Atwood HE-0601R fridge not cooling - Page 2

Festus2 · 05-13-2014, 01:31 PM

timkatavl -
If the fridge is not working on 110VAC and won't be fixed by the time you are ready to leave, it will still be operable on gas so you won't be without the use of your fridge.

timkatavl · 05-13-2014, 01:35 PM

Yes - that is true!

timkatavl · 05-19-2014, 08:08 AM

Called Camping World and found they are still waiting on Keystone to let them know something about repair/replace fridge. It is the control board. Problem was given to Keystone on 5-13 and they still have not made any decisions. I called Keystone customer service and found out they are conferring with Atwood.

Rep said it is not likely it will be fixed this week!

timkatavl · 05-20-2014, 06:05 AM

Rob at Camping World called and said they heard back from Keystone yesterday afternoon after 4 pm. They are going to replace our refrigerator!

It was ordered this morning but it will most likely not be in this week so we are picking up the camper today. We have our annual wedding anniversary trip to Cades Cove in the Smokies this coming weekend so we need to clean the camper and pack it. I guess we will take coolers and hope the fridge works on gas!

{tpc} · 05-20-2014, 04:08 PM

Good luck with the trip and glad that keystone is going to do you right with the new fridge!!

timkatavl · 06-03-2014, 06:40 AM

We went on our 4 night trip to the Smokies. Fridge cooled down to 32 degrees on ac before we left so we stocked it and also took two coolers with us. Unfortunately, it did not work on gas (auto or manual setting). So, the day after we left, we had to move everything to coolers. The coolers had to sit in the floor in front of the dinette. It was a mess to dig things out, buy bag after bag of ice, and repack items after each meal!

Good news is: Service department at dealer just called and the new refrigerator has finally arrived so we will take the camper back to them ASAP!

timkatavl · 06-09-2014, 08:28 AM

We picked our camper up Friday afternoon and turned the refrigerator on gas with a setting of 4. It cooled down to 42 but to get it below this, we had to turn it up to 5 (coldest setting). This morning, since it was around 38 in the refrigerator, we hooked up to 120v ac and it did "auto" switch over to ac, so we will see how well if performs on ac. My question to others with the Atwood Helium units is "Do you have to run them on the highest setting all the time?" Is this indicative of all the Atwood refrigerators or do we have another "bad" refrigerator?

**JRTJH** · 06-09-2014, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by timkatavl

We picked our camper up Friday afternoon and turned the refrigerator on gas with a setting of 4. It cooled down to 42 but to get it below this, we had to turn it up to 5 (coldest setting). This morning, since it was around 38 in the refrigerator, we hooked up to 120v ac and it did "auto" switch over to ac, so we will see how well if performs on ac. My question to others with the Atwood Helium units is "Do you have to run them on the highest setting all the time?" Is this indicative of all the Atwood refrigerators or do we have another "bad" refrigerator?

Just a thought, but your issues may not be the refrigerator but possibly the installation (in a slide vs having a roof vent) and/or the way you're using it. Absorption refrigerators, unlike what's in your home, don't do well if they are "sparsely filled" and if the door is left open for extended periods (like while kids are "grazing" for snacks). Since there's no inside fan to blow air around in the refrigerator, the cold will naturally settle to the bottom. This will leave the middle of the refrigerator section "warmer than the top (where the fins are) and the bottom (where the cold goes). When you open the refrigerator, all the "cold air" flows out around your feet and once you close the door, the "fins up top" need to absorb the heat from the warmer air as it rises. Packing the refrigerator so there is "limited cold air to fall out" and knowing what you're going to get BEFORE you open the door will do wonders for managing to keep the refrigerator cold.

You may have an issue with ventilation behind your refrigerator. Couple that with the "open door syndrome" and you can easily have a refrigerator that can't keep up. In most situations where the refrigerator "isn't doing its job" there are multiple reasons, not all of which can be attributed to the refrigerator. The "people input" is very often a major contributing factor to unsatisfactory performance.

Try looking at how you load the refrigerator, how long people leave the door open when getting things out of it, where the sun shines on the outside of the unit during the "hot parts of the day" and take a close look at how the vent stack behind the refrigerator is constructed. There may be some reasons for your disappointment that aren't related to the function of the "box itself"......

timkatavl · 06-09-2014, 02:02 PM

Maybe the problem is we have nothing in the fridge nor the freezer! But we have only opened the door one time each day to check the thermometer so I don't think that is having a big impact on the temps. We'll see how it does on the ac!

**JRTJH** · 06-09-2014, 05:02 PM

Put several gallon milk jugs full of water in the refrigerator. Don't use a thermometer hanging in an "open air space" in the refrigerator, it will not read correctly. Insert the thermometer into a clear water filled jug, then store it near the center of the refrigerator. Just pick up the jug and read the temperature. You'll get a much more accurate temperature if there's 6 or 8 gallon jugs of water and the "one with the thermometer in it"

Same with the freezer, put the thermometer in a bottle filled with alcohol, lay it in the freezer and check the temps that way. Trying to use a thermometer exposed to the air in an empty refrigerator isn't how the techs or the factory does it.....

timkatavl · 06-09-2014, 08:07 PM

Just put gallons of water in the fridge with the thermometer in one as you instructed above. BTW the temp on coldest setting was down to 32 so we turned it down to 4 after putting the water jugs in. We have a "dry camping" 3 night trip planned this weekend so we may turn it back to gas tomorrow to make sure it will maintain the temp at 40 or below before we start packing the trailer. It does appear to be working better than the first refrigerator

And thanks again - I love this forum - you guys have been most helpful!

{tpc} · 06-10-2014, 04:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by timkatavl

Just put gallons of water in the fridge with the thermometer in one as you instructed above. BTW the temp on coldest setting was down to 32 so we turned it down to 4 after putting the water jugs in. We have a "dry camping" 3 night trip planned this weekend so we may turn it back to gas tomorrow to make sure it will maintain the temp at 40 or below before we start packing the trailer. It does appear to be working better than the first refrigerator

And thanks again - I love this forum - you guys have been most helpful!

Seems to be working better. Just my observations from the last trip. I had the unit running on propane for a week or so prior to leaving. Brought the TT home day before the trip, still running on the propane, but because we didn't have much if anything to put in the fridge, I turned it off. Got to campsite, it was still "cool" inside, but not nearly as cold as before but I attribute that to the 5 hour trip with it off. Put it on AC mode went shopping the next day to fill it up with goodies, and it was working fine, but still took about the entire day to get back to "cold". Ran it on propane the entire way home the following day, now that we had stuff in it, (and the tank was starting to run low anyways) and it was nice and chilly cold when we arrived at home.

FWIW, I run mine on max. I hate waiting for it to get cold, and I hate my beer warm...lol. There is a real difference though running on propane vs ac...the propane gets it cold faster.

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