re: RV Gurus - need help

There is no compressor in a RV absorption fridge.

They are ammonia absorption fridges.

Make sure the propane tank is turned on and the lines are purged. You can do that by turning on the stove and making sure it will light. The fridge will try to light itself several times then go into a safety mode. If the lines were empty due to the tank being off, you might have to cycle it a few times to get it to light. Also on the outside check the "chimney" to make sure that no dirt daubers have built nests in there. Without the proper flow the sensors will not let it light on propane because they will never see the heat.

If on 110 you feel it getting hot on the outside, that is what it is supposed to do. These fridges boil ammonia and by evaporation cause them to cool.

As was stated above, don't expect it to get cold as quick as a house fridge. It will take a while. You should feel the fins starting to cool down, and the first place you should feel it getting cold is on the back wall of the freezer.

The other thing is with it being as hot as it has been, your time to cool down will be longer than when it is cooler outside.

Last thing I would check is to make sure that there is nothing blocking the exhaust vent at the top. If there is no air flowing over the coils it will not cool well if at all.

The only things that can go wrong to prevent cooling on these are: No air circulation behind unit, no flame from Propane burner, no heat from electric element, bad logic board, or the dreaded rusting/corrosion of the tubing and the loss of the ammonia.

Also make sure the unit is level, running this type of fridge to far off level will destroy it.

Also check the internet to make sure yours was not part of the massive recall. If it was, they will fix it to prevent you from burning down your rv!