Refrigerator doesn't cool

rattlenbang · January 19, 2014, 10:11 PM

But I'm hoping someone has a novel bit of advice. I have an ancient 73 Dometic fridge that was working like a champ. My buddy had been living in it for 5 months and the fridge worked fine. I kicked him out and RV stood empty and shut down for a month. I moved it to an RV park, plugged it in, and absolutely nothing from the fridge. Both propane and 110V heat the chimney well, but it makes no difference to the fridge interior temperature. It's been running for 18hrs and no cold at all. I know they can be internally plugged up from sitting, but after a month? It had been sitting at least 4 years before we got it this spring, but it worked from day one for us. And wouldn't it gradually lose cooling capacity rather than work/now work? Anything else I can do beside pulling and burping? Hm?

HandyDan · January 20, 2014, 12:29 AM

Do you smell ammonia? Yes, they can work today and not tomorrow. Usually they do not just go out gradually. Look for yellow stains and the ammonia smell. If either or both are present, you need a new cooling unit. It is not the end of the world for the fridge, but it is going to be expensive.
Dan

rattlenbang · January 20, 2014, 12:30 AM

Nope, no smell or stains that I can see.

joev · January 20, 2014, 07:00 AM

check the thermostate switch might have some corrosion on it you can bypass it and see if it works then

HandyDan · January 20, 2014, 11:15 AM

If you are getting heat to the chimney, then it is not the thermostat. Either the cooling unit is clogged/blocked or you have a leak. You could try pulling the fridge and burping it. I assume you have the motorhome level. If it is off level, it won't work, either.
Dan

rattlenbang · January 20, 2014, 12:25 PM

Sigh, that's what I thought. Still, I had hoped there was a trick someone had I hadn't heard about. Damn fridges are so simple, there's little that can go wrong, and when it does it's often something you can't do too much about. They have do-it-yourself recharge kits for auto air conditioning systems, about time for propane fridges!

HandyDan · January 20, 2014, 01:08 PM

Try these links and see if they help. Lots of good troubleshooting advice.

http://www.rvrefrigeratorrepair.com/troubleshoot.html

http://www.rvcool.com/

Oz · January 20, 2014, 01:23 PM

Have you gone to the member area and downloaded the manual for your fridge or the troubleshooting guides?

HandyDan · January 20, 2014, 01:25 PM

This same topic was discussed on this forum several years ago. Here is a link to it.

http://www.classicwinnebagos.com/forum/index.php?topic=2004.0

rattlenbang · January 21, 2014, 01:02 PM

I've got the manual but unfortunately the problem is in the cooling system itself, not external components like heaters. Time to pull the beast and burp. Hard to believe it will fit in that narrow hallway where it's mounted.

HandyDan · January 21, 2014, 02:20 PM

You haven't said whether it is level or not. That would be my first action. Then go for the burb. What is the model number of the fridge? Is it a two door or single?

Froggy1936 · January 21, 2014, 02:35 PM

1 picture is worth a thousand words. All the information you need is on this site if you search for it (i have never been able to find anything either useing search it supplys to much info ) Have better luck just scrolling thru all subjects with most likely first ! If you are wondering about it fitting thru space available measure first especially door way . When they build them they can place things before walls are on ! Frank

rattlenbang · January 21, 2014, 05:03 PM

It was in really, really tight and took me forever to get it out of the wall. Could have used another set of hands. Now we'll see if this works.

[smg id=6194]

rattlenbang · January 21, 2014, 06:30 PM

I rotated it through all sides. lots of refrigerant still in there, judging by all the gurling. just firing it up now to see if it's working.

Stripe · January 21, 2014, 11:17 PM

Burping looks like a pain..

Froggy1936 · January 21, 2014, 11:44 PM

After you have upright again you should wait 24 Hrs for all the chemicals to reorient them selfs Frank!

rattlenbang · January 22, 2014, 12:20 AM

Whoops, plugged in right now...

Oz · January 22, 2014, 10:08 PM

As far as more info on burping, just put "burp" in the message search.

As far as a tight squeeze... yup, they are. When I replaced mine, once I had it as far forward as I could get it from the inside, I had to crawl through the exterior access panel to be able to push it out the rest of the way, then climb over the top of it to start getting it out of the RV. I was going to have TJ go through the exterior access panel, but he said he might be little tight for him to get through it.
W%

If you found the manual in the member area, there's also a service guide that covers a whole boatload of models and it's a complete service guide, not just external components.

Did you read the other topic Dan took the time to find for you or looked at the links he gave as well? I'm sure you're going to find something of use with all this info available.

rattlenbang · January 23, 2014, 10:26 PM

Yup, went through it all. Fridge still not working, run it through another cycle and this time I'm leaving it sit upright a few days before turning it on. I also tried banging on the coils because if its glogged with sediment, perhaps a bit of vibration while upside down will help move things along. There is a good gurgle/trickle of coolant running up and down when I flip it, not like some folks have mentioned where it wouldn't move. There is a slight bit of cooling happening but not even close. I wish I had a thermal map of the temp each part of the system should have. The percolator is quite hot right to the top, but once it goes sideways it's barely warm. I don't know if this is because the condenser is working so well as conducting heat away, or just because things aren't moving.

reading about this stuff, it seems like cracks in the evaporator buried inside the foam under the freezer are where they often leak the H2 out, where you can't see it. But no ammonia smell which usually accompanies this. I'll try the flip thing several more times before I give up; this was working too good.

Froggy1936 · January 23, 2014, 11:04 PM

If there is a crack you would smell it . Unless it leaked out wile no one was there then dissapated . The syestem operates at 375 Lb Per Sq In and uses 3 different chemicals . That is the reason there will never be a self charging kit . Read any repairers blog They explain it pretty well . If the chemical has been baked in the broiler to a solid there is nothing you can do to save it . Complete replacement or replace cooling unit (wich is what i did see project) Good Luck Frank

Dave R · April 15, 2014, 01:40 PM

i have the same refrigerator and mine doesn't work as well. what is burping? and youtube has some really good videos on troubleshooting frigs that are pretty easy.

Oz · April 15, 2014, 02:13 PM

Easy one...

The answser to that has already been mentioned twice in this topic.... Look at the "burping..." FAQ under refrigerators:

http://www.classicwinnebagos.com/forum/index.php/topic,7904.0.html

A "73 Dometic" narrows it down a bit but there were several models made and the model was never mentioned, so yours may be a different one.
What model do you have? We have a lot of the manuals and troubleshooting service guides in our Member Area available for instant download and there's a good possibility we have yours, and if not, we have an excellent troubleshooting/service guide that covers all refrigerator systems which would include just about every model ever made. This was also mentioned a couple times in this topic by more than one member.

It's a good idea to read all previous posts in a topic. If you have the same or similar problem or question, there's a very good chance the answer is already there or the resources you need are available and you could get your answers immediately or at lest have a really good place to start from!

cncsparky · June 04, 2014, 10:45 AM

My Norcold, the freezer seems to work, but the cooling fins in the fridge area aren't even cool. Would burping help this out? It has been unused for several years.

Oz · June 04, 2014, 11:18 AM

It most certainly could. Particularly with larger refrigerators, it is a pain to get them out & back in, but most of the time, if the flame is working but the fridge isn't cooling, burping does the trick. In off-season times, the fridge should be run to completely cold once a month to 2 months at most (although I did go 4 months once and it still cooled just fine).

cncsparky · June 04, 2014, 12:55 PM

I haven't tried it on gas, should I first before attempting a burp? This was 120VAC for an hour or so. I will leave it on for 24hrs and see what it does.