Refer

[rotaxman]

About two days ago my 12 cu ft Dometic side by side went warm on the refrigerator side but stays cold on the Freezer side.

Any guess as to what might be going on.

Both fans are running and the area behind the unit is clean. I cleaned the flu and found very little dirt in the flu. all fuses checked out ok.

Dometic what a joke.

As always good camping

Joyce and Jerry

[rdunk]

Well, you are still covered by Dometic warranty, so that is good. Don't have the side-by-side, but assume your fridge also has a "thermister" which attaches to the fins in the fridge. A thermister can fail. If you unplug the thermister, from the card on the rear of the fridge, then the fridge goes to a default setting, which is to run on high. If you do this, and the fridge begins to cool, then you will know the thermister is bad. If the fridge doesn't cool, with the thermister unplugged, then the thermister is probably good. The first time our fridge quit cooling, it was the 1 amp fuse, that I upgraded to a 3 amp. Since your fuses are good, then it may be your cooling unit. Dometic replaced our cooling unit earlier this year. That is one major job for the service techs. They removed the fridge, took it outside, took everything off the back of it, pried out the cooling unit, replaced the cooling unit, and then replaced all those little parts removed the back of the fridge.

Not an expert! Probably some other items that might contribute, but the fact that the fans are running, and the fuses are good, and assuming there is not a big frost build-up in the fridge, then that probably narrows down the possible causes.

Good luck! Yes, the fridge is one of our biggest disappointments for "quality" fulltiming. As I have said before, next RV would have a residential fridge, compressor and all!

Good luck!

[maltruck8]

Joyce and Jerry, we had a problem with our refer side getting warm. We were told to check if the inside light turns off when you close the door. Don't laugh, she said to push the switch on the light to make sure light shut off. It didn't. There are two switches, top right, outside of refer that are labeled clc and lac. turn on the one labeled clc. light will work right. Make sure the lac is off. Jim

[rotaxman]

Robert

I defrosted the frig yesterday so no frost or ice build up on the frig side. I'll try unplugging the thermister and see if it starts working.

Jim

I now about the light staying on I had that happen on an old Terry I used to own it sure will keep the frig warm. I forgot to mention that I had already checked that.

Thanks guys I guess we will see what happens. I have only had it on for about 4 hours I just checked it and it seems to be starting to cool a little I think I will still pull the thermister and see what happens.

Thanks guys

As always good camping

Joyce and Jerry

[rotaxman]

upon further investagation it appeared that one of the fans was not spinning as fast as the other. I purchased a new fan at a local computer place and installed it.

The wiring was a nightmare DT made a big deal out of nothing poor worksmanship as usual. I cleaned up the wiring and started her up yesterday afternoon this morning the temp was 34 degrees so I guess things are ok time will tell.

It amazes me that there isn't a 36TK3 burning up everyday. The installation design is common DT very very poor. The refer should have been where the pantry is and the pantry where the refer is. The flue just vents out into the top of the refer compartment which is where it stagnates to some point hence the fans to help move the hot air out. But being the top vent is a few inches below the top of the compartment it gets very warm in there. I constructed a baffel from alum that directs the hot air toward the vent and outside of the compartment. Something that should have been done at DT

Anyway hope that my problems are behind me.

Thanks for all of the advise fellas I appericate the help

As always good camping

Joyce and Jerry

[jdwilson3]

Every RV that has a fridge in the slide out is vented the same way. The only wiring issue done by DT is the 12 volt supply and the 120 volt supply.
The fridge comes from Dometic prewired.

We had a 12v muffin fan go bad on ours, and it was replaced under warranty. The bearings were shot. There is also an in-line fuse on the hot wire to the fans. My understanding is that it is a 1 amp fuse and should be replaced by a 3amp.

[maltruck8]

I would not triple the amperage of a fuse without the WRITTEN word of the manufacture of the fused item.

[rotaxman]

Jim

I believe that a short time before I took delivery of my 06 (August 05) Dometic gave the ok to up the fuse rating. I tried to get my dealer to do it but said they had not received the ok for Dometic yet so they wouldn't do it. I did it that afternoon haven't had any wiring overheat so far.

Hey Top

I know that Dometic furnishes the refer with all of the wiring of the frig itself but DT did the installation of the fans and related wiring and it was a poor job. When they attached the wire to the little button thermostat on the condenser coil that activate the fans they broke the spade off instead of getting another button themostat and doing it the right way they just dropped the wire and put the vent cover on. Qc being what it is none it was delivered to me in that condition.

As always good camping

Jerry and Joyce

[jdwilson3]

Dometic is the one telling folks to upgrade to a 3 amp fuse.

Jerry, I agree with your comment about the poor installation on your unit. I am of the opinion that when constant QC items show up, there is a lack of 2 things at any factory....Supervision and QC inspections and probably a 3rd...no incentive to do the job right. Whoever did not fix what he broke on your reefer probably had no insentive (or care) to stop production to fix it. What the heck, the fans are real quiet when running...you'll never know one isn't working. I was told some time ago that it is cheaper for an RV manufacturer to produce an item with deficiencies and have it repaired under warranty than to stop production to make repairs. That comment was made by an RV manufacturer rep. This is not only a DT issue, but is prevelent across the RV industry. Teton quality has suffered because it is now owned by an investment group and many of the skilled labor has gone to the oil fields in western Wyoming. Travel Supreme, this summer, was a frightening sight at the factory with all of the units back for repair. There was a $700K+ TS Elite in because the inside of the coach had been flooded by both the in floor hydroheat and fresh water lines that had been improperly installed and the slideout cut both lines!

Sorry for the soapbox.