fridge is not working!

[tjj's63]

just bought and hauled our airstream home this weekend & i have all sorts of ?'s. i have a 63 ambassador with the original fridge in it and it doesn't work- does anyone have tips?

[mkeith54]

When you say it is not working, which mode is not working. Have you lit the pilot light? For that matter did you pull a me and not have enough LP? My pilot would light but then go out when the burnner kicked in because the LP was low. Is the trailer totally level side to side and fore to aft? The older units are very finicky about this.
If you are running on electric check the fuses and ohm out the heater element.
Another thing to look for is green corrosion, the green comes from the amoninia leaking out. This is youmight surmise is not a good thing. If it has leaked you might be able to replace the cooling unit , but you may have to replace the entire unit.

[tjj's63]

i am going on what the previous owner said- he also said to maybe pull it out and flip it upside down (which i heard was a bad thing to do). to be honest, i haven't tried any propane related start ups- i'm a little nervous! i need an owners manual, too! i guess this is welcome to the world of airstream ownership, right?

[Pahaska]

It is best to try it in AC mode first since this doesn't require the burner. Set the thermostat to maximum cold. After you turn it on, wait an hour and then open the lower outside access door and feel the shroud around the boiler (looks like a piece of stovepipe). It should be warm to the touch if the element is working; the tube coming out the top of the boiler shroud should be getting hot by this time. If no heat, then either no AC to the refrigerator or a bad heating element.

In summer weather, it takes a while to cool down. After 2 hours, the freezer compartment should be getting pretty cool. It will take up to 3 or more hours before the refrigerator part is noticeably cooling. By overnight, the refrigerator should be getting down to temperature.

If the boiler is getting hot and the refrigerator is not cooling by this time, the cooling system is shot and it is time for a new refrigerator or a rebuild.

[drboyd]

Actually, the "turn it upside-down" method is mentioned in the Dometic service manual, believe it or not.

http://www.bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/rmX60.pdf page 10