Last week when on our first trip for the year the refrig. on the last day of our trip stopped working on AC. So I switched it over to gas and it stated working again. I checked the GFCI's, I check the AC breakers and all are good. Not sure why it just stopped working on AC any ideas for me to check would be helpful.
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2015 Jayco Precept 31UL w/15000 miles
With CHF and Roadmaster Steering Stabilizer.
Do you have a meter? Check for voltage at the receptacle in the fridge compartment. Since those are press in wires they have been known to work loose. Other issues could be a bad circuit board or a bad heating element.
test for ohm ... Ohms is resistance
Volts squared divided by watts = ohms
Watts and volts are printed on end of each element.
I had the same issue the element read a resistance but it was not high enough. I just replaced it and it works fine now
Set meter for AC volts. If there is a voltage range setting make sure you select something above 120 volts. Set the fridge on AC and then put your meter leads across the AC heating element. You may have to look at a parts breakdown to see where that element is.
If you read 120 volts across the heating element and it is not heating, meaning the fridge is not cooling on AC, then the heating element is bad. If you do not read 120 volts there check the outlet that the fridge is plugged into. If you have the voltage there and the cord is plugged in solidly, chances are you have a fridge controller failure. This could be the board or a relay, if used, or whatever.
If there is no power at the outlet, check the circuit breakers. Reset all just to be sure.
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Jim
Retired electronic technician (45 years in the field)
2017 Greyhawk 29W (solar & many other mods)
wife (maybe I should have given her top billing)
Thanks for all of the replies so far. This is what I have done so far. I entered the diagnostic mode of the fridge using the service manual. I checked for the AC HE failure no failure found. Diag confirms I have AC input. I used an IR temp probe to confirm the heaters are working. I have cleared all codes to see if I get a new code. I'm going to run it for a few hours to see if I get a code. I did not see a control board failure code in the diag. mode so not sure what is going on. The heating elements have a 5 year warranty and I'm just outside of it.
Norcold Service Manual a good working heater element should have a ohms reading of 58-68 ohms. Keep in mind just because the element gets hot which it will if it has any sort of resistance does not mean it is good and can do the job. A 44 ohms reading is not good enough needs to be higher.
I always check the ohms on my heating elements before I do anything else. Especially when i know it is a couple years old. I have replaced 2 in my Chateau Sport and have yet to replace one in my Precept but if my fridge will not get cold that will be one of the the very first thing I check after the breaker and fuse
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2014 Jayco Precept 31 UL
1997 Four Winds Chateau Sport 23' (sold)
Mike your right. The fridge was not starting the cycle so I knew it must be the elements not hot enough. So I measured the resistance and they both measured as shorted. So looks like I need 2 new heating elements. The interesting thing is that the diag mode of the fridge did not show the elements failed. Must be only if they are open. How easy is it to pull the elements up out of the heating tube?
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2015 Jayco Precept 31UL w/15000 miles
With CHF and Roadmaster Steering Stabilizer.
Once its cooled it has a curvature on the top... just grab it with a pair of pliers and wiggle it left and right as you pull up. Comes out rather easy with a little pressure. It's longer than you think so once you get it up then lower the grip on your pliers or you can grab it with your fingers and pull it out. It sits in a tube. Pull the insulation back a little and be careful of the metal/hard casing as the edges can be sharp.
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2014 Jayco Precept 31 UL
1997 Four Winds Chateau Sport 23' (sold)
I'm a little concerned I may not be able to remove the heaters because the service manual states to remove the heating elements you have to remove the fridge from the cabinet.
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2015 Jayco Precept 31UL w/15000 miles
With CHF and Roadmaster Steering Stabilizer.
DISNEY LOVERS
Linear Mode
