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Old 03-22-2014, 02:07 AM   #1
byrdr1
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frig problems

OK had a thing a few weeks ago and thought because I left frig on and heat off in camper for a few days the frig froze over and I busted 4 cans of soda in it.
Well I cleaned everything out and left frig off for 2 weeks. last weekend I started it again and loaded up some food product for a trip coming up next week. Well yesterday I go to check on things and the frig is froze up again. Everything is frozen in it. I unloaded it again. Lucky I had a new jar of pickles in it just about ready to bust too. My problem is I turned everything off and checked it last night before bed. It it/was is still freezing up. I know the gas is on to it but WHY would it still be freezing up. I will turn the gas off today and check it again. Is this maybe the electronic panel issue??
I am going camping in 4 days I would like to use my frig but might not be able to..
ANY thoughts??
thanks
randy
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Old 03-22-2014, 03:48 AM   #2
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What brand of fridge??????? If Dometic ... is the slide temp adjustment on the fins set correctly????
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Old 03-22-2014, 05:40 AM   #3
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Yes, I know these sound like stupid questions, but you never said what your temp is set at. Assume you have it at the warmest setting and it's still freezing, but we just want to eliminate the easy fix. So, what's your temp setting?
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Old 03-22-2014, 11:06 AM   #4
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I had it on three, on the temp setting across the top. I turned gas off and it still was cooling, i unpluged it at 8 this morning and i just plugged it back in at 3pm.. Nothing is turned on as far as switches go.
I am checking to see if starts to cool again. The sliding temp thing is almost below the blue arrow or right at it. I picture it whht tapatalk here in a minute.
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Old 03-22-2014, 11:11 AM   #5
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First picture nothing on, second picture where the moveable thermostat is, three picture is freezer where you see my hand feels cold already. In about 15 minutes could be just me I closed the freezer door to see if it cools down.


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Old 03-22-2014, 12:32 PM   #6
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Temp with frig plugged in but no panel electronics turned on about one hour of time. this is freezer but nothing turned on, well below freezing.
😢


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Old 03-24-2014, 06:58 AM   #7
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Yesterday I turned everything off. I unplugged the camper and unhooked the battery.
I will check all this out tonight. I am figureing a total reboot of all systems this way.
I have no propane running, no 120v or 12v to the camper or in it.
Hoping this will allow the frig system to reset and everything will be fine..
Worst case is I will have to use a cooler over the next few days while I figure this out and before our early summer vacation in MAY at OceanLakes.
rb
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Old 03-25-2014, 09:29 AM   #8
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Total reboot did not work.
I checked everything this morning before going to work and the frig was 25 degrees inside it with nothing but 120v hooked up at the outlet in the back of frig compartment. No electronics were on or gas supply, also had hooked the 12v back up too..
So I have some type of circuit board messed up????
Would that be the control board or something else I cant see?
I can get a replacement board for around $90.00 plus shipping???
I can get by the rest of this week with a cooler but dont want to do that for a week on my vacation.
any thoughts???
randy
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Old 03-25-2014, 11:27 AM   #9
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Question OH MY ZZzzzzzz

Quote:
Originally Posted by byrdr1 View Post
Total reboot did not work.
I checked everything this morning before going to work and the frig was 25 degrees inside it with nothing but 120v hooked up at the outlet in the back of frig compartment. No electronics were on or gas supply, also had hooked the 12v back up too..
So I have some type of circuit board messed up????
Would that be the control board or something else I cant see?
I can get a replacement board for around $90.00 plus shipping???
I can get by the rest of this week with a cooler but dont want to do that for a week on my vacation.
any thoughts???
randy
Quote:
Originally Posted by byrdr1 View Post
Total reboot did not work.
I checked everything this morning before going to work and the frig was 25 degrees inside it with nothing but 120v hooked up at the outlet in the back of frig compartment. No electronics were on or gas supply, also had hooked the 12v back up too..
So I have some type of circuit board messed up????
Would that be the control board or something else I cant see?
I can get a replacement board for around $90.00 plus shipping???
I can get by the rest of this week with a cooler but dont want to do that for a week on my vacation.
any thoughts???
randy
OKAY I did not see any reference to a manual usually they have a table in the back for things to check under different type faults. I will assume you either do not have one, could not find one, or it was useless.

I have a NORCOLD not Dometic. See if got this correct, unit freezes up either in Gas mode, electric, or Auto regardless of the position of the coldness control. This would tell me it’s the control system (control board, temp sensor, coldness control). Basically control board is the brain comparing the desired temp (coldness control) and the Actual temp (sensor in frig) then outputting a control signal to the cooling portion (Gas or Electric). Obviously since it is freezing we can assume that portion is working.

So we no we are down to the control Board, temperature sensor, coldness control which from pictures seems to be a slide control assume some form of rheostat, and the control output signal from the control board. If you can get to the control board I would expect to see two wires from the coldness control (desired temp), by looking at the picture, the temp sensor in the frig has a white cable which should be another input connection to the board. Power to the control board which you should check and an output to the cooling unit

If you pull the coldness wires from board should be able to put a meter on these leads and move the slider and see a varying smooth resistance change. For the temp sensor not sure type you have, to recommend checking it other than basic continuity. As stated check power to board

Now here is the dilemma control circuits are designed with fail safe conditions. Here is an example if the actual temp (input) sensor falls (no input) the board would send an output to shut off the cooling unit, on the other hand if the cooling unit sees no output control signal from the control board its fail safe condition would be to shut cooling system off. Basically fail safe condition of frig would be cooling unit off rather than full cooling.

You mentioned you were considering ordering the control board, what comes with it (board only, board + temp sensor, ??). I would say if board came with temp sensor for inside Frig should be pretty safe. If not I would find a way to check the temp sensor before assuming it is the board. My 2 cents or maybe in this case penny.

This is what happens when you retire and get older. Hope some of this makes sense.
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Old 03-26-2014, 03:23 AM   #10
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Thanks. I have looked and looked for the problem. I have not metered it yet. I am leaving for the beach today. I'll work at it there. I can use unit as a freezer for now. Cooler for cold stuff. Temp sensor is separate unit plug and play. Thanks for your input! Randy


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Old 03-31-2014, 10:14 AM   #11
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Frig worked for what I needed while gone this past week. I think it kept temps between 32 and 40 most of the time. Could be because we were in and out of the door.
BUT We had a friend who camped with his wife and us, he is a electronics engineer. He put a meter all over the control box. He seems to think its one of the relays gone bad. HE took everything out and put it all back together and we limped through the weekend. I will need a new control module before the next trip.
So my frig worked but did not work ???

randy
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Old 03-31-2014, 01:05 PM   #12
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There is a two year or three year warranty on Dometic refrigerators, double check the dates of your warranty before you go paying for replacement parts.
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Old 04-04-2014, 06:32 PM   #13
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Too late, ordered today, plus my camper is a 2011 bought fall 2010.

Randy
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Old 04-21-2014, 12:07 PM   #14
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Final update to frig problems.
Spent the better part of the last researching the frig problems as I had time.
Problem with thermistor inside the frig would cause a frozen frig. This is a fail safe mode. If the thermistor goes bad it defaults to major cold mode. better to go into freeze mode instead of hot mode(or shut down mode) this protects your food instead of losing it all. BUT because my frig was still running and nothing was on but still plugged into 120v we knew after Jerry tested it that some thing else was going on.
Ordered the control board from RV Adventures, best price on the interweb.
Was able to get this installed Saturday am. Jerry came out and helped me.
Test mode for two days.
Cooled like it was supposed too around 34-35 degree inside temps(good)
Turned it off at the front panel and it shut down completely (defrosted its self) and I wiped the water out of it last night. Left it off and will fire it all back up this weekend as we get ready for our early summer vacation to Ocean Lakes CG in Myrtle Beach.
SO after all my reading and research I have become a subject matter expert(SME) on thermistors and control boards on my model of frig.
This post may help someone down the road.
randy
PS for those that replied, you helped to point me in the right direction.
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