refrigeraTor and other electrical

[khenrie]

My smartphone is not so smart sometimes. Bear with me.

Refrigerator has not worked thus far. Been getting by with ice for three weeks & I am sick to death of it. Help!

We took it to repair shop in denver. They replaced control board and said it was fixed. It was not. Unfortunately we were in Texas before we knew that. Dh did not want to travel with propane on.
now. He doesn't want to call another repair guy. Is thinking of buying an elec household refrigat sears to replace ours. Thoughts?

Also house battery is not working to run 12volt. Replaced battery checkedfuses and circuits. I am beginning to know the manual by heart.

Ugh!

[retiredhappy]

Don't think regular frigs are meant to be bounced around while driving. RV frig can be used on elec or propane. Where in Texas are you? I have a couple of good RV techs here in Kerrville.

[khenrie]

We're in rockport. There are quite a few repair guys here.

[carold]

Sorry to hear about your problems, Kim. We've been traveling for 6 years and always have our propane on for the refrigerator when on the road. I do remember a former post on this subject, but still not sure why people think it's a bad idea. Agree with Karen about a regular frig. Hope someone can figure out your electrical problems soon. carold

[Bethers]

I wouldn't go with a regular fridge unless you never plan to drive. And I would use the propane when driving. I know some don't, but that's what it's for. Does the fridge work on propane? Have you checked that? The circuit board should be warranteed, and that's one of the most expensive things on the fridge, so I would defnitely have someone come look at it.

Also, make sure the battery isn't in disconnect mode? It sounds like a bad connection, but I'm not sure on that. The repair guy could help with that. I used a mobile repair service out of Aransas Pass when I was in that area - but I'm sure there are some close to you in Rockport.

Good luck - I can hear the frustration in your writing. Hugs to you.

[khenrie]

Thanks all.

I agree about the non-rv refrigerator - but for me its just a hunch - I have no grounds to argue. So, nice to hear some of you share my thoughts on that. We have a Norcold 621 that does have auto-switch from propane to electric, however, it is not running on either at the moment and gives different error codes for each. There is a fuse on the new control board that blows out each time we replace it. The propane is burning, but the unit does not cool and after about 15-20 minutes, it shuts down and gives us an error code. We WERE having problems with the battery disconnect switch and haven't figured that out yet. Now wondering if this can affect our refrigerator. Thought that was just about the 12 volt system. Would it affect the refrigerator?

Perhaps I can suggest we replace the battery disconnect switch and see if that helps. (Yes, I know a serviceman would be a better solution, but..... )

Thanks for listening. Yes, I am getting frustrated and trying to type on a smartphone is even more frustrating, lol. Now I'm on the laptop, so you get a kinder, gentler me.

[Bethers]

Talk to the people at your rv park. Sometimes the mobile rv guys will not charge a separate service charge if they are in the park to see someone else. But it does sound like you have some type of electrical issue. They might or might not be related but need to be addressed. I'm not sure it's the battery disconnect, could just be a bad connection to the system. I do know that the battery is necessary for the fridge on gas. I don't know about it effecting anything when plugged in - BUT - if it's connected wrong, it might. I remember when Jean's battery was connected wrong, every light she turned on blew. They said she was sending the wrong current - could have been dangerous. And with you blowing fuses, something isn't connected right. Don't want you to have a fire - so it needs to be addressed.

My two cents.

[cpatinjones]

Sorry to hear about your problems. Hopefully, you will get them resolved soon. Hang in there.

[Acadianmom]

I agree with Beth, it sounds like you have some kind of electrical issue. I would be worried about something catching on fire. There are so many systems that are connected. When you are going down the road the engine is charging the coach battery and when you are plugged in the coach battery should be charging. I think all this goes through the converter. There could be a loose wire or a short in so many places. The refrigerator needs 12 volts to run even if you are plugged in I think. I have had 3 Norcold refrigerators and every one had a recall on the circuit board. My motorhome has 3 ground fault receptacles and if one of them trips a bunch of things won't work. I am always seeing in the RV magazines where things are tested with a volt meter to see if you have power. I know nothing about that but would be good to learn. Most motorhomes have a switch that will turn the 12 volt system off. These things aren't always labeled so you know what each switch is for. One of my motorhomes had three switches right by the side door and one of them was the 12 volt system and the other 2 were lights. Someone was always turning it off trying to turn on a light.

Does your stove top light and stay lit? Are you heating water with propane? I think the water heater needs 12 volt power to work right too.

Good luck on getting your refrigerator working.

Martha

[dpf]

Kim, I'm so sorry that you're having trouble with the refrigerator. They certainly do seem to be the major bane of rving. Every time I turn ours on I say a Hail Mary! My suggestion is to check and see if there has been a recall on the refrigerator. Also go to rv.net and ask some questions...but be prepared for some very condescending answers. There are some real PITA's on there but there are also some very helpful individuals.

As far as the household refrigerator....we installed one in our last camper because it was older and we didn't want to invest the over $1500 in it because we were planning to sell the unit shortly. Because it was older we knew that the only buyers would probably be people who weekend camped close to home or would permanently park it in one of the local sites along the river. But I have read on rv.net that many full-timers have installed them and are happy. If you boondock a household refrigerator probably isn't your best option. The only problem that we had was that the circuit that the refrigerator was on didn't have enough voltage to cool it enough. We had to run a separate extension cord to the 120 power source at the campground. Something to do with a household refrigerator has a compressor and an rv one is ammonia absorption. Ours was a 6 cf Avanti refrigerator/freezer and I think I paid right around $350 for it...that was about five years ago. I know when we bought it that the salesman told us that he had trouble keeping them in stock because so many people were buying them to replace camper refrigerators....but again they were probably weekend warriors and not full-timers.

[Acadianmom]

A camper trailer we use sometimes at the lake has a Danby refrigerator that was put in place of the old RV refrigerator. This trailer is set up as a camp so it's not going down the road. I think it is about a 9 cu ft and is a real good fit for the space. It is only used about 6 times a year and when we go I turn it on and it is cold enough to put food in about an hour. It is about 5 years old. The only thing I don't like is that there isn't a separate door for the freezer compartment so it freezes up pretty fast if it is opened a lot. If you go this route I think a separate freezer door would be a good idea.

Martha

[khenrie]

Thanks all for your helpful input.

Randy found a lot of research that supports replacing the refrig. with a conventional unit. So that is the direction we are headed. He opened the outside access panel and touch a piece of the cooling unit and it just crumbled into a dozen pieces. Sooooooo, hopefully in the next week we'll have it settled with a new refrigerator.

We feel comfortable using ice anytime we boondock (since that's what we've been doing for 2+ weeks.) Most of our trips will be 2 or 3 overnights and then 2-4 weeks with hook ups. So, I think we will be in good shape.

I'll let you know!

[dpf]

http://www.avantiproducts.com/products/id/360

Kim, This is the refrigerator that we bought...guess it was had more cubic feet that I thought. It fit the opening from our RV refrigerator without much remodeling effort. Just make sure whatever you purchase that you have a way to hold the doors shut while you travel. Learned that from experience....it only took one trip for us to figure that one out! We put eye screws in the wood on both sides of the doors and used bungee cords....worked great.

One of the things that I remember full-timers saying is that they froze blue ice blocks and put them in the refrigerator part of the unit to help maintain the temperature while traveling. Our's maintained it's temperature for about 5 hours if we didn't open the doors. Since we were always less than 2 hours from home when we camped we never bothered with them. With the $$$ you're saving on a new refrigerator maybe you should consider buying a portable ice-maker.

[khenrie]

Great tip on the doors! I hadn't thought about that.

And thanks for the link. We will be checking that out

[Bethers]

No matter what type of fridge you're buying, I still say you have to figure out the electrical problem. I really don't want to hear about a fire or other problem somewhere down the road.

Also, getting a regular fridge - see if you'll need to rewire, etc. You might have to reconfigure fuses