Bit late to the party, I've been away, so now catching up.
Well it seems the critical bits of your fridge work when it's removed from fitted position, which is good news, and rather eliminates the likelihood of needing a replacement or repair, time to look at installed situation to see if anything there amiss.
A few basics that may be relevant. Absorption (3 way fridges) fridges are pretty sensitive to being off level, only a tolerance of a few degrees from perfectly level, the further from level, the less well they work until they don't work at all! - Around 3 or 4 degrees is all we're talking about, side to side or back to front - ensure van is close to perfectly level when fridge is installed.
The cooling 'plumbing' is common to all 3 power sources, so if it works well on one, it should work on all 3, with the proviso that any one heat source may have it's own issues (but seems you've eliminated that).
Gas is often the most powerful cooling source, followed by 240v then 12v (but that may be very marginal as with my fridge which is 125W 240v/120W 12v, or more significant, as in half the power with some 'older' fridges). If correctly wired, it will ONLY cool on 12v supplied from the towing vehicle with engine RUNNING, not the onboard leisure battery. BUT it will likely require a good 12v supply from the leisure battery/on board mains charger to power the control panel and electronics. - Too low a voltage can mess with it's function! Mine also has a safety warning alarm for low mains voltage, which would impact it's cooling capacity. If there is an issue with the 'cooling plumbing' (But that seems to have been eliminated by your testing), sometimes the extra power of gas is just enough to get some cooling!
Absorption fridges are painfully slow to cool down to normal operating temp, typically 8 to 12 hours! Some chilling of ice box/heat exchanger fins can normally be detected after an hour or two. The less powerful the heating source, the longer to cool. It needs some time and patience to check they are working correctly. They are also absolutely silent in operation, with no motor noise like a domestic fridge, to give a clue it's working OK!
Absorption fridges don't like too cold ambient temps! Below ambient of 10C it's recommended to fit vent covers (partially blocking the airflow) to limit the environmental temp of the heat exchanger on the back of fridge so that it all chills properly.
The good old turn it upside down and leave it for a while trick is well proven to fix vapour locks on a non-functional but otherwise sound fridge, sometimes it takes a few attempts and a longer inversion time, but sounds like you have that sorted.
As mentioned by others, check your dimensions if you are forced to remove/replace it, as they often don't go through the van doorway. If that is the case, out (and in for the replacement!) through the large front window (after removing the stays to get a wide opening!) is the usual alternative - a multi person task as you need hands inside and outside van at same time and the window propped wide open (or even removed!!!)!
Replacement like for like caravan fridges can be obscenely expensive, even s/h ones! - Repair if possible is often a cheaper option! Replacing with a compressor fridge (losing the gas option) can be possible if you find one that fits the vacant space, BUT be mindful, OEM caravan fridges are often fitted up to/over a wheel arch and have a cut out shape to accommodate that, aftermarket fridges may not fit!
On the oft quoted subject of "they don't chill on 12v, only maintain already chilled temps" - not true in all cases!!! It depends on the power rating of the 12v heater cartridge! Mine chills just fine when on tow, as 12v is similar to 240v power rating. Also people don't usually tow for enough hours to allow the normal on any power source slow cooling to complete (up to 12 hours!), so falsely declare "it doesn't cool!". They also forget, every time they stop for a wee/cupa tea break, the power to the fridge is cut when the car engine is stopped! Mine chills down from completely off (no power in storage yard, and gas operation prohibited) significantly on longer journeys, and significantly reduces on site (EHU/gas) chill to usable time.
hi Monty , thanks for all that detailed information, I have decided to remove it altogether and replace it with a small condenser fridge, if I can find one that fits the space and is not too heavy. Waiting for Black Friday !!Once again thanks for your input
The continuing sage with the RM 212, bought another as I was convinced mine is u/s , but same problem , it works outside of the hole but once installed it does not get cold, so read the instructions,I'm a bloke!,where is says must be absolutely level in all directions, blimey! what a faff , can't be doing with that, i'm going to buy a small condenser fridge and use that instead, waiting for Black Friday
Quote: Originally posted by billyboggins on 19/11/2025
..... must be absolutely level in all directions, blimey! what a faff , can't be doing with that, ......
I've used my OEM absorption caravan fridge for around 8 years now without any issues, like an awful lot of other caravan users use theirs. TBH, if your caravan is far enough off level to affect the fridge, then 'living on a slope' is highly noticeable and pretty annoying, not to mention uncomfortable in a number of ways - anything vaguely round rolls away, slippery things tend to slide around, sinks and showers don't want to drain properly, the blood rushes to your head if sleeping 'the wrong way round', and you tend to get up a bit of momentum going downhill, and 'climb' going the other way when moving in the van, etc. etc. Van really doesn't have to be perfectly level, just enough for 'comfortable living', so absolutely no faff to achieve a functional fridge.
I've also got a free standing absorption 'camping fridge', and that has worked faultlessly over decades on some far from perfectly level and lumpy/bumpy tent pitches with a little packing pieces tweak to deal with the more extreme slopes!
You don't hear caravan owners complain very often about fridges not working because of sloping pitches, as vans are quite easy to level at least front to back with normal pitching by jockey wheel adjustment. MH/Camper users seem far more reluctant to level their vehicles, and it's common to see them pitched at some odd angles, and they occasionally complain about fridges being temperamental, but usually easily sorted by better levelling.
As an afterthought, you say fridges (as you suggest you've tried a second fridge) work out of situ, but both fail in situ, now were you using the original fitted van power supplies, or have you improvised alternative power supplies when out of situ? If fridges work on improvised power but not the standard fitted power supplies, the fault would appear to be not with the fridge at all, but with the power supplies. In that case a replacement Compressor fridge may also not work if expecting to use the same power supplies!!!!!
There are a lot of good points about 12v/240v Compressor fridges compared to 3-way absorption fridges, but I for one would be very reluctant to sacrifice the option to run on gas, if only as a back up to EHU failure (I've experienced unreliable EHU supplies!), but also for off grid use. I've got a 12v/240v compressor camping fridge/freezer, but for off grid tent camping, my old 3-way fridge on gas is always my first choice.
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Topic: 3 way electrolux fridge not cooling
