Atwood Refrigerator not working.

[Greysquirrel]

:confused:Went out and plugged in my 19FBPR to go on a trip tomorrow and went to start the fridge. Instead of going on automatic and AC it came up with a check light and a flashing gas light. The mode button does not do anything when I push it so I cannot get it to go to AC.
This happened once before but finally went to AC. Got a feeling I am SOL and it is something wrong with the board behind the controls and even if it does go on I will take it to the dealer when I come back.
In the meantime does anyone have any idea of what I might do. I have unplugged the fridge for a minute to see if it will recycle have also turned it on and off a number of times to purge any air in the gas line in case that is the problem.

[jsmith948]

Is your propane tank open? If your fridge won't work on shore power you should be able to use it on gas?

[JRTJH]

From the symptoms you say you have, checking the owner's manual indicates the refrigerator is operating normally.
In the block diagram that explains troubleshooting, it says, CHECK LIGHT ON, GAS LIGHT FLASHING: gas unavailable.... In the explanation of gas operation, it explains that if the refrigerator has not been used recently, the gas lines may have air in them and it may take up to 3 ignition sequences to ignite the gas burner. To reset the ignition sequence, turn the refrigerator off, then back on.

From the troubleshooting guide, if the CHECK light is on and either the GAS or AC LED is flashing, that energy source is not available. It's possible that either you didn't turn off the refrigerator the last time you unplugged shore power and stored the RV, so when you plugged it in, it immediately turned on and selected the last source (GAS) which failed to light.....

Here is the direct quote from the Atwood manual:

MANUAL MODES
The manual modes allow for selection of either the AC or GAS modes directly. If the selected mode’s energy source is not available, the refrigerator is turned off, the CHECK is turned on and the selected mode indicator flashes on and off indicating which energy source is not available.

It appears that you selected "GAS" and you were plugged into shore power ??? On the Norcold and Dometic reefers, if you do that, they will just select AC and keep on working. Atwood won't keep working. If you select GAS and it won't light, even if you are hooked to shore power, according to the manual, the refrigerator will turn off and the check light will light and the GAS light will flash indicating that GAS is not available. Apparently the Atwood is not "smart enough" (or is too smart) and won't choose AC, but will tell you that GAS isn't available (actually, it's saying the GAS didn't light)..... So, if you are hooked up to shore power, turn it off, wait a minute or so, then turn it back on and select AC. If that doesn't work, then check the circuit breaker, the GFI for that circuit and check the fuses in the back of the refrigerator. It should then work, if not, what you have appears to be a problem with the 115 VAC power to the refrigerator.

If you can't find your owner's manual, you can download it here: (PART 1) http://www.atwoodmobile.com/dealer-manuals/Refrigerator_Service_Manual_rev_4.pdf (PART 2) http://www.atwoodmobile.com/manuals/refrigerators/ENGLISH_Refrigerator_Manual_6.pdf

Good luck,

[Greysquirrel]

From the symptoms you say you have, checking the owner's manual indicates the refrigerator is operating normally.
In the block diagram that explains troubleshooting, it says, CHECK LIGHT ON, GAS LIGHT FLASHING: gas unavailable.... In the explanation of gas operation, it explains that if the refrigerator has not been used recently, the gas lines may have air in them and it may take up to 3 ignition sequences to ignite the gas burner. To reset the ignition sequence, turn the refrigerator off, then back on.

From the troubleshooting guide, if the CHECK light is on and either the GAS or AC LED is flashing, that energy source is not available. It's possible that either you didn't turn off the refrigerator the last time you unplugged shore power and stored the RV, so when you plugged it in, it immediately turned on and selected the last source (GAS) which failed to light.....

Here is the direct quote from the Atwood manual:

MANUAL MODES
The manual modes allow for selection of either the AC or GAS modes directly. If the selected mode’s energy source is not available, the refrigerator is turned off, the CHECK is turned on and the selected mode indicator flashes on and off indicating which energy source is not available.

It appears that you selected "GAS" and you were plugged into shore power ??? On the Norcold and Dometic reefers, if you do that, they will just select AC and keep on working. Atwood won't keep working. If you select GAS and it won't light, even if you are hooked to shore power, according to the manual, the refrigerator will turn off and the check light will light and the GAS light will flash indicating that GAS is not available. Apparently the Atwood is not "smart enough" (or is too smart) and won't choose AC, but will tell you that GAS isn't available (actually, it's saying the GAS didn't light)..... So, if you are hooked up to shore power, turn it off, wait a minute or so, then turn it back on and select AC. If that doesn't work, then check the circuit breaker, the GFI for that circuit and check the fuses in the back of the refrigerator. It should then work, if not, what you have appears to be a problem with the 115 VAC power to the refrigerator.

If you can't find your owner's manual, you can download it here: (PART 1) http://www.atwoodmobile.com/dealer-manuals/Refrigerator_Service_Manual_rev_4.pdf (PART 2) http://www.atwoodmobile.com/manuals/refrigerators/ENGLISH_Refrigerator_Manual_6.pdf

Good luck,
Have read the manual and have everything you suggest. When the gas light is flashing the MODE button does not work so I am unable to switch to AC.
I have gas, checked the AC to fridge, 123 VAC, check the DC 13.78.
This happened a couple of weeks ago also but then started to work and worked OK for whole trip, going from AC to Gas and back and then from Gas to AC and the back to Gas on way home. The one thing we did do that you mentioned is turn in off while it was still in the Gas mode but we did turn if off. As we were leaving again in a week I did not take it to the dealer and intend to after this trip.
My gut feeling is that it is a problem with the PCB behind the switches but I am not a fridge tech so I will leave that to someone that know what they are doing and as it is still under warranty I am not to concerned, just wish it would start up so I don't have to get dry ice for the trip, but if that what I have to do so be it.
Thanks for the reply, if you think of anything else please let me know.

[Greysquirrel]

OK, beats the hell out of me, just went out to put some more stuff in the fridge, have put dry Ice in the freezer and it has cooled the fridge down operating temp, but as I was out there I thought I would hit the power switch one more time and low a behold it went right to AC like it did the last time it would not work. It will probable work for our whole trip but when I get back I am taking it to the dealer to have them check it out. They are booked up till July 26 but I can leave it there because we are not going anywhere till Sept. we do not travel in August, too hot for us.
When I get it back if it is something simple that I could have fixed myself I will post it here but will also post if it some kind of problem they are having with this fridge.

[GaryWT]

Glad it started working for you but it is strange. You would think that it would work on gas if the electric was not working. Good luck.

[Jake]

OK, beats the hell out of me, just went out to put some more stuff in the fridge, have put dry Ice in the freezer and it has cooled the fridge down operating temp, but as I was out there I thought I would hit the power switch one more time and low a behold it went right to AC like it did the last time it would not work. It will probable work for our whole trip but when I get back I am taking it to the dealer to have them check it out. They are booked up till July 26 but I can leave it there because we are not going anywhere till Sept. we do not travel in August, too hot for us.
When I get it back if it is something simple that I could have fixed myself I will post it here but will also post if it some kind of problem they are having with this fridge.

Hey Greysquirrel, I have a Atwood fridge in my 2013 Passport 3220 that is now acting like yours. It will not switch from gas to AC. The check light comes on and the gas light flashes instantly. Did you ever figure out what the problem was? I hate to go to the dealer, but will if I have too.

[Greysquirrel]

Jake, I have it at the dealer now getting some other work done and that is one of the things they were going to look into. When they called me to tell me to pick it up the service writer said that the tech that does that was out of the shop and she did not know what they found, if anything.
Before I took it all was well with it, maybe because I followed the advice of another poster and when I came home from our last trip I never shut it off while it was still on gas but plugged it in to our 30 amp. service and after it changed over to AC we shut it off.
Don't know if this was the problem, the dealer says they have never heard of this before.
If your going on a trip and it will not change, mine did after a couple of hours, usually after I had bought some dry ice to cool it down, once after I put the ice in and once before I put it in.
I plan to pick it up on Thursday and will let you know if they found anything wrong and what the fix was.

[Greysquirrel]

Jake and anyone else who is interested, I went and picked up my trailer this morning a 100 mile round trip no less and when I asked the technician about the fridge he said they found nothing wrong but did tighten up some loose wires, they had it working for a week changing from AC to Gas and back again with no problem. He then went inside the trailer to show me how well it worked and lo and behold it was doing what you and I are experiencing. He then went on to disconnect the gas line to purge any air and nothing changed, he then got a meter and was checking all the voltages and could not find anything wrong, at this point I said just give me a new fridge under warranty, all I got was a nervous laugh.
I walked away and it about 15 min. he called me and said that he checked with the shop foreman and was told that this model fridge will not work unless the battery is fully charged at 12 volts or over, not 11.98 but has to be at least 12 volts. He had backed it to the shop doors so he could hook up AC and charged the battery fully, it had beed 3/4 when he was trying to get it to work.
Ill make sure it is up to charge even though I have a battery switch the battery does discharge over time from going into the trailer, using the slide etc. so before I try to start the fridge I will make sure it is fully charged, going of a trip in a few weeks but will check it before the just to make sure it works.
No one I talk to has ever heard of this but we will see what happens.
Make sure you have four light glowing on your battery monitor then see what happens.
I'm not sure if this is the answer but thats what I got for now, we will wait and see if this solves this problem.

[zuley]

I started to read the post and immediately thought I knew what the problem was. However, I believe it to be different from what I encountered this past weekend with my Attwood. I had taken the batteries out of my RB23 to charge at home prior to returning to the PP. We had been boon docking for two weeks. After reinstalling the batteries and trying to start the fridge on propane all the lights across the board lit up and nothing worked. The trouble shooting guide suggested an "open DC circuit". I recalled during our PDI the tech mentioning an internal fuse which I figured I had blown reinstalling the batteries. (my assistant grounded the positive cable FOR A SPLIT SECOND) After pretty much dismantling the fridge and a call to a fellow board member I found the fuse located on the back side of the fridge, almost dead centre of the access opening, inside a black plastic cover held on with 4 screws. There are three old style barrel fuses located there. The blown fuse was a point three amp. The other two are much heavier amperage. Not having a spare I did the tin foil trick and got myself working again. Don't be slamming me for the tin foil; Ive bought another fuse and will replace the one in question this weekend when I get back to the park.
I do not believe this is what the OP experienced but something to keep in mind for others with the new style Attwood fridges.

[Greysquirrel]

Just remembered that when this first happened I checked the voltage going to the fridge and it was 13.78 VDC when plugged into our 30 amp service. Forgot about this and never told the tech. I will wait a short time and make sure the battery is charged up to full capacity and see what happens.
When plugged in the battery will read 13.78 because it is charging but if the battery is not fully charged will it not register as 12 VDC to the fridge? I don't know so I think I will have to do some experimenting before I write of this fix.

[Greysquirrel]

It is not the fuse in my case, both times when it happened it started up on AC after it had been plugged in for a while.
I was with the tech when he went into the fuse box and checked the fuses that were OK.
Now if you blew the fuse when you were putting your batteries back in I would assume the that fuse is in the 12VDC circuit that may cause the same symptoms as not having a full 12 VDC going to your fridge. This may or may not be the case, I don't know but If I have a fully charged battery and have the same symptoms the first thing I will do is check that fuse.
Thanks for the tip.

[Lholestine]

I had the same problem. Fridge would work on AC but on auto mode it would not switch to gas. Once the check light would come on it also would not switch back to AC. I had to turn fridge off, power back on and switch to AC before the check light came back on. I could here the gas valve open but no auto igniter firing. If I was quick, I could turn the fridge on, run outside and light the burner manually before the check light would come on. Once lit the fridge would run on gas. I took it to the dealer and they called atwood and got a new control board. Now the igniter works and it makes the switch from gas to AC every time. It did take a little longer to get the parts because only Atwood has the parts since it is the new Helium fridge.

[Greysquirrel]

I tried to tell the dealer tech that it was probably a control board but they did not want to listen to me. I will try again tomorrow and see if they will listen.I will tell them that that is what Atwood says it is, if fact I think I will phone Atwood and get somebody's name that can verify the cause.
Does anyone know the name of anyone at Atwood that I can contact?
And thanks Lholestine, for the information but my symptoms are not quite like yours, when I turn it on the check light comes on right away and the gas light blinks and you cannot use the mode button to change to AC, eventually it does go on to Auto and AC. That is what happened at the dealer and they tried to tell me that the fridge would not work if the battery does not have 12 VDC going to the fridge but if you are plugged into a 30 amp service you have 13.78 ACD going to the fridge, I told them that but they insisted that the reason it did not work was that the battery was low, I said that may be right if you are not hooked up to shore power and only want to run on gas, but could not get them to change their opinion.
I still say that it is a board as you say and try to get them to order me a board.

[Greysquirrel]

:banghead:Another expert opinion.
OK called Atwood and got hold of one of their techs and told the what was happening with my fridge, he had a number of explanations to what may be wrong and then he stopped and asked me when I bought my trailer and I told he Nov. 2012. He then asked me what was the colour of the wire going to the igniter, black or orange. I told him to wait and I will check which I did and told him it was black. He then said to tell the dealer to change the igniter to the new one with the orange wire and that will probably fix it. Like that, probably fix it.
It seems that the one with the black wire will sometimes short out and not allow the control panel to change to Auto.
Dosen't sound right to me but but what do I know. I asked if there was a service letter sent out to dealers and he said not from them but maybe Keystone might have.
Got a call into the dealer and am waiting for a call back but most likely I will have to call again.

[JRTJH]

Greysquirrel,

Hang in there. As with any "new technology" there will be problems getting things working at first. Look around the forum at the "new technology" used in Advantage front cap/roof seams, Cougar touch panels, Lippert "auto level" systems, electric awnings, and now Atwood "helium" refrigerators.

It's a "burning in process" for the new equipment and a "learning process" for the dealership technicians as well as the manufacturer's team.

I've no doubt the reason the Atwood tech said "probably fix it" is because there are two or three potential problem areas, but the first one and the most likely one is the "orange vs black wire igniter.

I've got a few "first edition" items in my new Cougar also, so I'm waiting for the hammer to fall on one of them. Hopefully it won't be on an extended dry camping trip miles and miles from the closest dealer with no cell phone service at the campsite.....:eek:

[Greysquirrel]

Thanks for the reply, I'm sure sooner or later it will work out. Still waiting for my dealer to call back if I don't hear from them I will phone them first thing in the morning before the get involved in their work.
I can usually get the fridge to work eventually but on our next trip in a couple of weeks I will start a couple of days earlier than usual. I don't think they will get to it before I leave so when I get back I will just leave it with them till they can figure it out.

[boggs]

That is interesting. I have the exact same problem you describe with my 2013 Bullet Premier. It has happened several times but always reset. Today I couldn't get it to reset so I searched the web. I found one forum that said the battery had to be fully charged! Well, I was connected to AC power so this didn't make sense but I changed out the battery to a bigger one and it did reset! Now, I really don't know if it was the battery or the fact that I had all power pulled for a few minutes during the switch but I did get it working. If it fails again though, I will take it back to the dealer with your black/orange wire discussion.

[Greysquirrel]

boggs:
Just talked to my dealer service manager and he said he is going to order not only the igniter but also the power board just to be on the safe side. I also told him the interior light is not working and it is on the same board as the igniter, this may or may not be a hint to if it is the board or not. So if you take it to your dealer tell him you want a new board also if you need the new style igniter.
The only problem is that they have to order everything from Atwood and this is a new style fridge and I am leaving on a trip in a couple of weeks but he thinks he can get it done. If I get it fixed I will post of the success or failure of this fix.

[JRTJH]

GOOD LUCK !!!! Let's hope the board/igniter does the trick for you :)

[boggs]

boggs:
Just talked to my dealer service manager and he said he is going to order not only the igniter but also the power board just to be on the safe side. I also told him the interior light is not working and it is on the same board as the igniter, this may or may not be a hint to if it is the board or not. So if you take it to your dealer tell him you want a new board also if you need the new style igniter.
The only problem is that they have to order everything from Atwood and this is a new style fridge and I am leaving on a trip in a couple of weeks but he thinks he can get it done. If I get it fixed I will post of the success or failure of this fix.

Thanks Greysquirrel! I hope you get to the bottom of it. I will be dry camping this weekend at the Richmond Nascar race so I'll see if I can keep it running. I suspect it will run OK as I have it on AC power right now. I'm pretty sure when I shut it off in the gas mode, it will malfunction again. I do not want to try and duplicate this until I am done with this trip! I have $500 of tailgating food in that frig right now! Please do keep me updated as I plan on putting it in for service when I get back.
Almost forgot to mention, my interior light is working fine (I'm pretty sure but will double check when I go outside). However, that is right now, I do not know if it was working when the gas light was flashing.

[Greysquirrel]

Thanks Greysquirrel! I hope you get to the bottom of it. I will be dry camping this weekend at the Richmond Nascar race so I'll see if I can keep it running. I suspect it will run OK as I have it on AC power right now. I'm pretty sure when I shut it off in the gas mode, it will malfunction again. I do not want to try and duplicate this until I am done with this trip! I have $500 of tailgating food in that frig right now! Please do keep me updated as I plan on putting it in for service when I get back.
Almost forgot to mention, my interior light is working fine (I'm pretty sure but will double check when I go outside). However, that is right now, I do not know if it was working when the gas light was flashing.
If you have trouble having it go to gas but have AC your ahead of me, when the gremlins hit it won't go on to any mod but after being plugged in a couple of hours it sometime works OK. Mine did not work this morning but when the dealer called and said that Atwood wants the to have the trailer and do some tests that want done before they will send any parts I checked it and it was working.

If you have a supermarket that sells dry Ice go buy some, I had to twice, once after I got it the fridge worked the second time I loaded the freezer with some and the fridge, it cooled off quite fast and just before we were to leave we hit the power button and everything worked. I was in CW today, there is one 10 mins. from me but I have to travel an hour to get to my dealer, anyway I mentioned my problem to one of the service guys and he said they have had some problems with the Helium fridges but did not offer any advice on how to fix or find the problem or what problems they were having. Can't fault them on that as I did not buy from them or get service from them either.
I understand there is a problem trying to fix a problem when it's not alway there, I hope the Atwood has some kind of troubleshooting guide to search out the guilty part or parts.

[boggs]

Well, there is at least two of us with the same exact problem. There must be more. I've been able to make it work every time so far but yesterday really tested me, it took the whole day of trial and error to get it to work and then it was just a freak thing when I changed the battery. I will see what happens when I get back. I'm not sure about whether shutting it off in gas is what causes it, or I should say, not shutting it off but just shutting off the gas, I think that is one possible trigger or pulling power with it in the gas mode. I'll let you know after this trip.

[trikerbob]

Guys, I'm watching your thread very closely as I might have a suspect Atwood, also. Now mine hasn't done what yours is doing, but I don't think mine is cooling like it should. I'll give it this, it's hotter than, well, you know, here, with 100+ days, but it still seems a little lacking. I'm waiting for Ford's refrigeration video on the Atwood that should be coming out soon. He's been doing some testing at his shop comparing the Atwoods to Dometic and Norcold. We'll see what happens, but I'm keeping an eye on y'alls thread.

Take care, travel safe.

Robert

[boggs]

Guys, I'm watching your thread very closely as I might have a suspect Atwood, also. Now mine hasn't done what yours is doing, but I don't think mine is cooling like it should. I'll give it this, it's hotter than, well, you know, here, with 100+ days, but it still seems a little lacking. I'm waiting for Ford's refrigeration video on the Atwood that should be coming out soon. He's been doing some testing at his shop comparing the Atwoods to Dometic and Norcold. We'll see what happens, but I'm keeping an eye on y'alls thread.

Take care, travel safe.

Robert

This Atwood HeLium fridge has no trouble keeping its cool. When it is working, anyway. I Haven't had any 100 plus days but it has been 90 a good bit and both the freezer and fridge work fine. The problem is that when that gas light is flashing, we can't get it to work at all until we can get it reset. I just went on a trip this weekend and it worked great on gas the whole weekend but it was a chore to get it to work the first day. Good luck! But if yours is covered under warranty, I would definitley get it back to the dealer.

[trikerbob]

Thanks for the note, boggs, and for the heads-up on what your fridge is doing. I think a lot of the problem with mine was with the cheap-a## electronic thermometer. I put an old fashioned mercury thermometer in there, and it's getting cold all right. Plus I did this cause I heard someone else did it. I took the thermistor ,that is clipped on the fins, and clipped it on the top rack instead. That seemed to really make a lot of difference, too. I cut it back from 5 to 3 today, and it was still down in the 35-37 range, and it was probably 97 in the trailer. I'll settle for that. Just for an extra, I'm putting a fan on the outside coils to help the circulation. Oh, and you're right--if it does act up, back to the dealer she goes for warranty repairs.

Take care, Robert

[Greysquirrel]

This Atwood HeLium fridge has no trouble keeping its cool. When it is working, anyway. I Haven't had any 100 plus days but it has been 90 a good bit and both the freezer and fridge work fine. The problem is that when that gas light is flashing, we can't get it to work at all until we can get it reset. I just went on a trip this weekend and it worked great on gas the whole weekend but it was a chore to get it to work the first day. Good luck! But if yours is covered under warranty, I would definitley get it back to the dealer.

It defiantly sounds like you have the same problem I'm having, it will take a while to get it to go onto AC when the gas light is flashing but once it starts to work it will change back to gas when we leave home and change back to AC at the campground and back to gas when we are ready to leave.. The gas light is supposed to flash 40 seconds after you try to light it if there is no ignition, mine flashes as soon as you press the power button.
I took mine to the dealer last Wed. but have not heard anything from them yet, will wait till this Wed. and phone them and see what is happening with it.
Regardless of wether it is fixed or not I need it by the 20th of the month as we are going on a trip. If it is not working I will figure some way to keep things cool, dry ice in fridge and cooler and whatever else I can carry and put ice in.
Glad to hear you had a good trip and Beast kept things cool for you.

[Greysquirrel]

OK, the latest in the Great Helium Fridge Saga.
Talked to my dealer and they have ordered a power board from Keystone, seems that they cannot order parts from Atwood during the first year of warranty as Atwood has worked out a deal with Keystone to supply parts the first year.
Of course they could not tell me when the parts would be to their shop or if Keystone had them or had to order them from Atwood.
But they assured me that they would have it ready for me next week so I can leave at the end of the week.
Now I am not going to hold my hand of my butt waiting for this to happen but we will see. There is a faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel at this point in time.

[trikerbob]

Hey there, Greysquirrel. I know you haven't posted anything about you and your dealer, but I was just curious if you had heard/found out anything yet ??

Thanks, take care.

Robert

[Greysquirrel]

Robert:
Haven't heard from them since I phoned them last week and they said they have ordered a board for it.
I have to pick it up on Friday at the latest, fixed or not as we are leaving on a trip on Sunday.
If it's not fixed and not working I will just get dry ice for the fridge and take alone a couple of coolers, one that takes ice the other runs on 120AC or 12VDC and I am sure we will manage for a week. We used to have a sailboat and would go for a week and make out and we only had one small ice chest so we are not worried if it is not fixed but it would be nice.
I intend to call them tomorrow and see what is going on with it.
She Who Must Be Obeyed keeps tell me to phone them every day and I keep telling her it will be fixed when it is fixed and if I call them every day they might just park it a corner of their lot and get around to it when the feel like it or I quite calling.

[trikerbob]

Thanks for the reply, Greysquirrel. Hope you get it fixed real soon, and I hope you have a great/safe trip anyway.
What brand of thermo cooler do you have? I've been wanting a Coleman, cause there's no way I can afford one of the more expensive brands right now. It will be for a back up, anyway.
And I think you're right about the calling thing. If you agitate them, there's no telling when you'll get the thing fixed, no matter how soon the parts come in.

Take care.

[Greysquirrel]

We have a Coleman Iceless chest, bought it at our local liquidation store for $25 and bought the AC adapter at Amazon for $19 so haven't got a lot invested in it.
Not going to let a little thing like no fridge ruin our vacation plans nor the weather, if it rains we will do as the Chinese do, Let It Rain, can't do a thing about it and as we will be by the ocean a little water won't hurt us unless of course it is accompanied by thunder and lighting.

[JRTJH]

Greysquirrel,

I like your outlook. When I was a kid, I never understood why my parents made us get out of the river when it rained. We got just as wet standing on the bank as we did in the water, and as soon as it stopped raining, they would let us swim again...... Hmmmmmm :confused:

[Greysquirrel]

As of Wed. Sept. 18th at !:54 PM EST. my trailer is home and the fridge is working at least for now.
The service manager told me that he was told by Atwood the there was an intermittent problem with the power board of some of the earlier fridges. But neither Atwood nor Keystone send a service bulletin out to any of it's dealers. Guess it wasn't considered an problem except to those of us who have this problem. When they pulled my trailer in and hit the power button the fridge went right to AC with no problem, but they did change the board and right now it works, I will see what happens this weekend and when I come back and leave it for the winter I will plug it in once a month to keep the battery up to snuff and check it then. Even though I have battery switch the battery still seems to lose some of its charge if I don't charge it once a month, if I leave the switch on it drains in a couple of weeks down to just about nothing with all the parasitic drain this trailer has.
Before I cover it and put it to bed for the winter I always check the water in my battery just in case it may need some, if you charge with low water you may ruin your battery, go ahead and ask me how I know.

[trikerbob]

Greysquirrel, glad you have your trailer back and all seems to be well. And I'm glad to hear what the problem may have been. So far, fingers crossed, our fridge seems to be cooling sufficiently right now. We're headed out Friday, ourselves, for the weekend, so we'll see how ours does in real world use. I hope you have a good weekend, the fridge performs well, and I hope you have no further problem. Thanks for posting your progress.

Robert

[trikerbob]

Hey there, Greysquirrel. Just checking to see if you had made it back from your weekend travels yet, and how your fridge performed on the trip. We just got back from a short 3 day trip, and our fridge performed flawlessly. I used it on both gas and ac, and no problem with either one.

Please post when you get back. I'm anxious to hear how yours worked with the new board in it.

Take care.

Robert

[Shogunles]

I started to read the post and immediately thought I knew what the problem was. However, I believe it to be different from what I encountered this past weekend with my Attwood. I had taken the batteries out of my RB23 to charge at home prior to returning to the PP. We had been boon docking for two weeks. After reinstalling the batteries and trying to start the fridge on propane all the lights across the board lit up and nothing worked. The trouble shooting guide suggested an "open DC circuit". I recalled during our PDI the tech mentioning an internal fuse which I figured I had blown reinstalling the batteries. (my assistant grounded the positive cable FOR A SPLIT SECOND) After pretty much dismantling the fridge and a call to a fellow board member I found the fuse located on the back side of the fridge, almost dead centre of the access opening, inside a black plastic cover held on with 4 screws. There are three old style barrel fuses located there. The blown fuse was a point three amp. The other two are much heavier amperage. Not having a spare I did the tin foil trick and got myself working again. Don't be slamming me for the tin foil; Ive bought another fuse and will replace the one in question this weekend when I get back to the park.
I do not believe this is what the OP experienced but something to keep in mind for others with the new style Attwood fridges.

I wish I read your post about 4 hours ago!. It would have saved me about a year on my life and a fight with my wife! I was starting to unscrew those screws to the black cover. But I second guessed myself and decided to let the dealer fix it. Since it is not even a week old. Same thing happened to me. Boondocking last week and took battery off to charge for the trip I am leaving for tomorow. My brother grounded the battery by accident and same thing with the fridge! Thanks for the info.

[Greysquirrel]

Hey there, Greysquirrel. Just checking to see if you had made it back from your weekend travels yet, and how your fridge performed on the trip. We just got back from a short 3 day trip, and our fridge performed flawlessly. I used it on both gas and ac, and no problem with either one.

Please post when you get back. I'm anxious to hear how yours worked with the new board in it.

Take care.

Robert

Robert:
Got home Sat. afternoon and have been busy cleaning the inside and outside and winterizing the beast.
The fridge worked all week with no problem so maybe it is fixed, I will check it the first of every month when I do my thing about starting my power washer, generator and riding mower and plugging the trailer in to top off the battery, just one more thing to check.
Had a good trip only thing that did not go good is my wife got a speeding ticket coming back from Tybee Island and after we hiked a mile and a half through the woods with the intention of coming back along the beach we found out it was high tide and we had to wade through the water to get to the beach, all was going good till a wave came in and broke and wet me up to my waist and I had my cell in my pocket, not big deal only a $4o phone so I bought another phone for $40 but this one is a smart phone now if I can be smart enough to not get it wet I will be OK. This is the third phone I have lost due to it getting wet. Will make another post with some pictures later but have to run now.

[trikerbob]

Greysquirrel, Thanks for the reply. Glad the fridge is finally fixed, but sorry you had the other troubles. We had a good weekend, also, except for rain. We only traveled 50 miles to a local state park, but it was raining sooo hard, it took us about 1 1/2 hrs to go that 50 miles. And I got soaked to the bone getting everything set up. But we needed the rain soo bad, it didn't really bother me. I took my phone off so it wouldn't get wet!
The rest of the weekend was picture perfect.

Anyway, take care and travel safe.

Robert(tx)

[CoHideout]

We bought a 2014 Hideout with a Helium fridge. It worked great in Camp Driveway, but on our maiden voyage (so to speak), it quit working on electric after one day. After several tries, we got the gas to ignite and it wouldn't cool down on that either. It is at the dealership right now and has been for a week. They couldn't repeat the problem. DH told them to plug it in all weekend and leave it to see if that helped. We haven't heard from them yet, but I have my fears.

The tech that DH talked to said that he refers to this message board often to look for information. Hopefully, he has read all of this. However, it does seem that our problem didn't come from switching over as it was there before we tried the switch. If the fridge won't work on either AC or gas, is that still a power board problem?

[CoHideout]

We were told that the fridge was working fine. They couldn't get it to quit. After DH told them to plug it in and leave it all weekend, they called and said that it quit working. They are going to replace the fridge, but Atwood is asking them to take all sorts of readings on it before they pull it out and before they will send a new one. Tomorrow will be two weeks at the dealership. (Sigh).

[trikerbob]

As I stated in previous posts, I took the thermistor off the fins and clipped in on the top rack. Worked almost too well. I re-clipped it back to the fins, BUT, I put a small piece of plastic insulator between the fin and the thermistor, and that did the trick. Setting 3 was just a leetle bit too warm, but 4 hit it just about right. Now when summer gets here and the thermometer hits 100 again, we'll see what happens. I put a more accurate thermometer (wired, not wireless) in the fridge, and that made a big difference, too. We'll be heading out again in July, so that will be the next big test. Good luck to you all, and travel safe.

Robert

[Trey]

:confused:Went out and plugged in my 19FBPR to go on a trip tomorrow and went to start the fridge. Instead of going on automatic and AC it came up with a check light and a flashing gas light. The mode button does not do anything when I push it so I cannot get it to go to AC.
This happened once before but finally went to AC. Got a feeling I am SOL and it is something wrong with the board behind the controls and even if it does go on I will take it to the dealer when I come back.
In the meantime does anyone have any idea of what I might do. I have unplugged the fridge for a minute to see if it will recycle have also turned it on and off a number of times to purge any air in the gas line in case that is the problem.



I have the same thing happening to mine have you had any problems after they changed the power board.

[campertime]

How long does it take these new helium fridges to cool on LP? The old Jayco took about three hours but this new fridge in our Passport has been on for three hours and doesn't feel cold at all.

[campertime]

OK freezer is COLD, fridge is cool. Been about 5 hours now.

[Rudeswoman]

Hello, I have a 214 Keystone Hideout with a Atwood Helium fridge. We camped for the first time this weekend. It took an extremely long time to cool down. Never seemed like the fridge got appropriatly cool. It was cool, but not cold. Has anyone had any troubles with theirs? We let it cool down over night before we put food in it, roughly 22 hrs. Maybe in expecting it to be as cold as my house fridge? Asking too much maybe? :)

[Rudeswoman]

OK freezer is COLD, fridge is cool. Been about 5 hours now.

Did you ever get your fridge to cool down to the correct temperature?? How long did it take?? I have a 2014 Hideout and having same problems.

[chuckster57]

Are you adjusting the temp to the coldest setting? IIRC all the blue bars lit is the coldest.

If you look inside the refer, there should be a plastic bulb looking thing attached to the cooling fins. Moving it up should make it colder.

RV refers are absorption refers, meaning the fins in the fridge "absorb" the heat. Back in '08 I discovered they make fans for the inside of the fridge. Runs on 2 D cell batteries and WOW what a difference.

[campertime]

Did you ever get your fridge to cool down to the correct temperature?? How long did it take?? I have a 2014 Hideout and having same problems.

Propane on, Set fridge to auto, All blue bars lit up, Trailer level?

Yes ours finally got cold. took about 6 hours

[Rudeswoman]

Ok, update!! I moved the "cooling bulb" up on the fins higher and that made all the difference!! Now the fins are iced over, not dripping with condensation & the door compartments are even cold! I was worried we had a defective fridge, but thanks to all of you we are ready to get out "Glamping" on!!!! Thank you all for your speedy & amazing advice!!!"bouncey:

[CoHideout]

Atwood agreed to replace the fridge after the dealership took a bunch of readings. We got the TT back and first trip out the fridge didn't work. Dealership gave me the Atwood customer service number when I called in from the CG. As I talked to one of the techs, the fridge came back on. Prior to that we couldn't get anything to work including the troubleshooting mode. Tech said it sounded like loose wires. We took it back to the dealership and they tightened everything, checked all connections...and then it worked like a champ and has continued to work like a champ. We plug it in 2 days before we leave on a camping trip, then load the fridge before we leave with COLD food, turn it off before we head out and back on when we get there. It has worked without a hitch ever since, and it has worked WELL.

[ncinthenext3]

Guys, I'm watching your thread very closely as I might have a suspect Atwood, also. Now mine hasn't done what yours is doing, but I don't think mine is cooling like it should. I'll give it this, it's hotter than, well, you know, here, with 100+ days, but it still seems a little lacking. I'm waiting for Ford's refrigeration video on the Atwood that should be coming out soon. He's been doing some testing at his shop comparing the Atwoods to Dometic and Norcold. We'll see what happens, but I'm keeping an eye on y'alls thread.

Take care, travel safe.

Robert

I too am keeping a close eye. I don't think the refrigerator itself is where I like it, even on its highest cool setting. The freezer does excellent, so maybe there is a way to balance this? I have no idea. Nice 7cu ft size in my Premier 31BHPR but curious if this is an issue.

EDIT: Will try that 'bulb on the fins' trick. This is something all of the dealers should be doing when they prep units.

[Cindyv17]

Hello all,

We have an Atwood refrigerator in our fairly new keystone trailer. This is only the third time we are using it.

The issue is: we turn it on, and all the lights stay on; check, auto, gas and ac

The refrigerator is not cooling.. We have tried everything possible, we even had other fellow rv-ers try and identify the issue and no one seems to figure it out.

We tried to make it run on LP only, no luck!

DC - no

AC - no

Gas tanks are full, battery is fully charged...

Any advice? Or experience with issues like this!?

Thanks in advance.

[chuckster57]

Welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear your having issues with the refer. About the only thing I would suggest is to pull the fuse and throw the breaker so ALL power is removed. Leave it off for a few minutes and then try again. If it still fails, then it probably needs to be taken in for further tests. It could be the control board and any decent RV service center should have the tester.

[Carmen D]

Our second trip out this year and we pull the Pass Port to the house to plug in and the refrigerator freezer is not agreeing with the AC. As soon as I touch the power the "check" light comes on and stays on and the "gas" starts blinking (and chirping). This sounds like a problem with Atwood and Keystone and they aren't listening. We are suppose to leave on Monday but if that Atwood doesn't start working, the dealer ship is going to have it and deal with warranty work.
What to do next? I have read this whole thread and nothing has worked for us but irritate my DH.

Thanks for any advise,
Carmen:confused:

[chuckster57]

Is the refer set to "automatic" ? If not then it's going to look for LP and if there isn't any pressure in the line, you'll get the check light.

[wolfee240]

We have a attwood fridge in our Passport. We had issues with it not cooling all the time. It would work here and there. After weeks of beating my head on the wall i found out is that the camper had to be perfectly level for the fridge to work correctly. It the bubble is off center by a little bit on a 4' level the fridge would not stay cold. If the bubble is perfectly center the fridge works great. I just make sure the camper is perfectly level and i don't have a problem. I hope that helps with your problem

[Charby]

I agree with the level trick. I also manually turn frig off between cycles to AC and Gas as it doesn't like the auto switching for some reason. I got stuck once after it did not switch from AC to Gas when unplugged.

[B-O-B'03]

We have the Atwood in our 22RBPR and other than something shifting in the freezer and popping the door open, we did not have one problem with it on our first voyage of 1800 miles.

I had it running in the driveway, for a couple of weeks, prior to leaving and had it switching from gas to electric and back, both shore power and on my Champion generator.

On the trip it switched flawlessly as well, with no manual intervention from me.

I was kind of worried, after reading this thread, but it worked great "bouncey:

-Brian

[HappyCamperMN]

For those that have issues with or are suggesting making sure the fridge is completely level. I have a question...

Does the power source (AC vs. propane) have any relation to how level the fridge needs to be?

The reason I ask is that in this thread (http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=19013) I was having intermittent issues running our fridge on AC, but it runs just fine on gas. Our driveway has enough slope that I cannot get the trailer even reasonably level front to back when parked there. Some times it will run on AC in our driveway and sometimes not. Starting to feel like being out-of-level is the cause. Dealer tested things when it was in for warranty service last fall and couldn't find any issues.

Seems to me like an out of level issue would affect BOTH modes equally, but if there was any difference at all it would affect gas operation more than AC operation.?.?

Looking for comments or sage advice.

[wolfee240]

Not sure if it matters if it is on gas or electric. The issue i was having is when it was sitting at home. It didnt matter if it was on gas or electric, i tried both. If the camper was not perfectly level it would not cool at home. It would cool fine at the campground because we had the camper leveled up. I left it on gas when going down the road and it would cool just fine. I was getting fustrated trying to figure it out. The dealer said they have not heard of that problem before. I am not sure if it is venting defect in the camper in that it has to be level for the heat to escape from the back of the fridge. It is not a big deal. i just have to level it when i get home from camping.

[Festus2]

It shouldn't matter whether the fridge is on propane or AC regarding its being "out of level" and not working. As with any absorption-type fridge it should be "reasonably level". If it isn't, the liquid ammonia will accumulate in sections of the evaporator tubing. This accumulation causes a slowdown of the hydrogen and ammonia gases moving through the system resulting in a possible loss of cooling or, if severe, a complete shutdown. It really doesn't matter how these sections are being heated - by gas or by electricity. And, as you rightly pointed out, being out-of-level effects either system equally.

If, when parked on your driveway, there is a noticeable sloping of the floor or walls and it would be uncomfortable to live in, then my guess is that it is too far out-of-level for the fridge to operate as it should.

[campertime]

yikes! getting ready for our camping trip and we have no fridge :(

Trailer is level, battery fully charged, lp tanks are full. I even tried plugging it in hopes that AC power would get it going.

The issue is: we turn it on, and all the lights stay on; check, auto, gas and ac. Went through owners manual to troubleshoot still no fridge. Checked breakers, fuses, reset the high limit thermal switch, took the black cover off the back of fridge and checked fuses there.... all looks okay.

Guess we are using coolers this week and will have to take the trailer in for service after our vacation. trailer is almost 1 year old and this will only be our 4th trip in it. It worked fine on all our other trips. Guess it was only a matter of time :confused:

[campertime]

Dealer bound in the morning. I'll let you all know what they find.

[Bowhunter]

Please keep updated. Had ours over a year and over 10 trips using both gas and electric with no issues so far, but nice to know what to look for if issues arise. Good luck!

[campertime]

Service writer added another clue to the write up.... My interier fridge light does not come on. He said that may be the clue as to wether it's a bad circuit board or not. Should hear back from them within the next few days.

[Bowhunter]

Thanks for update.

[campertime]

Well... it turns out that it wasn't the circuit board.... it was a 12V fuse on the circuit board. They replaced the fuse and said the fridge is functioning as designed.

I've attached a picture of the location of the circuit board. It's located behind the black plastic cover on the rear of the fridge. Remove two screws and the cover comes off allowing you access to it. There is a wire running through a grommet in the cover that goes onto a blade style connector. It will come off with the cover, but it is much easier to reconnect if you pull it out of the cover, screw the cover on, then plug the wire in.

[Ryan 747]

I found that a 3amp fuse located in the rear of the trailer in the fridge circuit board was the problem with the Ac power not working. I checked everything so I decided to take the cover off the circuit board and there it was. Hope this helps anyone out there with a fridge AC power problem . I was all set to take it to a local RV shop

[Ryan 747]

[QUOTE=Ryan 747;258661]I found that a 3amp fuse located in the rear of the trailer in the fridge circuit board was the problem with the Ac power not working. I checked everything so I decided to take the cover off the circuit board and there it was. Hope this helps anyone out there with a fridge AC power problem . I was all set to take it to a local RV shop. I know it would of cost 3 hours to diagnose and 300 dollars at least

[catfishmike]

I was having the same problem as this thread describes and it was the 3 amp fuse causing it. Glad to see these forums can really help.

[pzamora]

atwood refrigerators are complete junk. I have a 2015 Hideout and the refridgerator went out after 16 months or after 4 uses. I got it late 2015 and here we winterize and store our trailers for about 9 months out of the year. On my 4th or so use, it would not switch to AC and run only on propane. I took it into the Dealer (Big Country RV) with a terrible service dept, and it took 6 weeks to get it in. Once I did get it in their report said the circuit board and AC heating element went out and charged me $60 for that stupid report. I already knew that. Then the fix would be $1000. Since they had it so long it went out of warranty and would not fix it. I contacted Atwood and they only said too bad, it's out of warranty. I then went back to the sales man and the Service Dept and they both literally laughed at me and said, oh you got the Atwood. Those are known to be junk; and too bad. Want a new trailer? They new the Atwood Helium Series were all junk and they said it wasn't their problem. So now I have a travel trailer with a propane sucking fridge. We are selling this Keystone Hideout and going with another brand with no Atwood appliances. Dometic all the way. Our last old camper and trailer both had dometic and they were rock solid. Atwood your products and service are not worth the trouble. Sorry if you're in the same boat.

[FJnewRVer]

I was having the same problem as this thread describes and it was the 3 amp fuse causing it. Glad to see these forums can really help.

I had the same problem and the fix was also the 3 amp fuse. I put a 5 amp fuse in. There are three different 3 amp fuses located in a small black box. I’m just happy I got it working. I thought I was going to have to go and purchase a new fridge. I told my wife that I am going to pay myself $300 for this fix even though the fuses costed $5.

[chuckster57]

I had the same problem and the fix was also the 3 amp fuse. I put a 5 amp fuse in. There are three different 3 amp fuses located in a small black box. I’m just happy I got it working. I thought I was going to have to go and purchase a new fridge. I told my wife that I am going to pay myself $300 for this fix even though the fuses costed $5.

Hate to say it, but you haven’t “fixed” the problem. Putting in a fuse that is rated higher than what is supposed to be in may cause a more serious problem. Keep your money because you may need it for a much more expensive repair/replacement.

[FJnewRVer]

Hate to say it, but you haven’t “fixed” the problem. Putting in a fuse that is rated higher than what is supposed to be in may cause a more serious problem. Keep your money because you may need it for a much more expensive repair/replacement.
I’ll just change it out tomorrow. It’s easy to do. I’m just glad it’s working tonight.

[CampNBrew2]

Our Atwood He fridge died last year. It would percolate and the freezer would only get fridge cold. Iread this was a coolant leak issue so nothing could be done. (No replacement units or repairs near me). I ended up replacing it with a new Norcold. I can tell you that the Atwood construction was WAY better, stronger, better materials. All moot if it doesn't run. Our new Flimsy Norcold works great but gives random beeps and won't indicate why. The factory was no help.

Maybe someone can answer this- The only sign of a leak I found was at the factory service "port". Right where it was crimped and welded was a BB sized chunk of white crust- not yellow. When I demo'd the fridge I cut it apart and it still had plenty of ammonia and all of the yellow chromate. I can only assume that the helium leaked out and this was the issue.

BTW I have the whole Atwood gas train and all the control boards if anyone needs them cheap.

[Scopell]

Mine did the same and it was a fuse on the outside

[Scopell]

That is it!