Fridge problem

[Streetside]

Question: New poster here. I have a 1988 Holiday Rambler 35' travel trailer that I just purchased. When I bought, the frig worked great on electric, but would not work on gas. I had some parts replaced and now it works great on gas, but doesn't want to work on electric. When I turn the gas off, at the propane tanks, the ignitor goes through the motions, but it never switches to electric. I did get it to work on electric one time but can't seem to get it to work now. Any help would be great.

[GaryKD]

Hi Streetside,
Welcome to iRV2. You'll need a VOM meter to take some measurements.
1. Make sure there is 120 VAC power to the fridge outlet.
2. Make sure that power is getting to the fridge control board.
3. There will be at least one and maybe up to three fuses on the control board. Make sure the fuses are good. Remove power first.
4. Check the 120 VAC power going to the heating element.
5. Power at the heating element, but no heat, the element may be bad. If you have a meter with clamp on capability for measuring AMPS as opposed to the previous 120 VAC measurements measure the AMPS being drawn by the element. If you have 120 VAC but no AMP draw, the element is bad.
6. If there is 120 VAC at the control board but no power to the element, the control board (or fuse) is bad.
7. 12 VDC is also needed. Because the OP mentions the unit will run on gas, my assumption is 12 VDC is adequate.

["007"]

Do you have your fridge control set to AUTO, if it is will switch between electric or LP gas.
If you have shore power hooked up will switch to electric from LP gas if control board on face of fridge is set to AUTO.

[Streetside]

Hey there. Thanks for the replies. My frig has two buttons on the top one is AC/GAS and the other GAS. When I push AC/GAS it lights up and goes through the process of trying to ignite itself with gas. Once it does not ignite (gas turned off at tanks), the AC/GAS light goes out and a red light with the GAS symbol on the far right hand top of the frig lights up with a line through it. This morning I checked it again and the red light had a line through it, the AC/GAS and the GAS buttons were not lighted but I opened the frig and it was cool and the freezer was ice cold. Hmm?

[GaryKD]

Hi Streetside,
When connected to shore power the refrigerator should not try to operate on gas. A/C is the default. When is senses no A/C it will use gas as the fuel.

It sounds like the refrigerator was operating on A/C all night. What lights are on when the unit is operating on A/C?

[Streetside]

Hey there. There were no lights on at all when I checked yesterday. The frig was running but no lights on the top. I know previously, the AC/gas light was on when it was running on AC. When it is running on gas, the ac/gas light is on.

[GaryKD]

If the unit is operating and no lights are on it leads me to believe the control board has an issue. The control board should be controlling the lights.

[Streetside]

How hard is it to change a control board? What kind of cost? I don't use camper often so I could just run on gas all the time.

[Streetside]

Any thoughts on how hard it is to change a control board and what the cost may be? The frig is not working on electrical again.

Jason

[FreeByrd]

Jason,
Can you tell me the Make & Model of the Fridge, it's affects the price. There are several sources for Power/Control PCBs. I now use a Dinosaur PCB in the Norcold 1200 and for the Igniter PCB for the Propane Hot water heater. . . superior construction; better warranty and the folks at the other end of the phone are very knowledgeable & helpful should you ever have an issue. Don't believe they sell direct anymore but there are several sources on the web. . .shop them, some are too expensive while others are really reasonable.
Hope this Helps,
Mike