Normal? Fridge coils hotter on bottom of fridge than top

[Senior Chief]

We've been having some issues with our Dometic RM2801 reefer over the last couple days not cooling as well as previously.

I already had a pair of stack fans installed as well as a fan inside the box.

Just went out to check the back of the fridge for bird's nests or some other blockage and realized that the coils on the back, the lower ones are warm (not hot) and the upper ones are cool.

I don't know much about absorption reefers, but this doesn't bode well to me.

[mfire1339]

While you were broke down the other day was the fridge seriously out of level? Years ago I did same and refer never worked right again.

Mike

[Senior Chief]

Where we got off the road was very unlevel, and we shut the fridge down right away since we knew it would be some time til we could move again.

I wonder now if maybe that sticky little knob did not actually turn the fridge all the way off There are no lights or anything on this model to indicate an on/off condition.

[ahicks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Senior Chief Where we got off the road was very unlevel, and we shut the fridge down right away since we knew it would be some time til we could move again. I wonder now if maybe that sticky little knob did not actually turn the fridge all the way off There are no lights or anything on this model to indicate an on/off condition.

We used to look for that difference to know if the cooling unit had a chance of working or not. The difference is a good thing to have....but it's no guarantee you don't have an issue. We just used it as an early tell-tale when trying to quickly diagnose.

[Senior Chief]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahicks We used to look for that difference to know if the cooling unit had a chance of working or not. The difference is a good thing to have....but it's no guarantee you don't have an issue. We just used it as an early tell-tale when trying to quickly diagnose.

Hey, thanks! I did not know that. Seemed to me that part hot/part cold meant not enough ammonia, or something equally dire.

We defrosted it earlier and we'll see how the temperature reads in the morning.