Thetford N3142e poor cooling

J

jonasw19

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Thetford N3142e fridge freezer intermittent cooling on gas and electric.
Occasionally freezes in freezer on gas, but the fridge is barely below ambient.
Work done:
Replaced burner and cleaned chimney, hoovered out the burner tray.
Replaced thermistor.
Replaced heat transfer paste.
There are no fault codes. The automatic energy selection works as expected.
Gas full and apparently sufficient supply as it runs the heating and the oven and the fridge simultaneously.
Good flame shape and colour..
What next?
 
Picture
20200806_170104.jpg
of flame
 
Does it perform just the same on both gas & electric? If so it's not a problem with the gas. Is this a new problem, could it just be due to high ambient temperature? Have you got fans fitted?
DP
 
Does it cool any better if you take the vent covers off ?
Have you tried playing around with the 'stat setting, sometimes you have to find their "sweetspot" ?
 
If the freezer box is freezing but the rest is not cooling properly it suggests either :-
a/ Door seal, but then I'd expect to see ice forming on the "fins"
b/ Fridge too full, not allowing sufficient air to circulate. Solution an internal fridge fan or unload some of it.

Just one other thing - ours doesn't work very well if we turn it up to maximum freezing. Turn the fridge down to no more than halfway.

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Or basically motor home fridges are crap and not fit for purpose
 
TCG said:
Or basically motor home fridges are crap and not fit for purpose
Click to expand...

That might be your experience. It's 39 deg C here and my beers really chilled and my daughters ice cream is freezing. BUT they all need a bit of help. FANS
 
Not a new problem, happened in March and July. Irrespective of the energy source.
Happens with or without fans.
Door seals checked, seem ok.
Generally used to run at 3 out of 5.
Still occurs whether it is run on 3 or 5 (and 4 and2...)
Covers dont seem to make any difference.
Got fed up today and ordered a new one, fitting next week.
It was 4 years old, had done 500 to 600 nights mostly on gas.
See how long the next one lasts.
The Thetford agent suggested that it was possible/ probable that there is an internal blockage and I decided on new, only £3 a night!!
Thanks for the suggestions, we will see what happens.

Jon
 
Could try the old tip-it-upside-down trick. Take it out, upend it for a few minutes, to let the refrigerant drain to the "top" then re-install.

Our van is 13 years old, we've had it away over 1000 nights. Replaced both heating elements (12v and 240v) last year, redid the heat transfer paste ("inverted" it at that time too). Works fine.
I've had two new fridges at home in that period so I guess the "crap" motorhome fridge ain't so bad after all.
 
I have a Thetford N3142 [2019] and it cools very well, the only issue is the gas usage seems very high .
its hard to monitor but when running only on gas its seems to be excessive . the spec does say 0.4kg per day which would workout at 5.6kg per 2 weeks . Listening to the vents i can hear the burners roaring all the time, its set at no.3 [middle setting] and does not seem to switch on the stat , not sure how its meant to work .
can anyone offer any advice ....??

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Encantado,
I do find our fridge heavy on gas.
The burner does roar.
Have you tried looking at the temperature inside, ours runs on setting 3 at 25c ambient to give approx 2 to 5c fridge, -18 to -25c freezer.
I bought a pack of digital remote thermometers from Amazon for not alot and put the thermocouples in the freezer and fridge. Shut the doors and let it stabilise overnight.
The more you open the door the harder the fridge has to work.
There is a thermistor which must be clipped to the 5th fin from the right.
This will control the fridge.
Jon
 
Have noticed over the last year that our fridge (a lot older than OP) is getting very noisy, seems to be on for longer and uses more gas, even though it appears to be working normally temperature-wise. I've checked that all the seals are intact and it doesn't seem to be over-cooling. I've replaced the thermistor, no difference, and the heat-transfer paste which did make it work better.

Whilst away over the last couple of weeks had a thought that the flue may need a good clean, on the basis that it was heating less efficiently. Another job to add to the list now we're home.
 
Having had the same problem with our N3000 series FF can someone explain where the heat transfer paste is used ?. Thanks
 
Remove the screws from the transfer plates inside located at the back, you will probably find there is hardly any paste. Use at least a tube on each plate, it made a huge difference to mine.
 
Do you mean the fins inside the fridge that get cold or or the ones that get hot on the back outside behind the top grill cover ?

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The ones inside the fridge. Spread the paste on the pipe and the back of the fins which comes into contact with the pipe.
 
I might sound stupid but you do have the orange door catch in the right position? There is a position for having the door slightly ajar when in storage.
 
Thanks for the photo, I would never have thought there was thermal paste behind the finned plate or that it could even be removed.
 

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