Help Request - New to me 2005 Bounder

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

chargerrich

Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2018
Posts
11
Our family bought our first motor home last month and it has been at the dealer getting some work done and looked over. We just got it back this week and are preparing for a trip next week. I think I have figured most things out but I think the refrigerator and ice maker do not a appear to be working.

I wanted to make sure I have checked everything before taking it back to dealer. It is a dometic ?new dimensions? side by side. At the top on the outside there is an on/off button, a gas or auto button, an AC light and 5 buttons for cold settings. All the buttons work and light up but after trying for 30 minutes with both gas and AC neither unit was even remotely cold.

I was NOT plugged in to 50a service and was just running off gen at home to test.

Inside the fridge were two rocker switches label off and on but I have no idea what they are for. Is there anything else to check before I take it to get looked at?

Sorry for the noob questions and thank you in advance.
 
Your RV uses an absorption fridge, not a compressor type. It can take 12 hours or more to cool, and sometimes 24 hours. Loading with precooled food/drinks with help with the cool down. I can't help you with the buttons though.
 
Been there.  Did that.

Did your motorhome come with an expandable file contains about 100 manuals?  If it didn't you're going to become very familiar with google or whatever search engine you use. 

But fear not!  Downloadable manuals are readily available and fairly easy to find.  All you need is a model number of the device, in this instance the refrigerator.

If you can't find a manual just ask here.
 
Lol yes... at least 100 manuals. I read the dometic 2 pager but it not very helpful. I did note that the RV has to be level. Would that make the fridge not work at all? Just trying to determine if fridge is dead or it?s a user error lol.
 
Depending on how far it is off level, it may work poorly or not at all, but as kdbgoat mentioned above, even when level waiting 20 or 30 minutes for a sign of cooling for the absorption type fridge doesn't tell you much -- it takes quite a while, sometimes overnight or more, to get down to operating temperature. You'll generally find the first signs of cooling in the freezer.
 
I would leave it on the auto setting. Make sure you have propane if not connected to AC. Let it sit at least 24hrs and check. If you load it with non cooled food or drinks also will bring temp back down. We used to try and load ours a couple days before leaving to let fridge catch up on cooling that way the door was not being open and closed.
As far as the inside on and off switch it could possibly be for the ice maker.

When we had RV fridges we never shut them off during the season. That was our preference though. It seemed to help keep it cool. We were hooked up to ac though not burning propane.
 
Being seriously unlevel for a short period would not kill the fridge unless  already on its last legs. Being seriously off level will shorten its life.
The unit does NOT have to be perfectly level.    little bit either way is okay.

Now before you go on that trip please tell us how OLD the tires are.  They can look brand new but if they are over 6-7 years old they have most likely aged out of useability.
 
chargerrich said:
Sorry for the noob questions and thank you in advance.
Please do not apologize for asking a question. Questions are the only reason for any online forum to exist. The vast majority of people using these forums are too shy to register and they usually have questions they are too shy to ask. Your question helps people. Meanwhile wait 24 hours before deciding your refer does not work.
 
Inside the fridge were two rocker switches label off and on but I have no idea what they are for.

Those switches have to do with humidity control on the door seals (heaters), useful in very humid environments. I seem to remember they use 120V but I do not have my manuals handy so I cannot confirm that. I have always left those in the OFF position, even in humid S.Florida. I have 2 Dometic fridges and I think they are only on the one with the ice maker.
 
As Stu says, one switches is for a small 12v heater (not 120v) that prevents condensation from forming around the door edges and called Climate Control Switch. It uses 12v power. It can be left in the Off position unless you see water droplets on the door frame, typically between freezer and fridge sections.

The other switch is called Low Ambient and is used only when outside temperatures get low. Dometic says "below 50", but that is overly cautious. I would suggest more like "below 35" and only if several hours at those temperatures.

Both of these switches are covered in the New Dimensions manual, so maybe read it again? Or maybe yours is just a short form - download the real manual at http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/operating/ndr1292.pdf
 
Ghostman said:
When we had RV fridges we never shut them off during the season. That was our preference though. It seemed to help keep it cool. We were hooked up to ac though not burning propane.

Thank you for all the feedback. How do you keep the fridge running all season? Will the Fridge run off standard home AC power (15a I am guessing)?
 
chargerrich said:
Thank you for all the feedback. How do you keep the fridge running all season? Will the Fridge run off standard home AC power (15a I am guessing)?

Yes, just plug it in to a standard 15/20 Amp Circuit.
 
"It" meaning the motorhome via an adapter on the power cord ... there's no need to run a separate extension cord to the fridge.  ;)

As a bonus, the converter will keep your house batteries charged at the same time.  Just don't turn on the air conditioner unless you're plugged into more substantial power or running the generator.
 
Lou Schneider said:
"It" meaning the motorhome via an adapter on the power cord ... there's no need to run a separate extension cord to the fridge.  ;)

As a bonus, the converter will keep your house batteries charged at the same time.  Just don't turn on the air conditioner unless you're plugged into more substantial power or running the generator.

Excellent info. Thank you. One more question if you don?t mind. If I have my MH plugged into 15a home AC can I turn on the generator and then the air conditioner without unplugging the 15a? My MH has a ?smart power? control but did not know if it combines the amps produced by gen and shore power.
 
did not know if it combines the amps produced by gen and shore power.

You cannot use shore power and the generator at the same time. What you can leave plugged in when switching from one to the other depends on how your rig is wired, but it's best to have little or nothing that uses AC turned on when switching -- this minimizes chances of arcing/damage to contacts and such.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
131,752
Posts
1,384,333
Members
137,524
Latest member
freetoroam
Back
Top Bottom