Community Forums

Tacouser · 06-24-2017, 06:03 PM

Well this is my third time out camping since buying a new 2017 Four Winds 31W. All loaded up meat and other food in the nice new refrigerator. We get to the camp site for the first night of a week long trip. And the damm fridge is not working. The light is and the fan is running, but its blowing hot air.
I am so not happy with this NEW motor home.
So I called General RV and I' m told "oh yea bring it it we will look at it" ohh to walmart to buy a cooler and ice.
Do you think I can give Thor the bill for the cooler and all the ice I will need for a week?

MtnTrek · 06-24-2017, 07:10 PM

Welcome to the forum.
I'm sure you can certainly try, but it's doubtful they'll respond.
So, I'm curious was the refrigerator on temp, prior to loading it up. Then it petered out during the trip. What was the state of the inverter / house batteries? No change when on shore power, Huh?
Modern refrigerators are some of the best insulated coolers around. I've lived months with a broken one using bagged and block ice with little spoilage. water dripped into produce drawer to be emptied.
Of course I know this doesn't negate your frustration with the Refrig. supplier. ?? Which make and model?
Best of luck.

ThePowells · 06-24-2017, 07:46 PM

Make and model of fridge would be nice. Since this is 3rd time out I would start with the troubleshooting part of the manuals along with a tech support number and a google search for issues with that fridge.

Agaveguy · 06-25-2017, 05:56 PM

Are you familiar with the operation of the inverter and battery voltages for your coach? It may not be a problem with the refrigerator itself. The compressor may not have the power it needs to start.

I'd do some basic troubleshooting before getting too excited.

Sucks you had to use a cooler.

ThePowells · 06-25-2017, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tacouser

Well this is my third time out camping since buying a new 2017 Four Winds 31W. All loaded up meat and other food in the nice new refrigerator. We get to the camp site for the first night of a week long trip. And the damm fridge is not working. The light is and the fan is running, but its blowing hot air.
I am so not happy with this NEW motor home.
So I called General RV and I' m told "oh yea bring it it we will look at it" ohh to walmart to buy a cooler and ice.
Do you think I can give Thor the bill for the cooler and all the ice I will need for a week?

1) Did you load all of this stuff into a hot fridge? The fridge has to be cooled before it can cool food items. If it has been sitting dormant for days then it will be at ambient temp and may take close to 24 hours to cool as an empty fridge and much much longer if loaded up with a weeks worth of food and drinks that need to be cooled. Have you had it plugged up to shore power when not being used?
2) Have you read through your coach, fridge, and inverter manuals to look for a solution? Have you done any online searches through google and other RV forums?
3) Have you tried calling Thor or the fridge makers customer service for assistance. Thor will know much more about the electrical system than National and the fridge maker will know much much more about the fridge.
4) If the light and fan was on in the fridge I would believe that the fridge is getting power, which means that Thor's power delivery system is working, so why be torqued at the one who's stuff appears to be working?

Look through your packet and see just how much different stuff is in your coach. Now imagine how many different systems are in all of the different brands carried by National? The best first source is the makers resources be it the paper manual, on line resources, or tech support.
The ultimate answer to me is to learn as much as possible about your systems. Sit down and read ALL of your manuals and keep them in the coach. You are your first line of support. After almost four months I have only made two phone calls. First was needing help locating the water heater bypass valve and second was to Lippert about a leveling issue since the manual wasn't in the coach. The short term issue was solved and the long term was solved through emails and a follow up call and an answer that wasn't in the manual. Most problems will not happen during a easy time to get an answer.

Tacouser · 06-26-2017, 09:32 AM

It is a Whirlpool residential refrigerator, dont know the model right now. So It doesnT need to be loaded with cold stuff first, but it was. Even had a bag of ice in the freezer.
When I left the house the battery switch was on, the inverter was on. All running while driving. When I got to my location 3 hours away it still was not cold. My ice was melted because the freezer was blowing warm air.
After getting to my location I switched over to shore power. Good 30 amp. I should say good enought that my AC workied.
I shut the refrigerator off for a couple hours then tried it again. Still not getting cold. So I bought more ice.
Very frustrating that a new coach has so many issues.

Ernie. · 06-26-2017, 12:59 PM

was the fridge working the second time you went out? you say the inverter light was on, were you by chance running the generator?

Tacouser · 06-26-2017, 01:32 PM

Worked great the first two times out. Nothing changed. Worked on generator the first trip, no shore power. Second trip worked on inverter while driving then shore power at camp site.

ThePowells · 06-26-2017, 08:49 PM

IS it still not working? If not, call Whirlpool tech support and let them troubleshoot it. If that doesn't help, have them steer you to an authorized service tech that can look at it as a warranty issue.

Glenn2 · 06-27-2017, 12:29 PM

If you have the same model Whirlpool I have:
The panel over the water and ice outlets is touch sensitive.
The two controls at the far right turn on and off the cooling but the lights still work. Touch the two controls at the same time for three seconds and the fridge will turn on cooling (and conversely turn off cooling).

MtnTrek · 06-27-2017, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glenn2

If you have the same model Whirlpool I have:
The panel over the water and ice outlets is touch sensitive.
The two controls at the far right turn on and off the cooling but the lights still work. Touch the two controls at the same time for three seconds and the fridge will turn on cooling (and conversely turn off cooling).

Good point. If in the off mode though wouldn't the LED temp. numerals indicate "0FF"? (if equipped) Our Whirlpool has one ea. for the freezer / refrig. areas?

Shaken not stirred.

Glenn2 · 06-27-2017, 05:53 PM

Mine doesn't, that I remember. Would check if I could ever get it back from warranty work.

MtnTrek · 06-27-2017, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glenn2

Would check if I could ever get it back from warranty work.

Sorry I mentioned it. Best of luck!

Summertime, and the livin' is easy... well sometimes.

Tacouser · 07-11-2017, 11:01 AM

I dropped the coach off at the Thor service center in Indiana. Its been there now since the 4th of July. They are working on the fridge along with over30 other items that were bad from buying it new in April.
I have not been contacted by their repair team as to any updates as what they have repaired yet. Even after 3 phone call to them.
Hopefully when I get it back everything is fixed/repaired.