Mystery Refrigerator Problem Solved

[moosetags]

Lucy's refrigerator has always worked great on both AC and gas until last week over in Houston. Rather suddenly the refrigerator portion was only maintaining 50 degrees, yet the freezer section was at Zero. This was baffling as either both should work or neither. I tried everything, including restarting the whole unit. Nothing seemed to work. Finally, by accident, I discovered that the interior light switch had malfunctioned and was not turning off the incandescent bulb. This bulb gets quite hot and was capable of preventing maintenance of proper temperature. I removed the bulb, and several hours later, Lucy's refrigerator was back to 30 degrees in the lower box.

Brian

[Silverhobby]

Glad you found out before a costly service call was in the works.

[AirsDream]

See, if ya'd had an LED bulb in there, it probably wouln't have mattered! But good that you figured it out. Never heard of that before, but I learn someting new every day! Thanks for the heads-up to the rest of us.

[Phrunes]

Anyone ever put a CFL bulb in their fridge? They operate significantly cooler.

[NevadaGeo]

Originally Posted by Phrunes

Anyone ever put a CFL bulb in their fridge? They operate significantly cooler.

Somebody test that, I want to know if those things really will eventually come on and light outside when it's cold and you're checking to see if it's a raccoon or skunk or a bear in the back yard. More than once I'm glad I wired up a switch on the inside of the back door to see what was in the back porch before I opened the door. Raccoons will look at you and say, you looking at me? Skunks will wander off if you rattle the door. Bears will look at you, and take their time to leave just before you finally get the dam digital camera to click.

[richinny]

lewster has posted on that issue before. i think the light is also used to warm the fridge in cold climates to get the fridge to cycle.

some day, a fridge manufacturer will build in a fiber optic indicator to answer that age old question of "Does the refrigerator light go out when the door is closed?". :-)

[Silver Otter]

Originally Posted by moosetags

Lucy's refrigerator has always worked great on both AC and gas until last week over in Houston. Rather suddenly the refrigerator portion was only maintaining 50 degrees, yet the freezer section was at Zero. This was baffling as either both should work or neither. I tried everything, including restarting the whole unit. Nothing seemed to work. Finally, by accident, I discovered that the interior light switch had malfunctioned and was not turning off the incandescent bulb. This bulb gets quite hot and was capable of preventing maintenance of proper temperature. I removed the bulb, and several hours later, Lucy's refrigerator was back to 30 degrees in the lower box.

Brian

Brian,
We have exactly the same scenario in our refrigerator. It's on my list to try to repair that switch. Our bulb is out now, too.

[Silver Otter]

I successfully removed the Dometic RM3862 light switch. I tried to pry it open, but could not/would not force it. Does anyone have advice on how to fix?

[masseyfarm]

Try this.
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f313...ml#post1009393
Dave

Originally Posted by gheuer

I successfully removed the Dometic RM3862 light switch. I tried to pry it open, but could not/would not force it. Does anyone have advice on how to fix?

[Silver Otter]

OK, we'll try various concentrations of baking soda in water, with a forced air dry afterward. Thanks for the link.

[masseyfarm]

I've had good luck getting Dometic parts from this source.
WWW.RVPARTSAROUNDTHECLOCK.COM
Kim will give you a good deal.

Dave

[twobikes]

Brian, was it a little tight getting into that fridge to see if the light goes out?

[Silver Goose]

Originally Posted by Phrunes

Anyone ever put a CFL bulb in their fridge? They operate significantly cooler.

My fridge uses a 12VDC bulb, thought all CFL's were 110VAC.

[masseyfarm]

With climate change on the way, you need that bulb for proper cold weather operation of the fridge.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f425...tml#post924570

Dave

Originally Posted by YankeeDoodle

My fridge uses a 12VDC bulb, thought all CFL's were 110VAC.

[Nuvite-F]

Originally Posted by NevadaGeo

Somebody test that, I want to know if those things really will eventually come on and light outside when it's cold and you're checking to see if it's a raccoon or skunk or a bear in the back yard.

We have compact fluorescents in our outside lights controlled by a photocell. I have never seen them fail to start instantly, down to at least -10 F. They do take a minute or two to come up to full brightness.

Originally Posted by YankeeDoodle

My fridge uses a 12VDC bulb, thought all CFL's were 110VAC.

Yeah, you can get them. We had a 12 V CFL in one light fixture in our former trailer that took a full size 12 V bulb.


Here's one source - 12V DC Fluorescent Lamp,12V DC CFL Lamps bulbs for solar,battery use

.