-
Dometic Fridge barely cold
I have the original Dometic fridge installed in 1992. AC/DC/LP Version. Flipped it on a week before my trip and the freezer iced up worse than usual so I turned off to defrost. Now it is just barely getting cold regardless of power source.
any ideas?
-
18 Replies
-
Liam,
Sounds like you need to decide between an Amish cooling unit to replace your failing unit or, much better choice in my humble opinion, a new residential refrigerator.
All the best in fixing this.
-
None of the new units really fit. Thinking Amish with the safer gas. Just trying to McGuiver something on the trip.
-
Something simple……coils clean?
-
Liam,
The old 3 ways do not have pumps for the freon. It circulates by thermal siphoning. They are very sensitive to being out of level. Also when they age there is some sort of crystals that form in the zig zag coil that can block the freon from moving freely. I was able to keep one like this working for many years with tip that a tech gave me. If you can get to the zig zag coil on the back, take a piece of 2×4 about a foot long or a hard rubber mallet and beat on it. Start at the bottom and work your way to the top with some sharp blows along the length of the coil. This should break up the crystals and allow freon to circulate again. Its been many years since i have done this but it seems it would keep it running for a year or so and then would need to be done again. Eventually the loosened crystals will block the coil at the bottom and this procedure will no longer work. Good luck. Jeff
-
Thanks for the advice. I can’t get to the coils. Just going to limp along with the fridge in the bay. I always knew this was going to happen some day. I emailed the Amish company in Elkhart.
Did I read somewhere that they use less flammable gas now?
-
The refrigerant used was amonia at one time.
-
I replaced mine with an Amish unit just over 2 years ago. It works well and gets really cold. The key is removing the heat from the exhaust compartment. If the compartment stays hot, it has a hard time cooling.
-
I made some calls and apparently my RM4804 was a rare model so the Amish don’t make a unit. I can only get a refurbished coil from a different Amish factory.
Did a quick exploratory today and noticed a pile of what looked like sulphur at the bottom of the chimney. Not there before. Any ideas? Just morbid curiosity.
-
Yellow in the compartment is a definite sign of tube/burner failure. Serious fires are not uncommon.
I recommend that you do not use the fridge and turn off all propane and electricity to the unit.
-
Trust me – everything off!
-
Liam call “Dinosuar electronics”, they are in Oregon. they make replacement boards for Dometic and Norcold RV refrigerators. They can walk you through troubleshooting it. I have the same Refrig. and they helped me.
1999 XLV X-6872, liberty #440 -
Liam,the yellow that you see is a sign the cooÅ‚ing coil is bad. like you said it is best to either try too get yours rebuilt or get à new refer.
-
Andre why would the coolant make the heater flues yellow? you would think the yellow would be around the coils.
Is the yellow all over the back side of the Refrigerator?
-
Inside the coil is ammonia and another substance. One way to tell if you have a bad cooÅ‚ing unit is(1)the smell of the ammonia. You probably didn’t smell that because the leak happened outside.The other way to tell is if you see a yellow substance at the burner.The burner is just above where the yellow substance is in your picture.
-
- There is an electric element and a gas burner Inside that galvanized tube if you remove it you’ll see where the coil has failed.
Log in to reply.