Fridge not happy

[rosalan]

Our refrigerator is not cold even in England. On the other hand, the freezer is working fine -12 on average compared to +12 in the fridge.
The door seals look good.
I have twin fans running in the top vent outside.
It is not overloaded and there is some space for air to move.
It is fairly level.
Any thoughts appreciated.
The Dometic agent here at the Peterborough Show says the fans should have been fitted in the bottom vent, although we were previously advised they were correctly fitted in the top vent. He also mentioned it could be a circuit board fault and to set temperature to maximum.
Boggled!

 

[DavidG58]

Brilliant, we have to fit after market fans to make a Dometic fridge work, then the ‘expert’ tells you how to fit them and against all advice I have ever read says set to max

as ever the ‘experts‘ never actually use their products

 

[SmithsInFrance]

what about replacing the thermal paste? There's a really helpful thread about that somewhere.

 

[WillH]

Turn the fans off and set to three bars.

 

[Richard n Ann]

what about replacing the thermal paste? There's a really helpful thread about that somewhere.

Our 3 way fridge saga

My story just might help someone with 3 way fridge trouble so here goes; We've had our motorhome 3 years now and the fridge was always ok even in Spain's high ambient temperatures, until suddenly about a year ago we were in Spain, temperatures were the usual high twenties and I noticed the...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

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[rosalan]

Thank you David58, Smithsinfrance, WillH and Richard and Annhall for really practical advice. As I have only one day to go here I will try and buy some paste from the 'experts' on site and deal with it when I get home, hoping the milk will survive. I must confess to being a little saddened by the professional advice offered here from a company displaying the Dometic logo

 

[Off da Grid]

As said by Willh above set it to about 3 lights or 5 o’clock on the dial ours seems to work best at that level.
If it’s on full tilt it’s too much.
I wonder if you can have too much ventilation at the back, we’ve only got one 120mm computer fan on the top vent and it works really well.
We find having freezer blocks or frozen goods in the freezer at all times seem to act as a cold sync for want of a better word, but don’t pack the freezer too full.
I guess if the freezer is cold more of the cooling effect of the fridge gases works on the fridge part.

 

[filopastry]

Got shot of ours and fitted a 12/240V compressor fridge, flabtastic, I know, problems with camping with no hook up if more than 24h, but that isn't very often for us. We have cold beers so don't care.

 

[TerryL]

Stop opening the door to get fresh beers (or wine)......................................

 

[rosalan]

I have ordered my thermal paste. About £3 for 2 tubes. Call out for Dometic from £50 plus. I cannot really lose and as others have said I have little faith in my abilities to solve my problem but the pictures are very convincing.

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[Richard n Ann]

I have ordered my thermal paste. About £3 for 2 tubes. Call out for Dometic from £50 plus. I cannot really lose and as others have said I have little faith in my abilities to solve my problem but the pictures are very convincing.

It won't do any harm and even if it doesn't fix it you can tick that off the list. And it will help efficiency when you do fix it

 

[rosalan]

I am over the moon. This really simple task which I was reluctant to attempt and only went ahead over frustration, involved removing the half dozen or more 'star' screws, for which I had a bit in my toolkit, was a doddle. I pulled away the plate with fins on it, rather too easily considering it should be 'glued to the pipes at the back. There was hardly any paste attached to the cooling pipe. The problem should be solved when the paste arrives. Thanks again everyone.

 

[Richard n Ann]

I am over the moon. This really simple task which I was reluctant to attempt and only went ahead over frustration, involved removing the half dozen or more 'star' screws, for which I had a bit in my toolkit, was a doddle. I pulled away the plate with fins on it, rather too easily considering it should be 'glued to the pipes at the back. There was hardly any paste attached to the cooling pipe. The problem should be solved when the paste arrives. Thanks again everyone.

Switch the fridge on now and see if the pipe at the back frosts (give it an hour).

 

[rosalan]

Switch the fridge on now and see if the pipe at the back frosts (give it an hour).

sadly the pipe at the back, after 5 hours, remains stubbornly warm. i will check again in the morning

 

[Richard n Ann]

Could well be a partial loss of refrigerant by the time the evaporating liquid gets to the fridge it's all boiled off.
It must be a very small leak (probably why you haven't smelled it) there isn't much ammonia in them but it's just lost enough to stop it working.

Next test I would do is remove the freezer fins and shove a big old jumper in there or something. Press it up against the pipe at the back to insulate it. Then run the fridge to see what happens. The fridge fins should then frost.. That would then prove there isn't enough refrigerant in the system.

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[rosalan]

This morning, after contacting a service agent who more or less narrowed it down to a blocked or inhibited flow in the unit which would require a replacement system, ice has formed on the pipe behind the fins where there was no contact with the paste.
So when the paste I have ordered is applied I will be holding my breath.
I must say that both service agents I contacted were most constructive and helpful, unlike the one I contacted at the Motorhome Show. I could, if I so wished, remove the unit (it's a big one) and turn it upside down, which might clear any problem but allowing for the time out of the van, settling down, cooling down etc after the effort of removal and it might work (but not every time). None the less I may have considered it.
So today's ice has been greeted with loud cheers so again Richard and Ann I thank you.

 

[TerryL]

I tried the old inversion trick when our fridge started to fail - it seemed to have an effect but then I also renewed the heat transfer paste at the same time, which was almost non-existent.

Now it's working so well I have to keep it turned right down otherwise it freezes the beer! So new thermistor fitted to see if it makes any difference.