refrigerator temperature maintenance

[pa-traveler]

hello, we just joined your forum!

and have a few questions.

we have 2002 citation travel trailer, i noticed from the time we bought it the frig always seemed to freeze things on the top shelf (good place for beer) until this season, now its not real cold at all.

am i missing a maintenance steep somewhere?

also what type of maintenance should be performed on our a/c unit?

thanks for your help in advance!

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

No maintenance is needed on the fridge, except possibly vacuuming out the propane burner tube anually. Rust sometimes colects in their and eventualy the burner won't light.  But if it lights at all, the fridge works fine. And if you normally run it on electric rather than propane, it makes no difference at all.  Have you tried it on both electric and propane, to see if there is a difference in performance?

I suspect your cooling problem is one of four things:
(1) Door seals are no longer tight, allowing warm air to enter. Close a new, crisp dollar bill in the door at several places and try to pull it out. If here is litle or no resiistance, the door seal is not closing the gap cmpletely.
2) You have packed too much stuff around the cooling fins at he back of the uper shelf, inhibiting air circulation. Leave some room between those beer cans for air to move.  One of the little batery operaed fans in th efridge sometimes helps too.
(3) The temperature sensor on the cooling fin has gotten moved or is not making good contact. It is usually clipped to the right side fin. Try sliding it up or down a little to see if it has any effect.
(4) A blockage in the outside air tower, where air flows in through the outer grill and up across the heat exchanger fins and out through the roof vent. Once in awhile dirt, spider webs or even birds/mice nests get in there and block the air flow, drastically reducing cooler efficiency.

Let's hope it is one of those, cause the alternative is a failing cooling unit, which is VERY expensive to replace.

 

[pa-traveler]

thanks for your help, ill check your list out.

how about the a/c unit, any maintenance needed there? i have noticed some condensation around the a/c unit on the interior side and 1 vent by the door had some, im thinking it is just from the humidity, good guess or not.

also when the a/c unit turns off it kinda makes a thunk, i dont remember it doing that before.

thanks again!