Help please, fridge stopped working in Spain!!

[Coolbeanz]

We’ve been on the road for a week now and yesterday I noticed the fridge didn’t seem as cold as it was and our little thermostat probe agreed with me. The fridge was on gas yesterday and in the night every time it tried to fire up it kept flickering on and off a few times before finally firing up. Today we’re on EHU and I noticed it still hadn’t got cold. I moved the probe into the freezer and it quickly dropped below 0° so the freezer is working on both gas and EHU but the fridge doesn’t seem to be!! Any ideas!! Today the fridge fired up straight away on gas with no issues but the fridge still isn’t cooling. It’s a Dometic fridge freezer in a Hymer B588.

 

[Gaston aires]

Hi coolbeanz. Could need a regas. Could need a service. Dometic have service centres in Spain. Short term fix, you could buy a refrigerated cool box. Hope it all goes well.
Phil

 

[Coolbeanz]

Could need a regas. Could need a service. Dometic have service centres in Spain.
Phil

Would the freezer still work if it needs a re-gas? It all seemed to be working perfectly until yesterday. I’m just a bit confused as to why it’s only the fridge. Do you know if it’s possible for the fridge side to need a re-gas while the freezer is fine?

 

[Just smiffy]

The freezer always seems to work well when people have problems with the fridge.... try cleaning the jet and flue, it may be sooted up or jet not working properly..... are you running on lpg or calor.?

 

[Coolbeanz]

The freezer always seems to work well when people have problems with the fridge.... try cleaning the jet and flue, it may be sooted up or jet not working properly..... are you running on lpg or calor.?

Running on lpg but it’s not working on EHU either

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[Richard n Ann]

You can't regas a 3 way fridge.
Try taking the vent covers off. Has the ambient temperature increased where you are?

 

[Coolbeanz]

You can't regas a 3 way fridge.
Try taking the vent covers off. Has the ambient temperature increased where you are?

The temperature has increased a bit but not enough to cause a problem.

 

[MikeD]

Motorhome fridges do seem to get the hump if they are overfull.

Maybe take some of the stuff out ?

 

[irnbru]

Theres a good dometic guy if you are near Murcia. He fixed ours last year. New burner and jet. Hope you get it fixed.

 

[Richard n Ann]

The temperature has increased a bit but not enough to cause a problem.

Reminds me of our problem a few years ago. Have a read of these symptoms...

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/our-3-way-fridge-saga.160227/

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[Gaston aires]

Would the freezer still work if it needs a re-gas? It all seemed to be working perfectly until yesterday. I’m just a bit confused as to why it’s only the fridge. Do you know if it’s possible for the fridge side to need a re-gas while the freezer is fine?

The gas must be ok if the freezer works.
Phil

 

[Coolbeanz]

We’ve turned it down to 3 and overnight it’s dropped to 6.3° which is better than it was as it was up to over 10° so we’ll see what it’s at when we get back from a day in Valencia. Might have to call the repairman when we get to Calpe!!

 

[Richard n Ann]

We’ve turned it down to 3 and overnight it’s dropped to 6.3° which is better than it was as it was up to over 10° so we’ll see what it’s at when we get back from a day in Valencia. Might have to call the repairman when we get to Calpe!!

That's exactly what ours did, it always pulled down a bit over night, and it was slightly better on gas. It's funny how it just suddenly happened too, unless I didn't notice. I'm paranoid now and got a max/min digital thermometer in there. Been fine ever since.

 

[Reallyretired]

We have a wireless max/min thermometer with two inputs so we can monitor both fridve and freezer. Fridge varies more than freezer because the doors open more often, but fridge normally between 3 and 6, and freezer - 14/15.
For no immediately obvious reason the freezer gets colder the more the fridge is opened Presumably just one thermostat and its in the fridge

 

[Lenny HB]

We’ve turned it down to 3 and overnight it’s dropped to 6.3° which is better than it was as it was up to over 10° so we’ll see what it’s at when we get back from a day in Valencia. Might have to call the repairman when we get to Calpe!!

10 or 11 ° is quite normal if it's warm and you don't have external & internal fans fitted. 6.3° is very low for a 3 way fridge.
If the freezer is working the fridge can do nothing but work there is only one cooling circuit either they both work or both don't. The freezer only gets down to below zero due to the size, it has the same cooling circuit with same size fins as the fridge but the feezer volume is only 20% of the fridge.

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[Richard n Ann]

10 or 11 ° is quite normal if it's warm and you don't have external & internal fans fitted. 6.3° is very low for a 3 way fridge.
If the freezer is working the fridge can do nothing but work there is only one cooling circuit either they both work or both don't. The freezer only gets down to below zero due to the size, it has the same cooling circuit with same size fins as the fridge but the feezer volume is only 20% of the fridge.

You know when it's not right though. I used to go round schools in Nottinghamshire fixing (compressor) fridges. If the dinner ladies said there was something wrong with it, 95% of the time they were right, even though it's behaving it's self when I was there. They work next to it every day so know its usual temperatures. I used to think, ignore the customer and (arnie voice) "I'll be baaack"

 

[Coolbeanz]

10 or 11 ° is quite normal if it's warm and you don't have external & internal fans fitted. 6.3° is very low for a 3 way fridge.
If the freezer is working the fridge can do nothing but work there is only one cooling circuit either they both work or both don't. The freezer only gets down to below zero due to the size, it has the same cooling circuit with same size fins as the fridge but the feezer volume is only 20% of the fridge.

Thank you, that helps a lot

 

[Minxy]

Check the door seal, if this isn't contacting properly it could be letting in warm air thus allowing the fridge to warm up but the freezer would still stay cold.

 

[Coolbeanz]

Check the door seal, if this isn't contacting properly it could be letting in warm air thus allowing the fridge to warm up but the freezer would still stay cold.

That was the first thing we checked, the fridge was fine when we left England last week and was cooling down to 1° easily so we turned it down so that it kept at around 3 or 4. We’re now hovering around 6.8°.

 

[Minxy]

That was the first thing we checked, the fridge was fine when we left England last week and was cooling down to 1° easily so we turned it down so that it kept at around 3 or 4. We’re now hovering around 6.8°.

A fridge at 1 degree is way too low anyway, between 3-5 degrees is best, however if the ambient temperature is high then you might struggle to get it that low.

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[Bailey58]

Try driving over the border into France, it may work there.