 4 hours of driving.
 

vwalan

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if it is a very old one it could freeze everything after about 2 hours on the road on 12volts .there is no control or thermostat. only 240 and gas had control . on early vw,s it was common to break the conections so it could only be used on 240 or gas.
i have had gas only refrigerators so am used to running full time on gas.
i use 240 compresor now through inverter. much nicer .
 

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