Refridgerators - need information.

[rgdiz]

Hi Folks,

We are new to RVing and could use a little info to help us make our decision.

We recently bought a 27' 1995 Southwind Storm that looked to be in reasonable shape, (not really true, and a great argument for buying from a dealer, not a private party)  but we noticed that the fridge didn't get down below 48 degrees and the freezer just barely got to 18 degrees (Fahrenheit). When we got back from our shakedown cruise, we took it in to be serviced, and asked to have the fridge looked at to see if it might be something we missed. BTW we were on the road for 3 weeks and had nothing go bad in the fridge in that time.

The service people are telling us that the fridge is bad , so my question is - What is considered a good make of fridge and who has the best service/warranty?

Thanks for any info you can provide,

Ron

 

[Ron]

First thing I would do is call the manufacturer service probably Dometic or Nocold and explain the symptoms to them and then act on their recommendation.  What make and model fridge is it?  Sometimes there is a simple fix like just cleaning the vent.  If that is a possibility the manufacturer service folks will tell you how to do that.

 

[Bob Flight]

Since the refrig is making the compartment cold, I'd suggest you look at the following:
(1) Are all door seals tight?  Test by putting a small piece of paper between the door seal & the frame, pull it out slowly and you should feel a resistance.  Apply this test to all areas of the seal for all doors.  It is common for the seals to not seal in the corners.  The seals can also fail due to large cracks or tears.  If the seal is bad, replacements are available.
(2) Look at any location within the cabinet that had a wire or tubing coming thru it to verify that the sealant is still tight.  Reseal as needed.
(3) Look on the outside of the refrig.  On the cooling col side of the refrig there should be no obstructions of air flow from the access panel door to thru the roof vent.  Animals like to make nests.  Clean as needed.
(4) Disassemble the burner area enough to look and see that the burner does not have any rust scale from the flue sitting on top of it.  Clean as needed.

We have had problems with rust scale dropping on top of the burner effectively reducing it heat output then causing the refrig to warm up.  We have had to replace the door seals once, the plastic developed large cracks.  The dealer installed an adhesive backed replacement.  The adhesive let go after 1 year.  Superglue fixed it, lasted for 5 years until we replaced the refrig.

Hope this helps.

Robert Flight, NY

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

There are  two companies making gas-absorption refrigerators for RVs - Dometic & Norcold. Both make excellent products, but these fridges are a bit complex and sometimes have oddball cooling problems like yours.  I would not leap to the conclusion yours needs replacement, at least not yet.  The fact that the freezer gets to 18 degrees suggests it is still working fairly well.  Try the advice the others have suggested and let us know if there is any improvement.  Also check the fridge trouble-shooting advice offered at this site:  http://www.rvmobile.com/Tech/Trouble/CoolingD.htm