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Amana fridge
I have a h3-45 with an Amana fridge in it that just stop cooling all of a sudden was working great before the last time I shut down the bus for the winter as I’m going through all the systems now I come to find my fridge isn’t cooling the first issue I’m having is trying to figure out how the heck to get it out of its location, then Check why it’s not cooling I believe I hear the compressor running but don’t feel the fans on the inside pushing the cold air.
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56 Replies
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Most of us with the Amana vintage fridges just replace them, parts are almost impossible to find and it’s a non ending battle.
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We had an Amanda in our 1999 Liberty. It too quit working a year or two after we bought the coach. I talked to a refrigerator guy who told me it could be one of three things and if I pulled it out he could check through three things. Two were fixable, one (failed compressor) was fatal.
I called Jeff Rowe at East Tennessee Luxury Coach for his thoughts. He was pretty blunt. Refrigerator was the 16 or 17 years old. How much longer did I think it would last? If you fix it now and it fails on a long trip, what are you going to do with the $400 to $500 of food in the refrigerator that no longer works? How are you going to source a new one and get it installed on the road?
I heeded his words, bought a new Kenmore and had it installed.
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Yea I guess after giving it some thought it is probably best to just replace it, on a replacement it has to come out and in via the front windshield right? Definitely doesn’t fit out the entrance door?
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My 2000 Amana did same thing …so i just bought a refrigeration punchure valve and connected up a vacuum to the compressor fill line from factory. Vaccumed system…. filled system with R134 with a leak stop till I had the recommended charge and the Amana has been working for a year since then. It was well worth $50.00 in gas and part plus 2 hours to pull and replace the cabinet in the toilet area that gives you free access to back of refrigerator. My bus not yours.
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I had a similar issue with the Amana Refrigerator in my 2000 H3-45 Featherlite. I replaced the evaporator fan motor and the defrost thermostat and corrected the problem. It was a fairly simple process. Ordered both parts from Amazon:
Whirlpool 10513803 Evaporator Motor – $44.32
Whirlpool R0161088 Defrost Thermostat – $34.18
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If you buy a new one, I highly recommend you avoid Samsung.
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Yea those where my thoughts that the parts would be cheap and was to fix and a lot faster fix than having to take the bus to a shop pull them window and out she goes.
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I fought the fight with the Amana in our previous coach. I got so good I could pull apart the dining area to make room for the refrigerator, pull the refrigerator out and move it to a spot where I could get around it.
I made a platform to roll it from it mounting location.
I replaced the evaporator fan, the condenser fan, and then the evaporator coil. After about 20 months of fixing it and having the potential of loss of food I threw in the towel and replaced it with a Bosch that was selected because it was almost identical dimensions to the Amana.
One of the biggest mistakes was trying to nurse an old refrigerator back to health. In an afternoon with help from a coach converter the old Amana was brought out the window, the Bosch was brought in through the window and installed in place, the window was put back in and the Amana was in the back of my pickup and on the way to the dump where it should have been 20 months earlier.
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After several attempts to fix the original refrig in our 2000 Marathon H3-45 none slid….. I yelled uncle.
Located a new one through Sears in Dallas. Marathon called me that Sears delivered it to Marathon at Grand Prairie TX. Marathon service opened up the shipping container and plugged it in on there shop floor.
Getting there 2 days later, replacement started at 7:30 and they finished at around 3:00 pm.
On that bus the in and out was through the “Taco Window” in salon.passenger side. Marathons fork lift was used to receive the refrig the doors and striped down lowering weight.
This is another gift to the poor Iowa mega farmer who owns the bus today.
It was replaced with the Sears Kenmore #51789.
Only modification / change done was removing the bottom rollers.
AL
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I’ve been hanging around this forum for too many years. Jon is rubbing off on me and I’m acting like never before. I threw away a perfectly good refrigerator because it was 14 years old.
I was headed to Vonore for my annual mechanical and A/V maintenance. On my way there the car in front of me swerved, his back tire hit 1 of 3 objects in the road and hit my windshield. Luckily I was in a Prevost and thinking of Boater Al’s “This Video Could Save Your Life” and just kept going without skipping a beat on I-75.
While the driver’s windshield was being replaced, I said to my wife, now would be the time to get a new refrigerator even though I knew it was the wrong window to bring it in.
Planning a west coast trip in the fall Jon convinced me telepathically that I certainly wouldn’t want to have the refrigerator go bad in the middle of who knows where. I”m not handy at all so Jon’s reoccurring wisdom seemed to make sense…replace it before it breaks down on an enjoyable trip.
Done. New Whirlpool.
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Wow, that’s a helluva hit!
Don’t worry Al, every morning I bow to the south!
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Jon,Truk,
Aren’t Samsung refrigerators confused by our Trace Inverters ?
Jim Beaueax,
Great to hear that video I post saved your passengers from personal injury and damage to your bus.
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Jimmy, why would you take those pictures while laying on your side, did they wake you?
Al – Not familiar with any Samsung inverter issues.
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The only anecdotal evidence I have heard, but have no way to verify is newer style appliances, refrigerators in particular will have issues with modified since wave as compared to pure sine wave inverters.
Peter Campbell laid a lot of blame for refrigerator problems on his modified sine wave inverters.
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Al … do you remember what Marathon charged to swap out the refrigerator?
As I might have said, based on Jeff’s recommendation about refrigerators and other electronics not liking MSW when one of my original inverters failed, I had Jeff put FSW inverters in the coach.
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