Noisy fridge

[Luckybuck55]

I am going to let RV service guy find out if you do anything it could mess up the warranty

[hoffbrew]

Originally Posted by kreed61

I shut mine off last night and went out today to check it. When I first fired it up it was quiet as could be for about 15 minutes and then started buzzing again. The fan started immediately when I started the unit up. I had the covers off outside and didn't see anything but could hear it outside also. It was running on gas but it doesn't make any difference if you switch to electric. I also can't see the fan to clean it so I didn't rule that out yet. How do I get to the fan? Upper or lower cover? Behind a coverplate somewhere?

Same here...takes about 10+ min. to get noise going. I tried it last night and 5:30 this am. both elect and gas

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by kreed61

I shut mine off last night and went out today to check it. When I first fired it up it was quiet as could be for about 15 minutes and then started buzzing again. The fan started immediately when I started the unit up. I had the covers off outside and didn't see anything but could hear it outside also. It was running on gas but it doesn't make any difference if you switch to electric. I also can't see the fan to clean it so I didn't rule that out yet. How do I get to the fan? Upper or lower cover? Behind a coverplate somewhere?

Depending on the refrigerator model, the fan is mounted on or under the evaporator fins, probably closer to the top vent than to the bottom vent.

If you take the lower vent cover off, you'll find, on the lower left side, the control module. Connected to the 12VDC wiring terminal adjacent to that module should be a red wire with a 1Amp or a 3Amp inline fuse container. That red wire powers the fan. If you remove the fuse, you will remove power to the fan. If you're curious as to whether the "buzzing" is the fan, just remove that fuse momentarily. If the "buzzing" stops, it's the fan, if it continues, then there's another source of your noise.

Over the years, as summer gets hotter, members start to notice the fan running more than in the cooler months. It becomes "noisy" and "distracting" so members post comments about their "noisy refrigerator" If you look back over the past 4 or 5 years, every summer, we have the "cyclic complaints" of noisy refrigerators. Dometic did, in past years, replace the fan as "defective". Last summer, there were reports from members that Dometic is no longer considering the "noisy fan" defective. They will replace it if it's "subjectively noisy" but nobody has really defined how or who or where that "subjective test result" is considered valid.

[hoffbrew]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Depending on the refrigerator model, the fan is mounted on or under the evaporator fins, probably closer to the top vent than to the bottom vent.

If you take the lower vent cover off, you'll find, on the lower left side, the control module. Connected to the 12VDC wiring terminal adjacent to that module should be a red wire with a 1Amp or a 3Amp inline fuse container. That red wire powers the fan. If you remove the fuse, you will remove power to the fan. If you're curious as to whether the "buzzing" is the fan, just remove that fuse momentarily. If the "buzzing" stops, it's the fan, if it continues, then there's another source of your noise.

Over the years, as summer gets hotter, members start to notice the fan running more than in the cooler months. It becomes "noisy" and "distracting" so members post comments about their "noisy refrigerator" If you look back over the past 4 or 5 years, every summer, we have the "cyclic complaints" of noisy refrigerators. Dometic did, in past years, replace the fan as "defective". Last summer, there were reports from members that Dometic is no longer considering the "noisy fan" defective. They will replace it if it's "subjectively noisy" but nobody has really defined how or who or where that "subjective test result" is considered valid.

I will give this a try in about 4 hrs

[JRTJH]

hoffbrew,

Hopefully, you'll get a definitive answer as to what is causing the buzzing. My guess is that it's the fan.

Once you determine that it is the fan, the next step, if it really bothers you, is to convince your dealer and Dometic that it needs replaced. In the past, members have had the fan replaced, some say it was quieter (for a while), some say it was the same with no improvement and some even say the new fan is noisier than the old one.

Our Springdale had a roof vent. The refrigerator was not in a slide. During 2010 and 2011 apparently Keystone or Dometic did not differentiate what "type" of refrigerator was used in the various models and I think that someone made the decision to put the "fan type" refrigerator in all the Springdale line without regard to whether it was needed or not. Several other members who own other brands of Keystone RV's noticed the same thing with their refrigerators...

My fan started making noise, I took it in, they "fixed" it by removing the fuse. No replacement fan, no disassembly of the refrigerator to clean the fan, nothing other than removing the fuse. It "solved the noise" problem, but I wondered how the heck they could call that a "repair".... I did some research and found that Dometic actually makes 2 "types" of 26 and 28 series refrigerators. One "type" for slides--with a fan-- and one "type" for standard installation (with a roof vent) --without a fan--

On some of the larger, four door refrigerators, fans are an integral part of the model and required for any type installation, but on the smaller units, it's "back to the way it was years ago" with no fan for standard install and a fan for slide install.....

My guess is that over the past several years Keystone has come to realize that installing the "wrong type" in trailers increases the complaints about noisy refrigerators because our new Cougar doesn't have a fan, there's no wiring behind the lower vent and no fan installed "up above"

I know this is probably "useless trivia" for most, but it's some background on what transpired in the past that has brought the issue to its current place. Don't be surprised if your dealer looks at the fan, says it's "normal" and that Dometic won't pay to repair it. It's frustrating, but from past posts, it's not likely to "go away" or to be "repaired" to your satisfaction.

Good Luck,

[Luckybuck55]

Keystone knows that it is a problem on a new rv they are responsible for 1 year ! If you got a problem call and let them know, I did and they said get some one out to check and they will pay for the repair minus the service call! They know that it is a problem! Everyone call and just maybe they will take care of! no one needs to hear this noise all the time!

[Steve S]

I've been following this long thread and I've been wondering why you don't just spend $30.00 and just replace it yourself?
John has given you some great and lengthy advice so why not take it?
IMO he's the king when it comes to this stuff.

[Luckybuck55]

what are you replacing for 30.00! it seems to me you need to figure out what is causing problem IMO! So does it need a fan or not? I am not the only one with problem!

[hoffbrew]

Pulled wire off and it stopped! quite as can be. That fan blows some air, sounds like a muffled hair dryer. Hope this was the right wire, that plywood piece is siliconed in, so did not remove that. Saw these wires so started here. Job start to finsh was 3 beers.... with a break.
Steve S, I have taken his advice, that is why I did it.

[Luckybuck55]

this will not affect the cooling of fridge I have seen this wire. Thanks for pictures and advise

[hoffbrew]

And I did pull the fuse, same, fan shut off

[Steve S]

Originally Posted by hoffbrew

Pulled wire off and it stopped! quite as can be. That fan blows some air, sounds like a muffled hair dryer. Hope this was the right wire, that plywood piece is siliconed in, so did not remove that. Saw these wires so started here. Job start to finsh was 3 beers.... with a break.
Steve S, I have taken his advice, that is why I did it.

Good to hear that it worked

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by Luckybuck55

this will not affect the cooling of fridge I have seen this wire. Thanks for pictures and advise

Yes, removing power from the fan WILL affect cooling of the refrigerator in high ambient temperature conditions. Under "comfortable conditions" and "cooler conditions" the fan really isn't necessary.

Originally all refrigerators were vented through the roof. This created an ideal "warm air chimney" and drew the warm air away from the refrigerator evaporator coils which enhances cooling. With the advent of installing refrigerators in slides, the "straight up" warm air chimney was eliminated and the amount of air flowing over the evaporator coils was decreased. With that warm air "sticking around the evaporator" the refrigerator cooling performance was decreased. The fan was added to push the warm air through the chimney and out the top vent on the side of the slide. It's not "perfect" without the fan, far from it, but as long as it's not "too hot outside" your refrigerator will perform adequately. Once the sun is shining on the side of the slide, the ambient temp goes above about 85*F or so your cooling performance will decrease and you may find ice cubes melting, warmer than desired temps in the refrigerator, etc. That's when you'll need the fan to maintain adequate cooling.

Some people have (after the warranty) added a switch to the fan circuit. They cut it off at night so they can sleep without the "squeal" of the fan and then they turn it on in the morning after the temp starts to climb.

It's unfortunate, but Dometic doesn't consider "fan noise" to be a defect. That's what I was referring to in the above posts. They may replace the fan once, but there's really no assurance that the new fan will be any more quiet than what you already have. Think of it sort of like the fan on your refrigerator at home. It makes noise, but you don't notice it as much because of all the other ambient noise in a house. In the RV, when it's quiet outside, the only noise you'll hear is the converter fan and the refrigerator fan, so it becomes a "major noise source", one we'd not even notice at home with all the other noise produced in a "normal household".

[hoffbrew]

No reason to take it into the dealer for this BUT I will stop by the dealer that fix my rear awning and throw it at them just to see what they say. I can live with it for now but I will mod something for this.... tomorrow, no.... in the near future, yes. I will look around for best/interesting mod and go from there. As always, thanks for the help.

[hoffbrew]

Where the heck is Canesfan on this issue??

[Lyle1234]

Yes, we were told this is a problem after we purchased this RV. The fan that Keystone put in is attached to the back of the frig. Yes, ours is noisy and it runs a lot in the 85- 90 degree weather. Can we take it into an warranty place and have them replace with a different fan, or will that be covered? I notice your posts were in 2014 and they have still not done anything with this fan issue in 2016? Our frig is in the slider with the two vents. Any suggestions? Thanks so much...Lyle

[Festus2]

Originally Posted by Lyle1234

Yes, we were told this is a problem after we purchased this RV. The fan that Keystone put in is attached to the back of the frig. Yes, ours is noisy and it runs a lot in the 85- 90 degree weather. Can we take it into an warranty place and have them replace with a different fan, or will that be covered? I notice your posts were in 2014 and they have still not done anything with this fan issue in 2016? Our frig is in the slider with the two vents. Any suggestions? Thanks so much...Lyle

Lyle -
As was mentioned by JRTJH in his post above, it is unlikely that Dometic will provide you with another fan and since the fan "is working",I doubt if Keystone will replace it either. In order for them to do that, they would need a report and evaluation from the dealership about the issue. To further complicate matters, Keystone doesn't sell "parts" - if one was to consider a replacement fan as a "part".

Perhaps your best bet is to do what some others have done and install a cutoff switch to the fan so you can turn it off at night. Have you considered purchasing a small battery-operated fridge cooling fan? They can be obtained at CW, are fairly cheap and last quite a long time with the 2 D cell batteries required to operate it.

And welcome to the forum !!

[canesfan]

Originally Posted by hoffbrew

Where the heck is Canesfan on this issue??

Sorry, I was MIA around that time I guess. Did you ever get it solved? Last rig I had had the fridge in the slide and the fan was annoying, especially to anyone sleeping on the couch right next to it, but anywhere downstairs is was annoying. I solved the problem by getting a new trailer with the fridge not in a slide.

3 beers, that's not bad, start to finish.

[hoffbrew]

I havent revisited this issue, It doesnt bother me. If it really does on our 3 week trip then I will revisit.