Apologies for the "urgent", but we're going on holiday tomorrow, and we need this fridge fixed! The fridge won't work on either 240v or gas and I feel I have forgotten or missing something.
We brought a 2004 Conway Cruiser trailer tent in May last year. I tested the fridge on a 240v connection, and it was working fine, the cooling fins got cold. I didn't want to test it on gas. I got a caravan service engineer out to test and service everything including electrics, gas, brakes, wheels, suspension everything. He said everything was fine, the fridge in full working order, and ran on gas.
We never had a chance to go out with the folding camper until now. So, I'm preparing the camper for our holiday starting tomorrow, and I've found the fridge isn't working on either 240v or gas. I downloaded a manual for this exact model of fridge.
Following the manual for 240v, I have turned on the large green switch to "1" so that it's closest to the fascia, the "0" is raised. I set the thermostat to "7", but it doesn't get cold. I don't think the pump is running. As I'm deaf, I touched what I think is the pump via the removed external grilles and don't feel any hum. I checked the 240v plug & socket, the socket is supplying power, the fuse in the plug is intact. The manual I downloaded said that the switch would light up, but it does not look like the kind of switch that'd light up. There are no other lights or indications.
As for the gas feature, I turned off both switches so the "0" is closest to the fascia, and "1" are raised. I ensure that the green onboard gas cut-off knob is parallel to the gas pipe. I depress and turn the gas knob to the biggest flame symbol, leave it depressed and then rapidly push the ignition button, but no sign of a flame through the sighting glass at all. I am under the impression that the gas system doesn't need any electricity at all to operate, or am I incorrect?
Is there something I'm missing out, any hidden switch or loose connection I'm not seeing?
We'd incredibly appreciate any help to get this to work, thank you so much.
The fridge control panel with what I think the 240v switch is on?
The cupboard to the left of the fridge. The green shut-off valve is on the left. The yellow valve is for the stove.
The cupboard to the right of the fridge, including the fridge's mains socket.
The top back of the fridge through the removed upper grille.
The bottom back of the fridge through the removed lower grille. Is the black cylinder on the top left the compression pump?
Hi Eddles.
I am not familiar with this particular fridge, but the first thing to note, there is no pump or compressor, it is an absorption fridge, ie it works by heating the refrigerant either by electric or gas.
For mains electric the green switch needs to be with the 1 depressed and the red to 0 and the gas knob to the off position. Turn the thermostat knob to maximum. The green switch should light up if there is power to the fridge. It will then take time to start cooling as you will hear nothing. Handy if you have a thermometer to put in the fridge. Also, with the present heat wave it may be very slow to work, but you could try the fins in the 4th photo to see if they are getting hot after 15-20 minutes.
Try that for a starter.
This looks like the same model fridge that we had in our first caravan except that ours was an Electrolux make which I believe that Dometic took over. However, firstly to ignite the fridge on gas you need a fully charged leisure battery connected up and I say fully charged because if you have low voltage in the battery it won't produce a good enough spark to ignite the pilot light. Make sure there is gas in the gas cylinder and make sure that the regulator is in the ON position to allow the gas to come through. Secondly, make sure that the gas isolation tap is turned ON (in line with pipe) as quite often service engineers switch everything OFF when they have completed the service. Regarding the mains electric, it's the wide GREEN rocker switch for this function which the narrower RED rocker is for 12 volts power when connected up to the towcar. The protection circuit is via the MCB's so make sure that this is switched on because it will isolate all the mains power to other appliances too.
If the service engineer confirmed that everything was working it has to be something simple that has been overlooked.
Hi all, thank you all SO much for your helpful replies! I will reply to each of you in turn, then add in my update at the end.
clbewi - I checked that the stove works before trying the fridge, so all the gas connections are correct. I don't know if the fridge needs electricity for the ignition, it doesn't say in the manual. However, it does say that the fridge has a piezo ignition, which tend not to need any electricity to work. Pushing the ignition certainly does feel like a piezo ignition.
Ancient_Uncle - aha, that makes sense - I thought it was a compressor alongside an absorption system - but an electric element within the absorption system makes so much more sense.
tango55 - battery is brand new, fully charged, and the camper is connected to 240v mains, so is being charged as well. The manual says that the fridge uses a piezo ignition, though, which means no electricity is needed. Pushing the ignition button feels as if that is the case. All 240v breakers not tripped, and all 12v fuses intact.
With all your advice, I went back to the fridge, made sure that the red switch is off, green switch is on, thermostat is set to "7" and gas knob is off. I then went around to the back, and found the fins were extremely hot. It was in the sun, but couldn't have been that hot, so I checked the fridge again, and the freezer circuit was ice-cold. The fridge fins are still warm, though. It has been a couple hours, and not much change - freezer circuit is ice-cold, while fridge fins are still warm.
I'm not sure if there's something intermittent somewhere like the thermostat knob, or it's simply too hot for it to work effectively? Fingers crossed it'll work better in the evening. I brought out a pedestal fan I hadn't used for a while, to cool the back more, but it was broken, typical.
Glad it has worked out ok.
As a matter of interest, we were caravanning during that really hot period in July and I had to take the fridge grills off and aim a fan to blow air through the back to keep the temp down.
I have just installed a cooling fan in the back over the weekend. Just a temporary set up at present but seems to make the difference. During the hottest part of the day the freezer was down to -10. Enough to keep the ice cream while we are away next week.
When we had a folding camper with a 3 way fridge, we took it to France before turning it on - big mistake! - it took a couple of days to properly cool down and even then it struggled a bit in the extreme heat. It sounds as of yours is having the same problem and it's this very warm weather that's the issue.
Absorption fridges only chill to so many degrees below ambient temperature so are not nearly as effective or reliable as compressor fridges. They are useful when not on EHU though, due to the gas option.
If you're really struggling, I'd recommend taking a cheap tabletop fridge as a back up.
You do need to be patient. It can take several hours to get cold but as long as the fins are starting to get warm it is working. Maybe you just didn't give it enough time. Usually if you put your hand over the outside upper grille after an hour you should feel some warmth.
I advise that you do some research on 3 way fridges as it will tell you that running them on 240 volt mains has it's limits due to the fact that if the outside temperature reaches over 28 degrees Celcius or more then the fridge will struggle to operate and once that happens it means that food will start thawing out so the solution is to swap over to gas then once the outside temperature drops to below 28 degrees again you can revert back to 240 volt mains. Iv'e known people to get caught out with their pants down on this topic because food has had to be disposed of and didn't have any gas on board. Some people say they don't store a gas bottle because they never use gas which doesn't mean that it's not a good back up when you most need it. I only ever use gas for the cooker but I always keep 2 gas cylinders on board in case of emergency. Furthermore, when the outside temperature drops to 8 degrees Celcius or below, the advice is to use fridge vent covers that clip onto the existing vents to stop the 3 way fridge from over-cooling.
Quote: Originally posted by tango55 on 13/8/2022
I advise that you do some research on 3 way fridges as it will tell you that running them on 240 volt mains has it's limits due to the fact that if the outside temperature reaches over 28 degrees Celcius or more then the fridge will struggle to operate and once that happens it means that food will start thawing out so the solution is to swap over to gas then once the outside temperature drops to below 28 degrees again you can revert back to 240 volt mains. Iv'e known people to get caught out with their pants down on this topic because food has had to be disposed of and didn't have any gas on board. Some people say they don't store a gas bottle because they never use gas which doesn't mean that it's not a good back up when you most need it. I only ever use gas for the cooker but I always keep 2 gas cylinders on board in case of emergency. Furthermore, when the outside temperature drops to 8 degrees Celcius or below, the advice is to use fridge vent covers that clip onto the existing vents to stop the 3 way fridge from over-cooling.
But from what I can see from this trial I am running, adding the cooling fan to blow air over the cooling fins does appear to help at the higher ambient temperatures. Just off for a few days, so if it is still hot weather, then I will be able to report back on the success of the trial.
We had to,remove the grills and use a fan on our caravan fridge in France,,even on gas it struggled but it was 40 degrees.
I have bought a fan kit to fit next time the van is home.
The campsite hired out domestic fridges which we did just put it in the awning.
I have bought a 12v/ 240v portable compressor fr8dge as they were on offer in Halfords.
It's very good -currently keeping drinks cool in our garage as we needed to test it.
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Topic: Dometic RM4200S fridge urgent
via mobile 13/8/2022 at 7:34pm
