Furrion, 12v. DC, 8cu.ft., Fridge Kaput!

[Cookiejar]

The Furrion, 12v. DC, 8cu. ft., refrigerator in our 2021 Jay Feather 25RB died last week. Started prepping for vacation but it never got cold. Only the 2nd time we have used the trailer since taking possession last May. Relegated to ice-in-coolers for only the second week vacation in our new trailer.
The door light works but no cooling/freezing. Compressor periodically "wheezes" 2-3 times but that's it. Circuit breaker, and fuse AOK (light works). Have appointment with our dealer who told me they have had another one go recently and after several calls with Furrion and running several tests, Furrion finally sent a new unit.
This is our 5th RV in 35 years. Never had a large appliance problem. Hopefully, this episode isn't a harbinger of poor Furrion quality. Especially since virtually all of the large appliances (except the water heater) are Furrion. Needless to say, not a happy camper!
Wondering if anyone else has had problems with their Furrion fridge or other appliances?

[Old and soft]

If it makes you feel any better, our water heater would not fire on our 2nd trip. Warranty just expired and that was the only real issue that wasn't self inflicted.

[Camp4two]

Originally Posted by Cookiejar

The Furrion, 12v. DC, 8cu. ft., refrigerator in our 2021 Jay Feather 25RB died last week. Started prepping for vacation but it never got cold. Only the 2nd time we have used the trailer since taking possession last May. Relegated to ice-in-coolers for only the second week vacation in our new trailer.
The door light works but no cooling/freezing. Compressor periodically "wheezes" 2-3 times but that's it. Circuit breaker, and fuse AOK (light works). Have appointment with our dealer who told me they have had another one go recently and after several calls with Furrion and running several tests, Furrion finally sent a new unit.
This is our 5th RV in 35 years. Never had a large appliance problem. Hopefully, this episode isn't a harbinger of poor Furrion quality. Especially since virtually all of the large appliances (except the water heater) are Furrion. Needless to say, not a happy camper!
Wondering if anyone else has had problems with their Furrion fridge or other appliances?

I never wanted the optional 12V Furrion refrigerator in our 2021 25RB. I had the Dometic gas/elect regrigerator over four former trailers. I was never a fan of relying on one power source, especially when dry camping. Yes, you get a larger capacity refrigerator with the 12V Furrion, but if it ever fails you are sunk. With a gas/elect you can switch over and keep on traveling. I suggest you work out something with your dealer to replace the Furrion 12V with a gas/electric one. Never had an issue with Dometic.

[Marcm157]

Our current trailer is our first with a 12 Volt fridge. It's a Norcold and I was reluctant to move in that direction for the same reason Camp4 stated. A single power source. Plus when we travel long distance my current battery will only get me appx 6 hours of operation. I know I could go LifePo4 and solar but I really can't justify the expense.

We are keeping our fingers crossed that the Norcold 12 Volt holds up well.

[Cookiejar]

Yeah Camp4Two, we no longer boondock so figured the extra capacity and fewer moving parts (well, parts, anyway) made sense. And, 50 years later, never had a problem with the dual (elec./propane) setup, but what was it someone once said about changing horses in the middle of the stream? Looks like we're gonna find out how deep the stream is! Thanks. Safe travels.

[goducks]

Well with an absorption fridge if the circuit board fails or the cooling tubes fail you're SOL as well. BTDT with a 1.5 year old Norcold.
Priced a new Norcold NA8LXR lately. Almost $1800.
Slow to cool, inefficient in high temps, need additional fans sometimes, etc.
I made the switch to a GE 12V fridge and with the exception of overloading my 12V side of the trailer when dry camping it's a much more efficient fridge than the Norcold was.
Disclaimer, I already had 400W of solar on the roof and 4 6V GC batteries so it was a no brainer to go 12V.
No need to plug in or get propane as the solar panels keep everything running 24/7 when parked at home.
Any part can fail but with a 12V fridge there's very little that can go wrong compared to an absorption fridge. Absorption fridges are great until they aren't then the $$$ starts flying out of your wallet.

[Cookiejar]

Thanks goducks. All the reasons you mention are why I chose the 12v. DC option. I just hope the Furrion brand isn't a lemon in sheep's clothing. Safe travels.

[charliehemp]

We have the 12 volt fridge in our 25RB. My wife likes the extra room. I share the concern for the loss of dual power. So far we have not needed to depend on the life of the battery for more than a couple of hours but it could definitely be an issue if we have a refrigerator full of food and get delayed somewhere.

[Kim Gass]

Thats why we regard our 12v Norcold as a big cooler. When we can we freeze soda bottles full of water and it acts as a cooler when placed in the fridge decreasing run time. It is a bit of a learning curve getting your fridge to not use all your available power. We do have a small generator ( Honda 2000eI) It won't run the A/C but in our area the A/C is rarely necessary. We can't run the genny all night but at least in the day it will recharge the batteries enough to keep the fridge running.. We turn it off at night and move the bottles to the refrigerator compartment out of the freezer.

I too prefer a dual fuel fridge but it is possible to cope. We don't camp in solar friendly campgrounds so that solar panel on the roof is just an ornament.

[charliehemp]

Freezing water bottles is a good idea. We usually freeze a dozen or more before loading up and we let the fridge run a couple of days before we load it. But this is South Texas and we call it a cold front when the temp drops below 98 degrees.

[Cookiejar]

When our Furrion 12v fridge went belly-up, we froze several one gallon jugs full of water. Two of them kept the fridge nice and cool for 2 1/2 days. Then we switched to filling the one gallon jugs with ice cubes (couldn't get blocks). Cut the top of the jugs on 3 sides to form a kind of hinged top to keep the cubes in. Cubes lasted nearly twice as long in the jugs (1 1/2 days) vs. leaving them in bags in the fridge (and not as messy). Same approach worked well enough in our portable cooler for the overflow.
The improvised system got us through the week OK here in the northeast with outside temps in the high 70s.

[Johnynorthland]

When our Norcold absorption fridge started giving us problems I purchased one of those portable cooler/freezer as a backup. It runs on 120V, 12V, has an optional battery and can charge it with solar! We absolutely love it! We store extra stuff in it, use it on car trips to Disney, put it out during parties instead of buying ice and having wet cans and bottles! I highly recommend one.

Ours is a Change Moore, it’s also Bluetooth, with a very easy to use app, can be a mix of fridge/freezer, there are other brands out there, but not all run on battery and or solar.

[mrpavette]

My old trailer had a Dometic gas electric fridge which was slightly over 2 years old. Had nothing but problems with it. The RV dealers A/C technician couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Wasn’t working on Elect, fixed that, than wouldn’t-work on propane. Could get the problem figured out. Dometic wasn’t any help, told the A/C technician to tell me buy a new fridge. Will never buy another Dometic product. My present travel trailer has a Norcold gas elect and works good. Sometimes it may not switch over on it’s own to propane. I just shut it off and turn back on once or twice. Jayco dealera said there was no issues with it. Glad it at least works.

[Johnynorthland]

Originally Posted by mrpavette

My old trailer had a Dometic gas electric fridge which was slightly over 2 years old. Had nothing but problems with it. The RV dealers A/C technician couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Wasn’t working on Elect, fixed that, than wouldn’t-work on propane. Could get the problem figured out. Dometic wasn’t any help, told the A/C technician to tell me buy a new fridge. Will never buy another Dometic product. My present travel trailer has a Norcold gas elect and works good. Sometimes it may not switch over on it’s own to propane. I just shut it off and turn back on once or twice. Jayco dealera said there was no issues with it. Glad it at least works.

I had same issue with my Norcold not switching over. I was told by Norcold to always start on propane, then switch to auto. It seem to help. After 3 RV’s with absorption fridges Im done with them all! Besides carring my electric portable cooler, Im going to switch over to residential, run my Gen while driving. We really don’t do much boon docking. And I have a 3,000 WH solar generator that I carry as a backup just incase, it will run a small fridge for 1-2 days maybe longer with no problem.