OT (?) Camper refrigerators

"Snag" fired this volley in news:QLWVm.95588$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe23.iad:

Servel-cyle units are pretty solid, unless they develop a leak in the sealed system (which happens pretty often at about 10-15 years age, since the system is all iron pipe, which rusts).

Since the heating element leads are exposed clearly in all RV units, you might consider disconnecting them and powering the (120V) element directly from a patch cord. If the unit cools, it's the controller.

LLoyd

We have such a refer in our 5th wheel. Runs on either propane or 120 VAC shore power. Type of power to use is selected by push button at the top of the unit. You didn't say which was being used when your unit stopped. If it was using propane, did the propane bottle run empty? Did the "fault" light come on?

Each year before we start camping, I pull the outside cover and blow all the dirt, spiders and other stuff out with compressed air. Lots of stuff comes out!

The units run on ammonia gas and if this leaks out, the cooling stops. Have you smelled any ammonia in your camper? Well, you said you haven't inspected the unit, so I guess you wouldn't know, yet.

Hard to guess until you know more.

Paul

dual power as in 12/110, 12/lpg, 110 lpg?

The electric part of an LPG dual power is just a strip heater to take the place of the pilot flame. The biggest problem with lpg fridges is dirt on the "pilot" flame or nests blocking the draft.

Have had a thermocouple go bad. Bad connection on the 110v side and bad thermocouple on the gas side.

I had one quit because a wire came loose. There are some things inside the cover that need a tester and a trained tech, but some things, like spider webs and mud dauber nests and hanging wires are obvious fixes.

Steve

I found the bad AC connection when pulling out the gas thermocouple. The spade connector was not in the spade part, but was touching, at least for a while, inside the plastic shield.

Yup , that's one of the suggested tests . Thanks !

The wife is there , it's where she stays during the week to save driving time . No ammonia , so we think the sealed unit is OK . I'll take a compressor ... Thanks !

Paul mentioned blowing things out too . Might just be dirty - well , I can hope ! Thanks !

Hopefully it'll be something simple like that loose wire or blocked airflow . Thanks to both of you !

My BIL, who is not mechanically inclined, plus lazy, took his to the dealer. It sat two weeks. He finally went over and raised hell. The manager had the tekkie look at it. He found a broken wire and a spiders nest. Fixed it in five minutes. Charged him $180 for two hours labor. Sometimes, one can fix them. Other times, it's time to take it to the shop. If you know anyone familiar with electronics, they can help trouble shoot a relay or other device very inexpensively. They are expensive to have worked on because there aren't a lot of people who are familiar with them, and secondly, they got you by the grapes.

Steve

I'm moderately adept at troubleshooting stuff . Especially when I have about

You probably already know that the fridge has to be level (or bouncing down the road) in order to make "cold"... and if you smell mouse piss inside, it's probably the ammonia leaking out of the cooling system. Every time my brother-in-law called about his fridge not working it was because he didn't have the RV level... except the last time, when it smelled like mouse piss and I had to replace the entire cooling section with an Amish-built super-cooler. I think we bought it from these guys:

Thanks for the link ! Got over to have a look at the unit today , 'lectric heats , gas heats , and when it gets hot I smell ammonia ... so it looks like a replacement cooling unit is in my future . Found out today , related to your link , that there has been a recall for these - but only to band-aid the fire hazard when it starts leaking . That Amish unit looks like the way to go , when I can afford it . For now , we're looking for a used dorm refr unit ...