Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks: Fridge

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Fridge - strange issues

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Topic: Fridge - strange issues

Posted By: Subzilla
Subject: Fridge - strange issues
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2017 at 8:14am

Just took the Podzilla 179 for the maiden voyage this weekend and had a blast. Had a fridge issue and I'll try to give a brief summary:

1) Upon arrival, fired off the fridge using propane (didn't run it enroute). After a minute it started beeping so I refired it. This happened multiple times. Thought air in lines was the culprit so I fired the stove and water heater to purge.

2) After at least a dozen times of refiring it finally took. Cooled through the night with no issues.

3) At lunch the next day, we were getting stuff from the fridge, it started beeping again. Refired using the on-off AND the manual reset at least a dozen more times. Kept beeping so I just gave up, turned it off and moved food to ice cooler. (see first observation below)

4) That evening, I started it and it took the first time and ran through the night again.

Additional observations:

- I went to the outside fridge vent and could hear the propane running and feel it throwing out heat even during the beeping!

- during the manual resetting, I could hear the fire pop out and then repop to relight (hope that makes sense). So this also told me it was still running during the beeping

- outside temp was about 70 degrees with refiring trouble, temp in 50's when running ok

- Coachnet was a useless help. The initial lady took my information (and there were a ton of questions) and was very nice. But the technician was very condescending and not helpful. He told me I was overtaxing the battery and my propane was low and could not give anymore helpful advice. Battery was fully charged and propane was full. NOW, I do understand there could be some electronic issue or maybe the fridge wasn't getting enough propane.....but he seemed to want to get me off the phone and really gave no solution.

Thoughts?

-------------
Mark
Concord, NC
2017 RP 179 "Podzilla"
2011 Silverado 1500 4X4

Replies:

Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2017 at 9:25am

This is a new R-Pod as far as I can tell from your signature. Your dealer is probably a better resource in this case than Coachnet. Unfortunately, it looks like you did not purchase from a dealer nearby, so getting it there to get checked might be problematic.

#3 above: If it is running and you have the door open too long, it will beep. That is intentional. It does not mean the refrigerator is malfunctioning. It is an alarm to make sure you don't keep the door open too long. Turning it off and on and resetting in this case was probably not the thing to do. The beeping should have stopped when the door was closed properly. The door on the absorption refrigerators should not be left open for long periods. The refrigerator does not recover as quickly as the compressor-operated refrigerator in your house. That is why it has an alarm for the door being open too long.

To me, it sounds like initially it had air in the line. The fact that it worked well (#2) after finally firing and it cooled all night with no issues makes me think it was okay. I took an indoor-outdoor thermometer and put the remote part in the refrigerator. That way, I can monitor the temperature inside without opening the door to look. I did add a fan to the inside, located in the middle of the refrigerator's fins to circulate air. That helped greatly with cooling and also had the side benefit of minimizing the frost build-up in the refrigerator compartment. See this link for the model I purchased: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dometic-Refrigerator-Deluxe-Fan-to-INCREASE-cooling-inside-with-METAL-GRILL-/181208057633?hash=item2a30d78721 - Refrigerator Fan

If you get the fan, you can run the wire through the same hole as the existing thermostat wire to the back where you will connect it to the electronic control box. There is also a model without the toggle switch. The only issues are that initially, it is a little noisy and it is easy to hit the toggle switch and turn it off, which negates the benefits of having it. It is such a low power draw that it wouldn't hurt to just have it run all the time the refrigerator is running anyway.

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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,...

http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods
Former RPod 179
Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS

Posted By: Subzilla
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2017 at 9:41am

Thanks Stephen!! Yes, only had it a month and brand new and made the drive to Couch's RV in Ohio for the price.

Didn't know about the beep door open mode....makes sense. I did have a thermometer in it and it was in the 30's easily. Had another RV friend tell me to install the interior fan as you did plus insulate the back side of the unit plus a fan to help vent the exhaust.....plan to do this.

I will try it again at home and see what happens. How long before the beeping stops if the door open triggers it? Seems like it wouldn't stop for us at lunch time. Maybe I wasn't patient enough?? Does it do this initially when starting up because the interior temps are high?

-------------
Mark
Concord, NC
2017 RP 179 "Podzilla"
2011 Silverado 1500 4X4

Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2017 at 12:01pm

If it is a door open alarm, it should stop immediately when the door is closed. It may be that there was some trash in the pipe when the gas lines were connected. If so, then the orfice may be partially plugged. However, I can't imagine that if it cooled on propane to the 30's. Unfortunately, I am ot an expert on these things.

One other thing that might cause beeping is if the battery/batteries is/are too low. It needs the 12V power for its electronics, and to generate the sparks to light the burner. If your battery/batteries was/were not sufficiently charged, it might have caused a problem.

-------------
StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,...

http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods
Former RPod 179
Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS