Dometic fridge not working

C

Carvervirgin

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Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
RO Number
32836
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323
This weekend my fridge quit working. No symptoms prior but it is no longer cold in the fridge or freezer. Checked the most obvious things such as power, settings, breaker, battery switches. If it is the original fridge it is 11 years old. No sulfur odor is present. It does not work on dc or AC power. Any thoughts? Thanks
 
What exactly is it doing, anything at all?
 
After 11 years it owes you nothing. You may be better served in the long run to get a decent dorm fridge, a good house battery bank and an inverter. If you run the gennie all the time the upgraded house bank and inverter are moot. A dorm fridge is, IMNSHO, the only way to go. Roughly $150 v. $1200 if it lasts 3 years you are ahead of the game. I know folks who get 5 and 6 years out of them with no problems.

My 2 centavos.
 
Make sure that you have 12v going to the fridge. It is used for control logic and will effect both DC and AC operation. Could be blown fuses, a bad control logic board or logic board connections. I work around RV fridges, they are similar except they use propane as one heat source in addition to DC and AC.
 
I will get my manual out later today I believe there is an internal fuse or the thermocouple (temp sensor) that will disable the unit if it blows (fuse) or opens (the thermocouple). I would not waste the time, money and energy to use a household frig in a boat. I believe the dual voltage frig is the only way to go in a small to medium sized boat. Inverters are not efficiant, drain battery banks and if you don't already have an inverter can be very costly to do it correctly. I believe many RO's won't agree with me but my freezer/frig draws less then 3 amps when the compressor is running or 72AH a day from my house bank.
When I am cruising I run the generator so this load is easily handled by either the alternator or the charger/inverter which I rarely use as an inverter.
Bill
 
Thanks for the input. My sense is that I would like to stay with similar equipment if a replacement is necessary. The boat is 11 years old but less than one year for me. So I feel it does owe me, but maybe not the last owner:). As far as what it is doing....nothing. Just started to defrost and warm up on both battery and shore power. Thanks
 
John,
My fridge had been replaced a little before we bought the boat, seems like 10ish years is the lifespan on the original fridges. Def. worth checking for power/fuses as suggested before replacement.
 
As billy said there could be fuses in the cicuit board. Pull the fridge out . Check for power and a blown fuse. From what u describe it sounds like it has no power.

Rob
 
What is interesting is that even with the breaker off. The light stays on when you open the door.
 
You should have 2 breakers for the fridge...an AC and a DC breaker. I suspect one of them is still on.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Carvervirgin

What is interesting is that even with the breaker off. The light stays on when you open the door.

Click to expand...

That just indicates backfeeding. Most AC/DC frig units have a breaker for each power source you should only have one breaker on either AC if you are docked and plugged in or running on the generator or on the battery system if you are out cruising. Me I run mine on DC almost exclusively because if we lost dock power the food wouldn't go bad. But I have a large house battery bank and a high capacity solar system to recharge the house bank. You really need to pull the frig and check the black box which is a power supply and controller. Make sure you unplug the AC cord and turn off the AC and DC breakers when you pull the frig. You will need a volt/ohm meter to test the unit and it's internal fuses.
Bill
 
Also on some dometic fridges the 110 volt and the 12 volt come to a common controller. This is what switch's the fridge from ac to dc. With ac being the priority circuit. This can be bad . Its not an expensive item.

Rob
 
Thanks guys, I will see what I can accomplish in my ignorant state. I called for a service call from an RV dealer 45 miles away. They wanted $300 just to come to the boat. I can bring it to them but it needs to be pulled nonetheless. I'll start there. John
 
Okay, here is the latest. Pulled the fridge and seems that it may be the control module. The compressor kicks on but then stops each time I reporter the fridge. The fan on the module does not turn on and I'm hoping that the module shuts the compressed off when it senses the fan is not coming on? The thermostat. Checked out. Any thoughts?
 
No freon? Most compressors will turn right back off if the freon is too low or empty.
 
From what I've seen of systems low on coolant the fan does usually come with the compressor, and the system will short-cycle on and off. This sounds electrical to me.

FWIW: The system doesn't have to be serviced by a "marine" or "rv" tech. Just about any HVAC/refrigeration tech can service it.
 
quote:
Originally posted by mixman

From what I've seen of systems low on coolant the fan does usually come with the compressor, and the system will short-cycle on and off. This sounds electrical to me.

FWIW: The system doesn't have to be serviced by a "marine" or "rv" tech. Just about any HVAC/refrigeration tech can service it.

Click to expand...


+1
And they are more straight foreward in design, makes them easy to troubleshoot .
 
A picture of the fan would help. Usually the " module " that switch's between 110 and DC does not havea cooling fan. The refrigeration circuit may. So a picture and model # would help

Rob
 
Just thought I would close the loop on this post.(I like to see things come to a conclusion and enjoy when others finish their stories.) The issue with the fridge was that the fan that cools the compresser failed. It was a cheap part ($25.00) and the repairman who I found was able to diagnose and fix for $154.00 total. Very happy with that and she is up and running well. Sure beats spending 10x that for a replacement. We all know that something else will break at some point...it's a boat.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Carvervirgin

Just thought I would close the loop on this post.(I like to see things come to a conclusion and enjoy when others finish their stories.) The issue with the fridge was that the fan that cools the compresser failed. It was a cheap part ($25.00) and the repairman who I found was able to diagnose and fix for $154.00 total. Very happy with that and she is up and running well. Sure beats spending 10x that for a replacement. We all know that something else will break at some point...it's a boat.

Click to expand...

Thanks for reporting back what was found. I was not sure if my older model had a fan. My new unit has a fan (12VDC). As I mentioned my original NorCold worked fine when I removed it 5 years ago but it had a rusted door and a bad door seal in that area. I wanted a more modern efficiant version and I have been very happy with the NorCold's ability to freeze food and keep the frig cold under every condition I have encountered.
Best of luck with the repair you should be good for at least a few more years!
Bill
 
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