F C 20’ dometic refer mystery!

[Backfortyjoe]

We are camped near the Salt Flats in Utah
Had the camper out on the salt flats by mistake, so to get the salt off the camper and TV I took it through a hand spray car wash where I sprayed under and in all seams including the outside louvre for the refrigerator a few times. We brought it back to the campsite and the wind was blowing at 20-25 mph with gusts to 45 for a night and day. I could feel the cool air coming into the camper from the fridge. In fact when I opened the freezer door, the cool air had a slight breeze to it. The gas is on and the coils are hot but the fridge is only cooling to 32 degrees. The wind quit blowing 14 hours ago. Anyone have any ideas?

[GCinSC2]

32 degree fridge sounds pretty good. Freezer temp is __?

[Backfortyjoe]

Sorry, the freezer temp is 32 and the bottom is 55 degrees.

[Backfortyjoe]

It is a 2019 Flying Cloud 20’. Just checked and the coils are only warm but the pipe that comes from the heater is very hot so the gas is working fine I believe.

[GCinSC2]

Things to check.

Door seals, dollar bill pull out test.
Thermocouple position on internal fridge fin.
Off level operation recently?

Keep the feedback coming.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

If you listen, you should be able to hear the burner doing it's thing. If it is on all the time, that rules out a number of things. ( = it's cooling as much as it possibly can). Simply put: the temp sensor and control board are doing all they can. The issue is downstream from them.

If this is the case, I'd check the burner and air intake area. Be sure a random chunk of crud didn't get blown into a location it blocks part of the flame or something like that. You could still have "hot" but not have "hot enough" ....

If indeed the burner is cycling, then it's something in the control system ( like the control board) or the temperature sensor. Again, wires get knocked loose, sensors come unclipped.

This also assumes the fin area is not one giant block of ice. If it is, defrost is the next step. I'm guessing that out in the salt flats, this is a *very* unlikely situation.

Bob

[CruizinDux]

If you're at 32 in the freezer all is good.

Is the fan running. Test with a simple jumper (paper clip or short piece of wure) or hair dryer.

It takes time for the lower box to cool down. pay attention to how often you open the door aaaaand leave it open. I keep blue ice in the freezer, for these times, generally and lunch or dinner for rep. have 5-6 and rotate them out.

Might want to consider 2 fans.

[Fungus]

Ours wasn’t cooling this week in 97 degrees of Texas heat.

Checked the position of the fridge sensor on the fin. It was fine.

Checked the containers in the door. Not fine. Two plastic containers in the door were allowing the door to latch but not seal. Fixed that issue. All is good now. Condensation on the bottle of Scotch was the clue that the door was not sealed.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

If you have ever had the fridge door not latch before you head out on a drive, it's not a pretty sight when you get back into the trailer. It's memorable enough that you quickly get into a "bump the fridge door each time you go by" routine to make sure it's closed. It's amazing just how many times you hear a "click" from a door that you would have though was latched closed ....

Bob

[Fungus]

For travel, fridge/freezer door closing is on the checklist and the final double-check walkthrough. We tape the doors closed too. One trip with some fridge items on the floor was plenty for us.

[Backfortyjoe]

Thanks for all the things to check. Also talked the Dometic tech and he pretty much said what Bob was saying about the flame being good, the cylinder being hot then it’s more than likely downstream. He said that it’s not uncommon to have a foreign chunk of metal break loose in the tube and block the cooling. I still have until April of 2022 under warranty left so I called Salt Lake AS. Said I could get in December 16th. That won’t work at all. Then called LV airstream dealer and have an appointment on October 6, at 11AM. Awesome. Will let you know what they find. Best regards, Joe

[CruizinDux]

Joe, lntereting...foregin chunk metal? Wonder how they diagnosis that?
Looking forward to your update post.

[GCinSC2]

Same thing happened to Curiosity, debris in chimney. OP in thread described it as an "old" fridge https://www.airforums.com/forums/f42...ne-225809.html

But yours is only about 2 yrs old.

Have you tried it on shore power?

[CruizinDux]

Ooops...foreign. Chimney makes sense. Seem to manual discusses it as a maintenance item.

I'm otr and was having difficulty maintaining daytime temps and the fans not kicking on. Thought it was a loose crimp at the stat, but swapped the stat for a spare...spin city. Crimped the spade connection just for GP.

I has swapped out the stat a couple of years ago to get a better open/close range, but think it was the spade connection to the stat that was my problem this time. I'll test with a hairdryer and thermo when i get home.

[GCinSC2]

Originally Posted by CruizinDux

I has swapped out the stat a couple of years ago to get a better open/close range, but think it was the spade connection to the stat that was my problem this time. I'll test with a hairdryer and thermo when i get home.

Are you referring to the thermistor that is inside the fridge clipped to a fin?

If so Dometic has published thermistor resistance to temp chart, see attached chart courtesy of Darren at My RV Works. .

[Backfortyjoe]

Originally Posted by GCinSC2

Same thing happened to Curiosity, debris in chimney. OP in thread described it as an "old" fridge https://www.airforums.com/forums/f42...ne-225809.html

But yours is only about 2 yrs old.

Have you tried it on shore power?

No I haven’t tried it on shore power. We are out on the boonies and have read Curiosity’s posts on the other thread and feel that is something I could probably do but like you said, it’s under warranty yet and we are were going to Las Vegas anyway. Just have to go a bit earlier then we planned. I will let you know on this thread what went wrong.
Thanks to all for taking the time to post and some with pictures.
Best Regards, Joe.

[Backfortyjoe]

Well we drove to Las Vegas and right to the Airstream dealer. They said they would look at it right away. There was also a cell phone charge port that wasn’t working at all.
They called me 20 minutes later and said “all was fixed and to pick it up, and it was kinda in their way.”
We hooked up and went to a camp site on Boulder Hwy. pulled in and fridge was no better and neither was charge port. When I asked what they did the service manger said the tech took the cover off the board and did a hard reset and a lot of mumble jumble that tried to snow me with. I called them back and said it wasn’t working. The S M said to bring it back for 2 or 3 days to drop off and I should find a room. After a few days I had found a Dometic service guy that diagnosed the control board. I ordered a Dinosaur board on Friday and it came today (Tuesday). I replaced it and Bingo it works. Tech said a voltage was missing on the board. 120v
Love it when things finally come together! Thanks to all of you that replied to my message.
Best Regards , Joe