Community Forums

Wbonsell · 07-10-2016, 11:32 AM

Noticed this morning that our Amana Bottom Mount residential fridge was loosing temp in the freezer. I'm hoping it was caused by a ton of dust/pet hair underneath. I cleaned underneath really well and turned up the freezer from setting 2 to 6. Hoping that takes care of it. Fridge is only 6 years old.

BUT, if it is in need of replacement and hopefully from those who have done it, how is it best to do the replacement. I don't think it will make it through the door even with the fridge doors off. Front windshield or living room window. And I don't think that any retailer is going to do what is necessary.

Appreciate any thoughts. Thanks and keeping my fingers crossed!

Tha_Rooster · 07-10-2016, 12:06 PM

If it want go through the door use the window.

jelag · 07-10-2016, 03:31 PM

please consider that your unit is not defrosting correctly and might be freezing up... and turning the unit colder might make it worse... we had a fridge/freezer that had nothing more than the drain plugged so that the water, during defrost couldn't leave the drain tray... and would continue to freeze until the unit failed to come down to temperature in the freezer.... mind you it was still below the freezing of water but the ice cream was always mushy....

A check on line by manufacturer and model found for us a location of what is called a duck bill.... ours was covered in dust, some dog hair.... and was gummed up.... we ended up pulling it off... washing in hot water... the text on line suggested a tooth pick in the valve to keep it open..... ours has been fine every since....

Good luck...

Americanrascal · 07-10-2016, 05:31 PM

Just went through a similar situation with the residential Whirlpool French door unit in our new Adventurer. Turned out the freezer defroster was not defrosting freezing up the coils and blocking cool air into the refrigerator and we could not cool the upper refrigerator compartment .

Its under warranty thankfully and the appliance service reps verified that the seals were properly seating and not leaking first. Then they checked the defroster circuit. That passed inspection. Last the said all that was left was to replace the circuit board (brains of the unit). Took about 5 minutes to change out the board (from the rear). Not sure what a board runs $$$ wise but might be worth a service call to check it out before giving up on the whole unit?? Just sayin? Its a whole lot easier than moving a fridge out and putting a new one in. maybe less expensive than a new unit if its something like what I ran into.

Wishing you the best getting through this.

Wbonsell · 07-13-2016, 05:45 PM

Wanted to follow up on my fridge issue. After a thorough cleaning underneath the unit, it appears to be working fine for now....fingers crossed.

Didn't really get much information regarding how best to handle a failure of a residential fridge. Will a regular appliance tech be willing to look at a fridge inside a motor home? Is it best to just have an RV dealership replace it? And how much does it cost just for the labor to replace it...on average?

Americanrascal · 07-14-2016, 04:26 AM

Not sure about the cost , but assume that you can get a new fridge in the regular marketplace at competitive costs, provided measurements for the slot and door all match up. When my original fridge was replaced, the dealership techs had no problem getting it into and the old broken one out of the unit with several other techs providing some horsepower to get it up the steps (My new replacement unit then required the service call for a bad circuit board).

I had several local appliance service tech companies willing and eager to check and service the replacement unit that was freezing up while it was in the rig. It was no problem as long as the component and area being checked was accessible from the front of the unit.

When their work on the new fridge migrated to the rear of the unit to replace a circuit board- all came to a stop. They required that I remove the fridge from the tie down straps, remove a top piece of wood trim molding, remove the front doors (the tie down strap was bolted in and attached to the top of the doors) and slide the unit out to get to the rear of the unit.

As you have been able to clean your unit maybe you've been able to move it out from the wall thus it sounds like you are way ahead of the game. No reason in that case a local appliance repair tech would not dig into the issue for you if that's the case.

I checked with Winnebago first on how to tackle getting the fridge out of the slot so the appliance repair techs could get to the rear. For me it was far easier than I had thought and only took about 15 minutes. Just a word of caution- and not sure how your is set up. Never remove the strapping system from the walls of the motorhome. Always detach the strap from its attachment point with the fridge itself.

Hope all works out for you an this is a minimal issue.

Joe

Wbonsell · 07-14-2016, 09:31 AM

Thanks Joe! Our bottom mount Amana is snugged in pretty well and while the doors would be easily removed, the unit would still be too wide to remove via the side door and therefore would have to be taken out via a window. Not an easy task I would assume.

As all newer fridges are front serviceable, the cleaning underneath was pretty easy. You must have airflow for them to work properly and if one has pets the hair and dust bunnies can significantly effect that air flow. Will definitely make sure and clean as part of a normal maintenance program.

Darrel · 07-14-2016, 02:49 PM

With the doors removed, our residential Amana refrigerator is much lighter than the Norcold 1200 that it replaced. It slipped in through the emergency exit window in our unit rather easily. (unlike the norcold that required removal in pieces).

Have a nice day - Darrel

Caswelld · 07-15-2016, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wbonsell

Will a regular appliance tech be willing to look at a fridge inside a motor home? Is it best to just have an RV dealership replace it? And how much does it cost just for the labor to replace it...on average?

We had to replace the condenser coils in our Whirlpool residential fridge. Of course it was 3 months out of warranty

After troubleshooting with a Tiffin tech on the phone, he said call a refrigerator repairman. $750 later, it was working fine.

Replacement of a RR is seldom pretty. Ours would have to go out through the drivers door after removing the seat.