Dometic Fridge not cooling

chrismoore701 · 07-01-2022, 05:30 AM

So the freezer is cold, but fridge does not seem to be cooling. I kicked it over to gas this morning and it fired see if that helps.

I turned it on Wednesday, and last night it was flashing check. Opened fridge and the sliding thermostat was sitting on the shelf. Wonder if that tripped it. Shut it down for the night. Fired up this morning and after 2 hours again freezer cold and not fridge. That is when I kicked it over to gas.

Wonder if something broke, or I need a hard reset. Any other thoughts?

Thanks

TWP723 · 07-01-2022, 05:35 AM

The whole thermostat was on the shelf or..??

chrismoore701 · 07-01-2022, 05:41 AM

It clips on the fin in the back of the fridge and has a wire on it. That was sitting on the shelf

TWP723 · 07-01-2022, 06:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrismoore701

It clips on the fin in the back of the fridge and has a wire on it. That was sitting on the shelf

Too coincidental not to be the culprit. I'd say it's definitely in the running.

chrismoore701 · 07-01-2022, 07:40 AM

It is now running ok on propane. Will check it tonight when we get to the campsire

Nature Ist · 07-01-2022, 08:02 AM

If the freezer is at normal cold temperature (making ice) the refrigerator should be getting the proper amount of cooling as well. The cooling fins in the refer and the freezer are not separated by any mechanical means. The crucial thing is to use a thermometer in both the freezer and the refrigerator to know exactly what the temperatures are.
If you found the thermostat assembly had fallen off the cooling fins in the refrigerator section, that would have made the cooling system run constantly, which should have made the refer and freezer both very cold. I doubt the thermostat dislocation would have caused a "check" light to come on.
When the "check" light came on, it was because one of several things happened; loss of power and the propane did not take over (assuming it had been running on auto) or possibly a control board issue. Another possibility if the fridge section is not cooling normally while the freezer is making ice: the door may not have been completely closed or the door gasket has an issue.
There are a lot of possibilities, you do need to give the system time to get to correct temperature. Start with thermometers in both freezer and refrigerator sections.

chrismoore701 · 07-01-2022, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nature Ist

If the freezer is at normal cold temperature (making ice) the refrigerator should be getting the proper amount of cooling as well. The cooling fins in the refer and the freezer are not separated by any mechanical means. The crucial thing is to use a thermometer in both the freezer and the refrigerator to know exactly what the temperatures are.
If you found the thermostat assembly had fallen off the cooling fins in the refrigerator section, that would have made the cooling system run constantly, which should have made the refer and freezer both very cold. I doubt the thermostat dislocation would have caused a "check" light to come on.
When the "check" light came on, it was because one of several things happened; loss of power and the propane did not take over (assuming it had been running on auto) or possibly a control board issue. Another possibility if the fridge section is not cooling normally while the freezer is making ice: the door may not have been completely closed or the door gasket has an issue.
There are a lot of possibilities, you do need to give the system time to get to correct temperature. Start with thermometers in both freezer and refrigerator sections.

Thank you, it is possible that I turned it on with the gas and never opened the tanks, just odd that I turned it on correctly and never really cooled off. but will give it time this weekend

Thanks
Chris

CAG · 07-01-2022, 10:45 AM

If you are referring to the Thermister that attaches to the fins in the fridge, yes that could be the problem. The higher on the fins it is placed the colder the temps will be.

Additionally if you had it on electric or on gas and one of those failed the fridge should kick over to the other (on auto). If you do not have "auto" or it was only set for one and that one failed it will give you and error. A momentary outage of electric will do that or if it cannot get gas to the flame it will do that.

chrismoore701 · 07-03-2022, 07:17 AM

Fridge working good this trip. Thanks for the thoughts

Randel J · 07-04-2022, 04:05 PM

Yours sounds like a problem we had with our refrigerator in the middle of a 2-week trip. Had to finish our camping trip by using the fridge like an ice chest by packing it with fresh ice every day.

When we finally were able to bring our TT to dealer to have the fridge worked on, the service tech said it was a bad control board. It seems that refrigerator control boards are a major culprit when trailer units go "south".

chrismoore701 · 07-05-2022, 05:15 AM

I think we were not giving it enough time to cool. It started cooling on gas and was fine for the rest of the trip

01tundra · 07-05-2022, 08:20 AM

The refrigerator and freezer sections are served by a single refrigeration circuit.

The freezer section always cools down first. But if one is cooling, so is the other.

As far as the thermistor, you found your problem. In our Dometic the thermistor would not stay in the clip at the top of the fins, so I added a small zip tie and that solved the issue for good.

Installing a Dinosaur Electronics variable thermistor adjuster helped the temperature control in our refrigerator greatly.

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