Fridge not cold enough - Page 6

rollingrock · 08-18-2011, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stan

Clif...I looked back through the posts and I did not see one where you

unplugged the thermistor to see if the cooling system would cool down.

Have you done that? If it cooled properly then my personal opinion

would be to do the mod and see what happens. Another option would be to

talk directly with Randy (unless he is the one you have been talking

to), and explain how you are caught in the middle with an unusable

fridge.

+1

avvidclif · 08-18-2011, 05:22 AM

Again I e-mailed Dometic. I agreed the refrigerator was working to their spec which is tested at an ambient temperature of 90 deg. Unfortunately my ambient exceeds their spec. I asked what could be done. Here's their answer;

What we are saying is that this unit is designed and manufactured to work the way the past emails have stated. When the ambient temperature reaches above 90 degrees it is possible that what you are experiencing will occur. Thank you

In other words, TS.

fixit5561 · 08-18-2011, 05:46 AM

Wow that sucks and is a pretty bad strike against Dometics reputation if you ask me.

I think maybe the Crossroads reps need to get the dometic reps to come to the rally next year so that this issue can be discussed with them in person. Maybe they wil change their policy.

I mean come on, so this tells me that Dometic should not be selling their fridges to manufactures who sell their RV's to the southern states? Because it always gets warmer than that in the southern states in the prime camping season of summer?

shoe2728 · 08-18-2011, 08:59 AM

<a>Dometic sent me a copy of the ANSI Standard Z21.19 which is the criteria for testing Refrigerators Using Gas Fuel. It goes about how testing is to be competed. It does say storage food compartment average air temp should be 43F. It does say Room temp shall be brought to 90F before starting the test.

I do agree food should be colder than 43F, however it is measured with the room at 90. So outside temp has nothing to do with it. May be something to look at if your fridg gets higher than 43 and your room temp is below 90 than it is out of specs.
Just a though
</a>

rollingrock · 08-19-2011, 11:40 AM

Well kids are you ready for this one? The camper is in storage, and I went out to test it after traveling out of town for work. Inside the camper was 98 degrees....outside 104, inside, a cool 52 degrees. Good enough to grow grass or hay in but wouldn't want to eat food out of it and God forbid I dare hand someone a beer at that tempature.

This was was the outside 12v fan OFF also. So I snipped the end of the thermistor and installed the new stat from my eariler posts. I will check it in the morning. When I left, I had the door open for about 6 min or so doing the install and the inside temp went to 92 degrees.

I will check it in the morning and report back...I also turned on the fan outsdie to see if that would help jump start it again.

So this is kind of close to the last straw for me. The next thing I do is replace the brow and board or just leave the darn thermistor unplugged and call it good.

fixit5561 · 08-19-2011, 01:24 PM

Jason ,

Have you tried using just the propane with the fridge? Too late to try it now so you could compare, but if this new setup doesnt work for you, maybe try using propane on it. If it cools better on propane, then your electric heating element isnt doing all it should.

rollingrock · 08-19-2011, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fixit5561

Jason ,

Have you tried using just the propane with the fridge? Too late to try it now so you could compare, but if this new setup doesnt work for you, maybe try using propane on it. If it cools better on propane, then your electric heating element isnt doing all it should.

B,

I hadn't tried that yet...wanted to try and keep it constant but now I prob should be considering it.

I am | | close to sucking it up and buying a whole new unit! LOL

rollingrock · 08-24-2011, 06:43 AM

Ok, havn't been out to the trailer in a few days. Last I checked it was at 38 with both fans running, one outside and one inside. I turned them both off and left left the fridge on. Its been over 105 the past few days each day but today the fridge was at 40.

I figure if I had been running the fans, I would see a temp drop of at least 3 degrees.

I am out of the country for a few days, will check it again next week as we get to load it up and take a short trip.

Cheers

avvidclif · 08-24-2011, 07:34 AM

I know the feeling real well. Mine has been 42-43 the last few days. It hasn't been opened. The trailer is 82. I hve tried the thermistor unplugged, plugged in, laying in the fridge, and about everything else I can think of. I have discussed with the dealer about it not being properly vented and trapping heat and got a bunch of hem'n'haw. Eventually I'll add a fan at the top on a thermostat to move the heat out. I know the top of the fridge vent(on top of the rv)is HOT like the heat isn't getting out.

On the subject Dinosaur Electronics makes a replacement control board (not the plug-in thermistor deal) that supposedly takes care of the problem and also adds a temp control. Might contact them to see if it would fit yours. Not real expensive at abt $125. My problem is my unit is less than 2 months old. I can't see spending money to fix what should be warranty.

On the funny side, I registered my fridge with them for warranty purposes. I got a mail the other day wanting to know if I wanted to buy an extended warranty. Snicker. I sent it back and told them my warranty is worthless, why would I want to buy 2-3 more years of worthless warranty.http://www.crossroadsrv.com/forum/smileys/smiley36.gif

rollingrock · 08-24-2011, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by avvidclif

I know the feeling real well. Mine has been 42-43 the last few days. It hasn't been opened. The trailer is 82. I hve tried the thermistor unplugged, plugged in, laying in the fridge, and about everything else I can think of. I have discussed with the dealer about it not being properly vented and trapping heat and got a bunch of hem'n'haw. Eventually I'll add a fan at the top on a thermostat to move the heat out. I know the top of the fridge vent(on top of the rv)is HOT like the heat isn't getting out.

On the subject Dinosaur Electronics makes a replacement control board (not the plug-in thermistor deal) that supposedly takes care of the problem and also adds a temp control. Might contact them to see if it would fit yours. Not real expensive at abt $125. My problem is my unit is less than 2 months old. I can't see spending money to fix what should be warranty.

On the funny side, I registered my fridge with them for warranty purposes. I got a mail the other day wanting to know if I wanted to buy an extended warranty. Snicker. I sent it back and told them my warranty is worthless, why would I want to buy 2-3 more years of worthless warranty.http://www.crossroadsrv.com/forum/smileys/smiley36.gif

I am considering the Dinasaur board myself. If that doesn't do it...well, I may bite the bullet and buy a whole new fridge.

GaPete · 08-24-2011, 08:18 AM

rollinrock,

I sure hope you are only considering a residential type for replacement. I have a 1 year old Norcold doing the same thing. No matter the manufacturer, they are all worthless in most southern areas in the summer. Repairman is scheduled to look at mine when he can work it in. Warranty expires the 26th. I thought I had 2 year warranty so was't overly concerned about getting it looked at. My bad.

Ruck · 08-24-2011, 09:22 AM

I may have posted some of this info once before, maybe in this thread, too lazy to look. Anywho, picked up rig in late march, started RV'n I dunno, around May or june maybe, fridge would not cool, elect or gas, camping world Myrtle Beach asked me if I had ever replaced the cooling unit, I hadn't. After a bunch of hem n haw, between CW, Dometic, Crossroads and myself we finaly got a brand new firdge. CW had to pretty much re-configure the space for it due to improper spacing, lack of insulation etc... So now seems to be working, by Dometics specs anyway, gets as low as 38 and is usally between 43 - 47. And this in the northern climes, I would be peeved, I am sure if we were in the Texas heat wave that they have experienced of late. Crossroads, I am sure monitors this forum, or should and should be aware of the poor performance of these fridge's, for whatever good it does or has done. Luckily we had a small apartment fridge we kept in our motorhome, it is now in the W/D closet, wonder if it could be converted to run on propane too? Had to throw my half cent in.
Y'all be safe now, y'hear?

ClassicHammond · 08-24-2011, 01:25 PM

I spent over 2 weeks in NC with temps over 100 everyday. Outside of some increase while I sat there with the door open pondering which brand of beer to drink the temp always stayed well under 40. Even when I unplugged and moved, running off of gas, the temp was always constant. But as stated earlier, I keep the fridge rather full. I carry bagged ice, gal of milk, gal of tea, etc. Keep in mind, the therm measures the temp of the air, when you open a small, empty fridge, with an ambient room temp of 100, the cooling system has to start all over. Have you tried maybe a bag of ice and several gallons of cold water in the fridge to minimize air displacement when you open it to check the temp? What I generally do is start the fridge and as soon as I see a 5 to 10 degree drop I load the fridge. Guaranteed in the time it takes to load the fridge the air temp in the fridge will rise to the room temp again but onceI close it the temp drops within the hour. This is my 2nd RV, 3rd fridge, 2 Doms1 Norcold. Millions of these fridges are in use and I'm sure many in the 100 degree weather.

avvidclif · 08-29-2011, 09:04 AM

Just an update. I got a note from my dealer and they have been doing some testing in concurrence with talking with a "wheel" at Dometic DU service. They figured out that they needed a fan to exhaust the heat from the back of the fridge. They are now talking with Crossroads and are going to schedule a fan to be put on mine...

YMMV

martinto · 08-29-2011, 11:51 AM

I had an issue late spring...haven't been out since as it's been blistering hot here in Texas. Anyway, I switched it to auto, and I think it went to propane. I moved the the sliding "temp" thing and as a precaution, added a bag of ice in the fridge. Everything stayed nice and cold. We're going out in a few weeks and will report results.

rollingrock · 08-31-2011, 03:40 AM

Ok, back in the US from my trip...went to the camper today and checked it out...no fans running just the fridge, temp was 38. We are in for a cold front (yeah right) this weekend and we are camping, supposed to be highs in the low 90's....

That should basically tell me that our units cannot work that well in the severe heat.

If that is really true, my method will be to simply unplug the themistor while in the hottest heat, then put back in when not so hot.

rollingrock · 09-05-2011, 08:20 AM

Hey folks, quick update. Went for the long weekend. Temps were crazy high again, 100 each day, I unpluged the thermistor and the middle of the fridge got to 39 but would bounce back up to around 43 during the heat of the day. We had a front come through and wow what a difference. Today, woke up and the fridge was 29 degrees.

Thus proving that these are not designed for hot weather. I called Dinasor and talked with Guy and he made me feel much better. He basically said, there isn't thing we can really do to force it to work better than it can when the temps are that high.

That all said, I am just going to live with it. When it's hot, I am going to unplug the thermistor , during the "normal" months, I will plug it back in.

RR

avvidclif · 09-05-2011, 08:52 AM

I basically was seeing the same thing, with the thermistor plugged in and laying on the top shelf, 38-42 depending on time of day (or night). I finally just removed the thermometer (to cut down on the blood pressure) and figured I'll have to live with it. Just torques my jaws to pay that kind of money for an rv with a non-working fridge. Especially when it's just a design problem.

rollingrock · 09-11-2011, 01:52 PM

Ok, this is funny.....last few days, temps around 90-94 our side....fridge is 32 inside in the middle of the fridge.

I am still thinking of swapping out to a NorCold.

rollingrock · 10-17-2011, 01:27 AM

Just got back from a quick trip...temps i the upper 80's Lowest recorded temp on the TOP shelf was 29 degrees. Too bad these things don't work so well in the heat but they sure work good in the non heat.

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