Fridge quandary

korky

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Can anyone here make sense of what I am currently experiencing with my Dometic 3 way fridge when running on gas?
Last year in Germany it was not cooling as well as usual so the heat exchanger paste behind the cooling fins was replaced. All was OK then until this spring when it refused to light on gas, no clicking from the igniter. The control board was found to be faulty and replaced with a recon. one. All good again until a few weeks ago in Wales, when on my last morning, following and during extremely gusty weather, I noticed the fridge was barely cold. The indicator showing the gas was lit was still in the green but I didn't check to see if there was any heat coming from the external vent. I rang my local servicing place and they asked if it had blown out. I then left where I was parked up and drove home. I lit the fridge on arriving home and it cooled perfectly overnight. I guessed it must have blown out in Wales, although it has never done this in 10yrs.

Last weekend I had the repeat experience. Left the fridge on overnight on EHU before departure, nice and cold on arrival. Lit the gas on the Thursday when I arrived. All good until the Sunday morning when I noticed it was not as cold as usual. I turned up the thermostat a bit, but when I left on the Monday morning my milk was barely cold and the cooling fins were cool but not cold to the touch. The ice compartment was partly defrosted, the gas was still lit. It was not windy.

I lit the gas again last night parked up at home and the fridge is nice and cold today. I'm seeing if it will repeat the performance ,as on Tuesday I am taking it to the excellent S and C Caravan Servicing in Ripley, Derbys. but the very knowledgeable guy there is as mystified as me,so far, after I told him the symptoms.
 
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We had similar last year, worked fine on 12/240v, but although gas was burning and plenty of heat (if not too much) no cooling, it needed a new cooling unit.
 
My
colinm said:
We had similar last year, worked fine on 12/240v, but although gas was burning and plenty of heat (if not too much) no cooling, it needed a new cooling unit.
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My fridge cools OK on gas for a few days then warms up. It's cold now, but for how long?
 
No,only now on my drive as their is no choice,it's nice and cold right now. Slope is not as critical on the newer models,it was dead flat on the 2 previous occasions and still started to warm up after a few days.
 
Our 3 way was not getting very cold although the gas would light ok and stay on ok it wasn't a very good flame no roaring noise as before, give the burner and jet a clean and running fine now🤞
 
Budgie said:
Our 3 way was not getting very cold although the gas would light ok and stay on ok it wasn't a very good flame no roaring noise as before, give the burner and jet a clean and running fine now🤞
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The burner runs fine with a good flame, cooling is fine,for a few days. It was all cleaned in the spring.
 
If everything is OK on the fridge it could be the regulator, the first thing that plays up with a faulty regulator is the fridge, the water heater and the hob which use more gas work normally
 
Tezza33 said:
If everything is OK on the fridge it could be the regulator, the first thing that plays up with a faulty regulator is the fridge, the water heater and the hob which use more gas work normally
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That's interesting you should say that. A few years back,I would open one gas bottle and sometimes the fridge would not light until I opened the second bottle as well. Once lit I could close one bottle. I thought then that the reg. was iffy ,then it started to behave again.
I swapped out the Truma reg. as soon as I got the van for the more reliable Clesse, but that is now 10yrs old. Will check that out, thanks.
 
Have you tried cleaning the flue? A good rodding out followed by cleaning the burner can make a world of difference. It saved me over £2,000 for a new fridge/freezer. :giggle:
 
These 3-way fridges are really good (y) if it wasn't for all the problems with them, Motorhoming forums would be a much quieter place. Lucky we don't all have boring Compressor Fridges which don't go wrong.
 
Budgie said:
Our 3 way was not getting very cold although the gas would light ok and stay on ok it wasn't a very good flame no roaring noise as before, give the burner and jet a clean and running fine now🤞
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Agree, have an old toothbrush handy, strip out the burner and brush/blow it out. Also, the chimney...... buy a narrow bottle brush, hook out the twisty centre piece of the chimney, then clean with the brush. Main cause of warm fridges, debris from the chimney, although the flame is alight its not full on.
 
Spiders in the van they love playing with you ! , especially
when you move there home away from the bins Out side house. Try and park next to cattle as the spiders will need to eat cattle flys while away. as it takes them three or four days to get to the shops and back. The have short legs.
 
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