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Helping an Old Refrigerator Work
Thought I would post this here as it applies mostly to vintage refrigerators.
After removing several old refrigerators from vintage rigs for various problems I have some thoughts that might help others.
The old fridges have an accumulation of dust, dirt, feathers, etc. on the coils and this inhibits heat transfer. To clean these it is best to remove the fridge which is not as hard as it sounds with 2 people.
The silver tape used to hold the insulation panels on the fridge is just duct tape and about half of it is no longer stuck to the fridge. I replace it with the metal tape. I even re-taped the last new fridge I installed as the tape was already loosening up.
This also allows inspection of the enclosure. I have yet to find one the builder made to the specs of the fridge manufacturer. I have rebuild 2 to specs and it seems to have helped. Be aware that the insulation from Home Depot is not recommended for insulating the enclosure by the manufacturer.
On my current coach the floor of the enclosure had come loose and caused the fridge to twist just enough to make the doors not seal well. The 1" X 1" wood holding up the floor had just been stapled to the other boards on the sides and had pulled loose.
The next thing is removing the fridge allows for inspection for charring of the enclosure and/or insulation. The last fridge I helped change had one foot charring up the side of the fridge and the enclosure. That could have been a disaster.
With the fridge out this will also allow the installation of the ARP Fridge Protection device so the control unit/monitor is inside the coach where it can be viewed easily. This in my opinion is a necessary item but each owner needs to decide if it something that needs to be purchased.
Hope this helps someone.
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