Fridge stopped working

[Dennistimer]

I have an '88 Driftwood/Rockwood that the Norcold 600 stopped working, so now I had green spots on my cheese and brown spots on my lunch meats. The electric heaters work fine, the gas also works but no cooling. The coach had settled a little so the bubble level was a half bubble off and I have re-leveled it. I believe that the ammonia is not circulating so there may be some crystalization has happened. On U Tube I found this guy that says had the same problem, took the fridge out of the cabinet and turned it upside down for 24 hours, righted it and re-installed. After 24 hours he read the inside temps with a remote temp gauge and had - 17 in the freezer and 38 in the refer section. Has anyone had this work? A friend worked on one of those Cervil (Servil?) propane fridges that had stopped working, he used an ultra sonic vibrator to break up the crystals and it worked (and still works). Any suggestions? I may just try the upside down idea. FYI, the guy goes by "B-Dup fixin' things" a red necks red neck, entertaining if nothing else. He found the solution on "Goggle" so there you go!

[153stars]

I've read at least 100 accounts where it did work for years and somewhat permanently. Or older and smaller ones got out of balance gas to liquid wise and a ride fixed it. The crystal is a rust chunk may stay in bottom of boiler maybe not. Fridge defend device is supposed to shut down heat before it can too bad or unsafe.

[SJ-Chris]

Originally Posted by Dennistimer

The coach had settled a little so the bubble level was a half bubble off and I have re-leveled it.

"Settled a little"? half a bubble doesn't seem like enough to cause a tilt issue with the refrigerator.



How long is your coach? There has been some discussion about refrigerator out of level lately on these forums. What I have learned is that an RV needs to be off by quite a bit to be out of refrigerator spec. Assuming you have the refrigerator mounted with it's back against one of the side walls, and assuming your RV is 30' long, you would need to be either ~10" unlevel (RV side to side) or ~18" unlevel (RV front to back). That's pretty unlevel.

Originally Posted by Dennistimer

I believe that the ammonia is not circulating so there may be some crystalization has happened. On U Tube I found this guy that says had the same problem, took the fridge out of the cabinet and turned it upside down for 24 hours, righted it and re-installed. After 24 hours he read the inside temps with a remote temp gauge and had - 17 in the freezer and 38 in the refer section. Has anyone had this work? A friend worked on one of those Cervil (Servil?) propane fridges that had stopped working, he used an ultra sonic vibrator to break up the crystals and it worked (and still works). Any suggestions? I may just try the upside down idea. FYI, the guy goes by "B-Dup fixin' things" a red necks red neck, entertaining if nothing else. He found the solution on "Goggle" so there you go!

If you look behind your refrigerator from the outside access panel, do you see any yellow staining? Do you smell ammonium? If so, your cooling unit has a leak and needs to be replaced.


I've been told, and others here can correct me if I am wrong, that if your boiler is getting hot but your refrigerator and freezer aren't cooling, then the problem is with your cooling unit. Over time, they can get clogged and the fluids don't flow like they are supposed to. Your sounds very old so it is quite possible.



I haven't heard of the ultra sonic vibration to break up the crystals. Maybe it is possible.


To replace the cooling unit, you need to pull the refrigerator. So if you are doing that, you might as well try your "upside down for 24hr" approach and then see if that fixes it. Let us know...I'd be curious to hear.


A couple years ago, I replaced a cooling unit on a Dometic. I bought an Amish built cooling unit (it was ~$750). I checked it the other day and the freezer was at -10*F and the refrigerator was at 33*F. Better freezer temps than the OEM cooling unit that was in there before.


Good luck!
Chris

[Dennistimer]

The motor home is 36', this past summer temps were 105+ and the fridge was marginal, went up on the roof and removed the vent cap ... the screen was HOT! A few hours later I went up on the roof and the screen was warm and fridge was working at an acceptable level. Everything was fine until the other day. I'll try the upside down trick shortly, and if that doesn't work I may spring for a 10.7 CF 12V compressor fridge. RecPro has SS door model for $1449.95 with free shipping commercial or $75 Residential. It looks like I would need to cut about 3/4" from the top frame to make it fit, remove the 120V outlet and the propane line.

[Jon_C]

I worked for an rv dealer and we used to flip the fridge top to bottom several times, let it stop gurgling each time then reinstall. It worked quite a number of times. If no gurgle its bad.

If still no cooling and its not leaking ammonia and your heat source is working then the cooling unit is bad.

[Dennistimer]

No ammonia leaks, if burping doesn't work it's not worth spending $750+ for a new cooling unit, I'll spring for the 12V compressor fridge and mount some solar panels on the roof; already have 150 watts of panels that are out working for me. I work at race tracks occasionally and camping spots are free (ie Laguna Seca, Long Beach) but no hook ups.

[Ray,IN]

Length of RV is immaterial. Norcold's limits are 3° side to side, and 6° front to back, as looking at the fridge.
Dometic only says, if you are comfortable living in the RV the fridge is likely level enough to prevent damage.

[SJ-Chris]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

Length of RV is immaterial. Norcold's limits are 3° side to side, and 6° front to back, as looking at the fridge.
Dometic only says, if you are comfortable living in the RV the fridge is likely level enough to prevent damage.

The length of the RV is 100% relevant WHEN you are trying to illustrate to someone just how far off 3* and 6* is in a certain length RV....