We arrived at this site yesterday got settled down after about 3 hours the fridge started beeping. I checked the door and all seemed well, I tried turning it off the on again, no change. I then put it on gas no problems. I then tried it on electric again and all seemed well until 3 in the morning. It started beeping again until I put it on gas when all worked well.
I am in Spain at the moment.
Sounds like low voltage coming from the EHU bollard. Happened to us in France and also in York. As the fridge is a Dometic (ours was), we found out that it is especially sensitive when the voltage drops to around 200v. Perhaps a lot of other people drawing lots of power, or due to "very high quality Spanish installation"
Agree. Our fridge stopped making ice on an Edinburgh site one cold December, on EHU. Most MHs were pitched together in just a few areas off the main circuit road. Fridge worked perfectly when we got home.
Usually any faults if not identified specifically, are narrowed down by a 'fault code'. Depending on model, that'll be a number on a digital display, or a flashing light/symbol, sometimes with a 'pattern' (flash/beep every 20 seconds etc.)
Look up in the fridge user manual what they mean, or Google it relevant to your fridge model.
They are susceptible to low 240v EHU voltage AND low 12v leisure battery voltage, and will alarm at those.
I turned the electric s off for an hour and an hour ago I put it all back on touch wood all is well I will update in a couple of hours. We never had a problem in the last 13 years coming to Spain although this site is small and compact so there could at times be a reduction in voltage as there are 5 others connect to the same pole.
My Dometic fridge with a freezer compartment is electric only, and it does not beep.
However, there is an orange light inside that would flash if there is something wrong, and the User Manual contains information on how to identify the error by the frequency and pattern of flashing.
When the 12V battery is low, it would flash. However, as the light is inside the fridge, it is not obvious to me that the battery is low and not charging for whatever reason(s).
Nowadays, I have learnt to look out for potential issue with the 12V supply, buy listening for noises from the fan of the inverter which is under the driver's seat, and from the fan of the fridge.
If it is dead silent for a very long time, then there is something wrong.
DK
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Technically the fridge 'can' work on a much reduced voltage, it will still chill, BUT it's performance will suffer, and TBH absorption type fridges are not exactly high performers under ideal conditions (they are perfectly adequate for the task, but not a lot of spare performance!), so on a reduced voltage it may struggle to function at what is considered safe storage temp for perishable foods (below 4 degrees C).
The low voltage alarm is likely pre-empting conditions where the fridge may fail to perform as required. If it didn't alarm, food may rise in temp to unacceptable/risky temperatures, compromising it's safety, even if temperature subsequently fell back to safe limits, potentially the damage has been done!
Last time I camped abroad (France), think there were 6 (may have been 8!) sockets on the post! Difficult to see that maintaining voltage under heavy demand! We were in a tent with a unsophisticated (no alarms!) camping fridge so no idea what the voltage was, but fridge temp seemed OK.
We don't have a caravan now but did have one with a dometic fridge. We had beeping on two occasions caused by damp in the door catch. We removed the cover and very gently dried out with a hair drier. This is a fairly common known problem.
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Quote: Originally posted by Rainbowsend on 20/1/2025
We don't have a caravan now but did have one with a dometic fridge. We had beeping on two occasions caused by damp in the door catch. We removed the cover and very gently dried out with a hair drier. This is a fairly common known problem.
Thank you for that, the problem has now been resolved it seems to have been low voltage on the site.
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