'77 Argosy Dometic fridge help

[386kustoms]

so i picked up this 77 argosy and they guy has been 100 % honest w everything.he stated 2 years ago was the last time he used it and the fridge worked, well i went to plug it in and it makes no noise and dosnt get cool. i cleaned all conections and it seems that i may be having a problem in teh thermostat. my question is how does the fridge work, i mean when teh thermostat is getting 110v where does teh power go from there? anyone have a wireing diagram? also when it is pluged in shouldnt i hear some sort of noise coming from it?

[terrytrouble]

How long did you let it sit plugged in? I have read that it takes overnight to be cold enough to use. I have tested ours and it took a couple hours to feel cold, the coils in the back felt warm before it started to feel cold inside.

Ours doesn't make any noise when plugged in. I havent tried propane yet.

[RickDavis]

The refrigerator will not make any noise as there in no compressor.
It actually works from heat ( i know, sounds funny). After the electric thermostat the power goes to a heater which heats the ammonia solution used in the cooling process. You should be able to feel warmth in the same area as the gas burner.

If you do not you should see 2 leads coming from an insulated compartment near the burner. You should have 110 there. If you do and still no heat measure the resistance as you could have an open heater.

Try running the fridge on gas and see if that works.
Allow several hours to feel the temp dropping in the freezer. It takes a while to cool down. Also the fridge needs to be level to work properly

[TG Twinkie]

Do you have the trailer level? Have you tried running it on propane? Chances are the heating element is bad? It is easily replaced.

[TG Twinkie]

If your refer controls look like this, see the next photo.
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...IMG_0398-R.jpg
The wires for the heating element are in the rust colored sheath just above my had. You can see they terminate just above my hand. If you have 120 volts there and no heat, the element is bad.
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...8/IMG_0406.jpg