HELP!!! Dometic Fridge Shutdown & All You Can Eat Buffet (1 Viewer)

[Hooflungdung]

2011 Adria Coral with Dometic 3 way fridge freezer. 10 days into 30 day trip into Northern Spain currently at San Sebastián.

Last night we noticed that the blue light on the fridge had gone off - was on site leccy. Switched back on and after 30 mins or so went off again. Repeated a few times over next hour or so. I went out and switched off site leccy so that it reverted to gas and it remained on for an hour or so then went off. During the night each time we checked it had turned off again and then switched off repeatedly within 30 seconds of being re-started.

We have had problems with the fridge since we bought the camper nearly 3 years ago and it has had at least 2 replacement circuit boards and other messing around - each time incurring 1 or 2 80 mile round trips to the dealer and several wasted days.

We also had to delay our departure to Ireland earlier this year and then come home early as the fridge had stopped working.

Here we sit in Northern Spain contemplating whether we should hit the road and head back to Blighty or try and find a local engineer and see if we can get a fix. Meanwhile our rations for the next few days are warming up nicely in our new Dometic oven!

Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas or just Funsters available to join us for a Mega BBQ gratefully received!

 

[Minxy]

Funny was for the BBQ comment!

Not sure what to suggest really, if it works okay on elec for a while and gas the 'power' doesn't appear to be an issue, and as you've had the board replaced again that's probably not the problem, unfortunately it sounds a like some gubbings is telling the fridge it's not 'safe' to use and turning it off.

Totally oddball query but ... what is the state of your leisure battery(ies)? If the mains connection wasn't charging them up this may cause issues?

 

[Hooflungdung]

Thanks Minxy. AFAIK the leisure battery is good - we have been on aires on the way down with no H/U and haven't had any problems with power for lights and recharging. Also,we have a solar panel which incidentally we had fitted before our trip to Ireland in June when the current problem first presented itself. Thinking back the symptoms were fairly similar - started off with having to be continually re-started and then just wouldn't come on at all.

I just unplugged the H/U and fired up the engine and tried re-starting the fridge on AES and it auto-switched to 12v for a couple of seconds and then died.

I wonder if the solar panel has upset the fridge?

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[bigtree]

I had the same problem for around 2 weeks at the start of our 3 month tour,it eventually decided to work normally.

 

[Theonlysue]

I had my fridge stop abroad. Just buy small amounts fresh. Tinned stuff always available. Its annoying and you need to sort out but dont end your travels early. My mum never had a fridge when we camped.
Photo of my fridge.....

 

[Rollin]

It sounds like some kind of auto cut-out is kicking in. Perhaps due to overheating? Is it well vented? Does it seem to be excessively hot at the back near the vents?

I definitely agree with @Theonlysue - don't cut short your trip just because of warm beer!

As well as canned and fresh goods, you can sort of use the fridge as a cool box - you just need to keep putting in something frozen. You could buy ice for around a euro a go - put it in a bowl at the top of the fridge and it should at least stop your butter going completely runny.

Even if you buy a couple of bags a day for the next two weeks surely it would cost less than cutting short your holiday.

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[Theonlysue]

Keep beer in cold water lol

 

[mid4did]

The dometic site lists dealers fairly locally,maybe a phone call to get to an engineer if all else fails?
https://www.dometic.com/en-gb/uk/fi...999904&partnerType=dealer&stationary=&onroad=

 

[Richard n Ann]

Buy a coolbox from Carrefour to use for the rest of the holiday, then scrap the fridge when you get home. Consider a new compressor type fridge if you've got solar.
If you have it fixed AGAIN you'd could never trust it.

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[Armytwowheels]

Are you on a level pitch? Sometimes just being a few percent out can affect the fridge as @Jenben found out with their new van.

 

[TheBig1]

the fact it tries then shuts down does suggest a low supply voltage from the leisure battery or control board

 

[chaser]

Are you on a level pitch? Sometimes just being a few percent out can affect the fridge as @Jenben found out with their new van.

@Armytwowheels just beat me to it , level is critical with some fridges, spent days with my mate trying to fathom why his fridge kept going off on some stops and not others, only thing that fixed it was to be dead level.

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[Hooflungdung]

Battery is showing full charge - 13.5v on meter over the door and there's no other indication that it's dying and the solar and H/U should be keeping it topped up.

However, van is slightly out of level side to side with the LHS lower (fridge is on RHS). Level looks good front to back. Will try levelling and see if that makes the difference. It's starting to get dark here and we've started on the Margaritas ( had no choice as the ice in the freezer is melting so this could be the last chance ). I think I'll leave it till morning now.

SWMBO persuaded the nice campsite lady to keep our food in their fridge/freezer so I guess we're stuck here till we've scoffed it all - could take a few days!

Hopefully we'll get lucky with the levelling trick in the morning.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[grumps147]

Can’t remember if ours is Dometic, but the only time we have ever had a problem with the electric side of our three way fridge was due to the power we were getting on a French site. They had a number of us piggy backing off one point. Most of the night and a lot of the day we were ok, but first thing when others had hair dryers going in the tents, or it went cool in the evening, the fridge would cut out. It could be on and we would turn our low wattage kettle on, and it would go off and on to gas, once kettle had boiled the electric fridge came back on. Never had a problem before, or since. Is your site full, is their a different unused outlet nearby, just in case levelling doesn’t work?

 

[DavidG58]

Not sure if I have not read fully, but does it work if you switch to gas only and ignore aes?

Also I thought the out of level only applied to use on gas not electric, not heard of them switching for being either

Good luck though silly faults can become really annoying, says he sat on a site waiting for investigation work tomorrow

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[Lenny HB]

Out off level only effects cooling performance the unit won't turn off. Low mains voltage on when set aes causes the the ignigter to keep sparking but it doesn't light as it thinks its on mains and the gas valve is turned off - great software from Dometic.

As it has only happened since the solar has been fitted , has the solar been wired to the fridge solar connections and causing problems.

 

[Hooflungdung]

Right. Have got it levelled this morning - spot b*llock according to my pound shop level and the old bean tin.

Still got exactly the same symptoms - stays on for a max of 2 mins and then the blue light gets momentarily brighter then dies. It's been level for a couple of hours or so - is there a period that we need to leave it to settle before it is likely to operate normally again (assuming that 'out of level' was the problem)?

I will try unplugging the H/U again and see if that makes any difference.

 

[Hooflungdung]

Unplugged the hook-up and tried it a couple of times and no joy - same old same old!

Re-checked the battery meter without H/U connected and it's still giving it top marks - Green + 13.5v so I'm pretty sure the battery is OK.

I will check with the Solar Guy and see if he thinks there is any possibility that the panel is causing the problem.

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[Armytwowheels]

Having now read out all the symptoms to Colin as he drives he thinks it may be a bad 12v connection and you could check the feed supply to the fridge - are all the connections all tight etc.

Sorry about the miss-guided advice about getting the van level, that was me (Sandra) replying. Although it is still relevant advice whether on gas or electric, but as Lenny said this would not make it switch off.

 

[Richard n Ann]

Check the voltage at the back of the fridge in case there is a voltage drop in the wiring or connectors. After that there's nothing else to check.. It's scrap

 

[DavidG58]

Are you still depending on the AES to switch supply? I would try mine turned to gas but yours is a different model to ours

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[Hooflungdung]

Firstly, thanks to those of you that were praying for our fridge - the good news is that your God has come and fixed it - a miracle!

I thought I would just try switching it on again as I was bored a few nights ago and when I checked it again an hour later it was still on. We were on an Aire so it was on Gas. Since then we have travelled to a couple of other Aires and are on a site tonight on site leccy and the fridge hasn't missed a beat. Switching as required between 230v, 12v, and Gas. And.... 'Er indoors thinks that it's colder than it was before but that's probably because it hasn't got any food in it!

Frustrating thing is that we still don't know what the problem was or whether it will happen again when we have the freezer loaded. Just have to keep an eye on it and be cautious with our shopping for a bit.

So.... It was probably one of the following:

1. The van wasn't level
2. Dodgy site supply
3. There is an intermittent fault with the fridge or power supply in the van
4. None of the above

Don't you just love intermittent/unexplained faults?

Thanks again for all your suggestions (and prayers!).

 

[Popeye]

Just like toothe-ache, you got some good guys on the case there though, as in Lenny and Colin.

 

[TheBig1]

intermittent like that suggests a bad connection or dry solder joint on the control board

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[Margaritaman]

Firstly, thanks to those of you that were praying for our fridge - the good news is that your God has come and fixed it - a miracle!

I thought I would just try switching it on again as I was bored a few nights ago and when I checked it again an hour later it was still on. We were on an Aire so it was on Gas. Since then we have travelled to a couple of other Aires and are on a site tonight on site leccy and the fridge hasn't missed a beat. Switching as required between 230v, 12v, and Gas. And.... 'Er indoors thinks that it's colder than it was before but that's probably because it hasn't got any food in it!

Frustrating thing is that we still don't know what the problem was or whether it will happen again when we have the freezer loaded. Just have to keep an eye on it and be cautious with our shopping for a bit.

So.... It was probably one of the following:

1. The van wasn't level
2. Dodgy site supply
3. There is an intermittent fault with the fridge or power supply in the van
4. None of the above

Don't you just love intermittent/unexplained faults?

Thanks again for all your suggestions (and prayers!).

Glad your fridge is behaving again.

Enjoy your Margaritas !! @Hooflungdung

 

[Minxy]

Just a thought, check the connections at the control panel - we had problems with a fridge when the wires weren't totally 'tight' in the controller ... worth a check!

 

[Lenny HB]

No miracle, the site you were on probably had too lower mains voltage, well that's what I reckon. If it happens again check the mains voltage I expect you will find it to be under 200v, they are supposed to work down to 190v, don't believe everything Dometic tell you.

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