Hot Water too hot and Refrigerator too cold

[KnTShow]

Hi.

It was thought that a new converter was needed. Up until today.

We take for granted everything that runs through the converter and just assumed because the breakers pop, it was the converter. Then I realized something might be wrong because the refrigerator is freezing our spinach.

When the lights start flickering, we turned the fridge off, the lights stopped flickering.

Then this morning, I remembered my BF saying that the hot water was really hot. hotter than normal. This morning, I used it, and it was scalding.

My BF also likes the flip the breaker switch right back on when it pops, rather than letting things cool down. I assume they flip for a reason.

So, Is this happening because we have the hot water and refrigerator on electric, along with the AC?

Thanks for all of your knowledge and insight that you may have to share.

[Logan X]

It might be helpful to know what model refrigerator and water heater you have?

I think running the water heater and air conditioner at the same time, along with the other basic functions, is enough to trip the 30 amp main breaker? Is it the main breaker that is tripping or one or more of the individual circuits?

As far as your food freezing, if you have a propane fridge food on the top shelf will be more likely to freeze than food in the bottom of the fridge. You may also want to check to make sure the thermistor is seated in its holder and placed properly on the cooling fins.

[KnTShow]

The main breaker trips occasionally, but the breaker that runs the AC and the lights overhead trip all the time. As far as the fridge, the items on the lower shelf are now freezing and the thermostat is on the fins. I may need a new thermostat, but I want to make sure it's not something else given all of the things happening.

[Logan X]

As I’m thinking about it I’m fairly convinced you are overloading the 30amp service. The AC is drawing 17 amps, the water heater 12 amps, the fridge maybe 5 amps. That’s over 30 amps. Maybe just run the water heater when you need to take a shower and turn off the AC when the water heater is on. Anyone with more or better information please chime in.

Edit-or you could run the water heater on propane when the air conditioner is on.

[Logan X]

As far as the fridge freezing, if it is a dometic, I think you can try moving the thermistor to another cooling fin. If that doesn’t work, maybe replace the thermistor (or make sure it is plugged into the mother board), or you may want to try replacing the mother control board if none of the above fixes the problem. I am not an expert so please verify, good luck.

[travelin texans]

With the amps for items listed above the 30 amp breaker at the pedestal should be tripping if all are running at the same time. Hopefully you have a surge protector/ems installed to help protect the rv!!

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by KnTShow

The main breaker trips occasionally, but the breaker that runs the AC and the lights overhead trip all the time. As far as the fridge, the items on the lower shelf are now freezing and the thermostat is on the fins. I may need a new thermostat, but I want to make sure it's not something else given all of the things happening.

I'm not clear on the symptoms, so narrowing down to a fix is just a WAG (wild a$$ guess)...

You say, "the breaker that runs the AC and the lights overhead". The AC does operate on a circuit breaker (120VAC) but the overhead lights operate on the battery voltage (12VDC) and that is not affected by any of the circuit breakers. Granted, the converter/charger does provide 12VDC to operate the 12 volt systems when on shore power, but if the "REC/CON" circuit breaker opens, the battery will still provide DC power to keep the overhead lights operational. If they are going off when the Air Conditioner breaker opens, then you've got some kind of "weirdly strange" issue.....

The Dometic refrigerator cabinet temperature is controlled by an adjustable thermistor that is housed in a plastic sheath and attached to the far right cooling fin in the refrigerator (not freezer) section. Sliding it up will make the temperature cooler and sliding it down will make the temperature warmer. The thermistor wire plugs into the refrigerator control board (in the back, under the black plastic cover). If it is not plugged in, the refrigerator goes into "limp mode" and will run constantly. This is a feature to provide cooling in the event of control board failure, but does result in frozen food, which most people find better than hot, spoiled food. Check the thermistor plug to make sure it's securely plugged into the control board and experiment with the thermistor location. You may find that sliding it up or down the fin will adjust your refrigerator compartment temperature enough to stop freezing your food. Remember though, some parts of your refrigerator are in direct contact with those cooling fins and those areas will always be colder than the more distant areas, so pack your food according to how likey it is to be damaged by freezing temps.

As for the water heater, there is a 120VAC thermostat that controls the electric element and a 12VDC thermostat that control the propane function. Depending on which "heating system" you were using, if there's a problem, it would be "one or the other" of those two thermostats.

Looking at your overall issues, I'd wonder if you might have a battery issue that is causing most of (or maybe all of) your problems. The refrigerator, the water heater and the thermostat for the air conditioner all operate on battery power, so a fully charged battery is vital to proper operation of all the control electronics for all three of the complaints. I'd first do some critical checks on the battery and the converter/charger system to make sure it's operational and the battery is fully charged.

[newemptynester]

We never leave the hot water tank on. It only takes about 10 min to heat up the water so we just turn it on before we need it. I know that this can be an inconvenience to some people but if you are having problems with tripping the breakers than maybe this would save you the problem until you can figure it out. Just a thought.