Fridge issues

[Drizzlingje]

Hi all,

We are in the middle of our trip up north and are having some issues with the 150ltr dometic, it just doesn't appear up to it. We get it down to 2or so degrees by morning, yet it slowly wants to rise most of the day due to the ambient heat ( up to 39 degrees only). Has anyone else had similar issues and is there a simple solution?

Btw we have the engel for the beer so it's no real big deal!

Cheers,
Ben

 

[Izzya123]

Hi Ben,

We're in Darwin at the moment on our 3 month trip. Our 150 has not skipped a beat, you probably don't want to hear that!

We ensure our van is level and set on number 4.

Do you set yours on number 2??

Izzy

 

[Coastrunner]

Hi Drizz.
I had a few problems over the years with my fridge and stove. One of my problems was that my gas regulator was stuffed. My stove would only work until the gas bottle was half and then stop. Could be the same for the fridge. Anyway, I bought a new gas regulator for around $20. A quick cheap fix.

Another issue I had was that my fridge wouldn`t cool right down when operating on gas. I was going to get it service, then a mate of mine advised me to take the fridge out of the van {only a few bolts} and put it upside down and shake it. This seemed to loosen up some "gunk" as he referred in the coil lines. After rebolting the fridge back in I found it cooled right down very well. In fact it works better on gas than 240V.

Maybe worth a try.

 

[Stone Stomper]

Try removing the top vent on the outside and make sure there is no obstructions over the cooling fins and that there is no cavity the hot air can get caught, I put some aluminium in behind as there was a gap on top of the fridge.

Christian

 

[Big Gee]

Hmmm we haven't had any issues with our 150 yet! but "THANK GOD YOU HAVE THE ENGEL FOR THE IMPORTANT THINGS"........ ray:

 

[Burnsy]

Hmmm we haven't had any issues with our 150 yet! but "THANK GOD YOU HAVE THE ENGEL FOR THE IMPORTANT THINGS"........ ray:

Same, and yes god bless those portables!

 

[mfexpanda]

Same, and yes god bless those portables!

same here . Hope you fix it soon

 

[Drizzlingje]

Thanks guys, tried the above, no obstructions apparent. I have a waeco approved refrigeration bloke coming to the van tomorrow to check it out, fingers crossed he can fix it on the spot and doesn't require parts to be shipped in...

 

[ah197331]

Hi Ben,

I think once the ambient is up around that level, you're going to struggle to keep it from creeping up during the day. From my experience, your temps don't seem abnormal. I didn't have a problem with mine until I put a thermometer in it! Now I know what the temp is, and how much it struggles. The best thing to do is throw out the thermometer!

Andrew

 

[Feldty]

Hi Drizzlingje,

I could not agree with Andrew more. In our swan, we had a 90lt Dometic and it would really struggle with temps over 35°. The contents still felt reasonably cold but the thermometer told a different story. Our fridge would get up to around 15° by mid afternoon some days and that was when I could keep the kids out of it. If not for the thermometer, I would have had no Idea except for the kids icy poles De-frosting in the freezer.

One thing that I intended to do is place a solar powered fans on the bottom fridge vent. I saw a van when camping up the Murray in January using one and he swore by it. He simply mounted a standard 12 volt fan on a stool in front of the vent and then powered it via a small solar panel, similar to the ones you buy to maintain batteries etc. This I guess pushes the air over the cooling fins helping the efficiency. Makes sense to me but I have no figures to back it up.

I would be interested to see if the Waeco guy has any comments on the benefits of a fan?

 

[Big Gee]

I was at Jayco Canberra yesterday & they have "fridge fans" hanging on the shelf in the spare parts area. I didnt take any more notice than that sorry!

 

[chartrock]

I just stripped 2 X 12v fans out of a computer before it was trashed and installed them inside the top vent to blow out, with a switch inside above the fridge. If the temp rises I just switch them on to blow the warm air out the top.

 

[Bushman]

We had the same issue from new with our first camper Jayco Eagle, problem was solve by fitting 12v fan with manual switch, we also added a shade wall to the right side of camper to keep the sun off. Did the same with the Swan when we upgraded, So naturally we also fitted the fan to the Expanda but as the 150 fridge is on the left in our Expanda didn't bother about the shade as the vent are under the awning, and never had a problem in 2 years touch wood. However don't even know if the fan works never heard or seen it work it has a thermo switch.

 

[Nuts]

I also had temp issues with my 90l fridge. I used to run it flat out and it would work just enough. I brought 2 5 inch computer off eBay for about$15 and installed them on the vents with a manual switch. Now I run the fridge on about 3-4 and sometimes it still freezes some food. Well worth the effort in my opinion.

 

[Peter D]

Another issue I had was that my fridge wouldn`t cool right down when operating on gas. I was going to get it service, then a mate of mine advised me to take the fridge out of the van {only a few bolts} and put it upside down and shake it. This seemed to loosen up some "gunk" as he referred in the coil lines. After rebolting the fridge back in I found it cooled right down very well. In fact it works better on gas than 240V.

Maybe worth a try.

I had the fridge running on gas for about 4 hours yesterday to check that it was working, and there was plenty of warmth at the back of it but it was as if I hadn't turned it on inside - no cooling whatsoever. So I did a search here, went outside, pulled the fridge out, turned it upside down and gave it a good old shake around. Put it back in, and its working like a beauty now. Thanks for the tip Coastrunner!

 

[Burnsy]

Glad you got it working again Peter, hope I don't need to do that with our 186L!

 

[Peter D]

Yeah Burnsy, I was thinking to myself "well there's one advantage to having a small fridge!"