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Cedars · 11-12-2005, 06:13 PM

Over the past coupla months, I've noticed on first entering our unit, a faint..... ummm..... dare I say it? whiff like a stale refrigerator. Once or twice I have mopped up a very small puddle of water in front of the fridge. The smell disapates whent the unit is aired out, but does reappear when it has been shut up for some days.
Where should I begin looking to solve the mystery odor problem? What could it be? Is it all inside, all outside, or a combination of fixes?
The fridge itself is sparkling clean and odor free!
Is there some drain pan I've managed to overlook? Could it be that simple? Pull a pan, clean and dry?
I'm scared to leave it all winter!

Elizabeth in Iowa

**jcanavera** · 11-12-2005, 06:19 PM

Well there ususally is a pan under the coils in the rear of the refrigerator compartment. Is this clean and dry? If you have the glass or plastic vegatable drawers at the bottom of the refrigerator, have you completely pulled them out. Sometimes moisture can collect there.

Normally I store my trailer with the refrigerator doors proped open. That way the interior stays vented.

Last idea, I remember having a small bag of frozen corn in the freezer door. Wasn't much left and it was stored in a freezer door pocket and wasn't showing when I unpacked. Found it a week later when it started smelling.

Jack

Cedars · 11-12-2005, 06:26 PM

Okay, thanks, Jack. Now give with the details!
I've looked all over the front of the fridge, even laid on my belly to look! Is this 'coil pan' reachable from the outside or inside?
I know these are basic questions! But I really don't know!
Because ours is parked at our shop, and priodically my husband uses the fridge to save a sandwich or store something in, we keep plugged in all the time. I periodically use the unit as a refuge or craft space....

Elizabeth in Iowa

wahoonc · 11-12-2005, 06:37 PM

Elizabeth,
If it is still there

It should be reachable from the outside access door. BTW I was up at your local AS dealer about 2 weeks ago...looking at a Tri Axle

Aaron

Cedars · 11-12-2005, 06:47 PM

And last week we were parked at McDowell Nature Preserve just outside Charlotte!

I'll check out the outside access tomorrow, and look for a pan to pull out and clean.
Thanks!
What were you doing up here?
I keep being told how great the service department is but I keep using RV Revive locally for service. Ryan was a seventeen year employee before opening his own strictly service center.

EiI

overlander63 · 11-12-2005, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cedars

Okay, thanks, Jack. Now give with the details!
I've looked all over the front of the fridge, even laid on my belly to look! Is this 'coil pan' reachable from the outside or inside?
I know these are basic questions! But I really don't know!
Because ours is parked at our shop, and priodically my husband uses the fridge to save a sandwich or store something in, we keep plugged in all the time. I periodically use the unit as a refuge or craft space....

Elizabeth in Iowa

Elizabeth, the condensor coil is accessible from the outer access door, but the evaporator coil is inside the fridge, at the rear, under the freezer. You should have a small square container that sits under it to collect condensate water when the fridge is in operation. Ours gets full rather fast, as the door gaskets are not healthy, and outside humidity gets inside. If you don't have a container, the water will drip off the coils, and run under the crisper bins, where it will start to smell, umm, moldy.

wahoonc · 11-12-2005, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cedars

And last week we were parked at McDowell Nature Preserve just outside Charlotte!

I'll check out the outside access tomorrow, and look for a pan to pull out and clean.
Thanks!
What were you doing up here?
I keep being told how great the service department is but I keep using RV Revive locally for service. Ryan was a seventeen year employee before opening his own strictly service center.

EiI

EiI,
Family affair...grandmother's funeral...not unexpected she lived to 97

Still have relatives up in Waterloo.

Aaron

**azflycaster** · 11-12-2005, 07:26 PM

We had a bag with 2 hot dogs fall into the inside pan. Found it after a few weeks parked in over 110 degree weather. We were lucky the plastic bad was still sealed. The hot dogs were done.

**jcanavera** · 11-13-2005, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cedars

Okay, thanks, Jack. Now give with the details!
I've looked all over the front of the fridge, even laid on my belly to look! Is this 'coil pan' reachable from the outside or inside?
Elizabeth in Iowa

Looks like every refrigerator I've ever had in a travel trailer had the pan inside on the back wall of the fridge. Looks like from the responses there are other hiding spaces....hope you find it, looks like it may be the source of your smells.

Jack

SafeHarbor · 11-16-2005, 09:19 AM

Hi, Elizabeth,

Does your trailer have the self-defrosting Dometic three-way (gas, 12V, AC) R-100 fridge in it? If so, that plastic drip pan in the back connects to a white, flexible line that runs out to a small condensate evaporation container on the back of the fridge.

If you have any hint that moisture is spilling over into the interior compartment, please check that white line and make sure it's open all the way to the outside.

And, folks, what can I say? Excellas were fancy trailers.

Lamar