New Travel Lite 625 SL with a busted Dometic RM 2354 Fridge

Hi All,

I'm new.  I'm also having trouble with my Dometic RM 2354 fridge.  My camper is brand new and they tested the fridge before I brought it home. It was working fine. I turned it off for a few days and when I turned it back on, it won't cool.  I've had it running for a few days with nothing in it.  I tried moving the truck so it's on level ground, that didn't help. I checked the roof vents, there are no obstructions. I tried unplugging the thermistor as Dometic suggested and that didn't work. (They said if the thermistor is bad, once removed the fridge should continuously get cold.) I'm waiting for a control board to arrive from Amazon tonight and I was going to try replacing that.  I have a camping trip scheduled for this weekend and I'm really hoping to get it working.  The nearest service center can't look at it until 9/21.  I'm also thinking of buying a multimeter and running through the directions in the service manual.  Does anyone have any additional advice?  Thanks so much!!!

Dianne

Old Smokey (F150) and the Gerber Baby (Travel Lite 625 SL)

First piece of advice is don't spend money throwing parts at it until proper troubleshooting has been done.
Have you tried it on both propane and electric shore power? Have you checked to make sure you have 12 volt DC power for the controls?

Checked circuit breakers, fuses?  Checked shore power and propane?  Does fridge light work, and turn off when door closes?

Any reason you haven't made a warranty claim with your dealer? It may have worked at the dealer, but now it doesn't. Since it's brand new, you should be able to get a warranty repair or replacement on the fridge.
No need to spend your own money on a new rig to get it fixed.
Having said all that, perhaps you missed a step in starting it up? Maybe you are trying to run it on propane and the tank valves are closed? If trying to run on AC, is the rig plugged in to shore power?
If none of those, seems like a call to the dealer for warranty service is in order.

And... be aware it can take up to 24 hours to cool down, especially when empty. If you had it on only for a short period, it may be working but not as quickly as you imagined it would. You could possibly speed up that cool down time by adding a couple of ice packs. Does it fail to light on propane or on electric or both?? Do the pipes in the back get warm/hot (careful!!)??

Also, you have to remember that an RV fridge is essentially silent, so if you're listening for noises similar to a house fridge, you won't hear any.

Thanks everyone for the help.  I do have it connected to shore power and I checked all the fuses.  Both A/C and Propane seem to be the same, I can feel that the insulated tin furnace area is hot. You are right Alpha38user, I am beginning realize that it does cool extremely slowly. After leaving it alone for more than 24 hours the freezer has finally made it to 28 degrees but the fridge is still at 62.  I received the control board I ordered yesterday but it was the wrong one. I have another one coming today.  Apparently they don't make the 3850712013 anymore but the one I got yesterday wasn't the correct replacement. It had all the proper connection points but it would only function on gas.  I have a Dometic Circuit Board 3316348.900 w/ reigniter coming today.  Fingers crossed that this fixes the problem. I've been reading a great deal about absorption technology and I really want my compressor back! I'm about ready to kick this fridge out the big hole it's in and put a dorm fridge in there! I know everyone can't understand why I don't just wait for service but I really really wanted to use it this weekend!  Authorized service isn't available for another month.  Anyway, this thread was encouraging...especially the second to last comment...

http://community.fmca.com/topic/4046-dometic-refrigerator-freezer-works-but-refrigerator-wont-cool/

At least I'm at this point now.  Maybe there is still hope.

Dianne

Old Smokey (F150) and the Gerber Baby (Travel Lite 625 SL)

How are you measuring the fridge temperature? A pocket thermometer in a small glass of water works very well. If you just have a thermometer laying on the rack, the temperature it shows will be a good bit higher than the actual fridge by the time you pick it up and read it.

Thanks again everyone for the help!  I gave up on the fridge and left for camping with an ice chest.  I wound up just throwing some drinks in the fridge mainly for storage. To my surprise I woke up this morning to cold drinks!!!  The fridge is working!  It has to be because at home i was using a 15 amp adapter and now at the site i have a full 30 amp supply.  I'm going to have to have home upgraded to comply. 

The reason I kept asking how you were measuring the temp is because if you don't measure it correctly, you will think the fridge is hotter than it should be, and then think it's not working correctly. It may have been working fine the whole time. Also, if you were running off level as it seemed you were doing in your first post, you may have started to "lock it up". When you started going down the road, the "lock up/blockage" may have corrected itself.

I came back from camping and within a few hours of being plugged back into 15 amps the fridge went warm again.  I intend on finding out for sure if this is the electrical.  This weekend I'm going to be home cleaning the garage.  I have a generator with a 30amp supply.  I'm going to run the camper off the generator all day and see if the fridge temp goes back up.  It's going to be a great test to find out if my theory is right.  If it is, I'm going to need an electrician to put in a 30amp outlet on my driveway because I don't want to have to bring an ice chest every time I go somewhere!  Thanks again for all the help!

diannenaughton said:

I came back from camping and within a few hours of being plugged back into 15 amps the fridge went warm again.  I intend on finding out for sure if this is the electrical.  This weekend I'm going to be home cleaning the garage.  I have a generator with a 30amp supply.  I'm going to run the camper off the generator all day and see if the fridge temp goes back up.  It's going to be a great test to find out if my theory is right.  If it is, I'm going to need an electrician to put in a 30amp outlet on my driveway because I don't want to have to bring an ice chest every time I go somewhere!  Thanks again for all the help!

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Being 15 Amp or 30 Amp should not make any difference.

Diane, make sure that 30 amp plug on your generator is 120 volt and NOT 240 volt. If it is 240 and you plug into, you could do some expensive damage.