Dometic fridge oh bu##er

[Figaro]

Switched on fridge yesterday on ehu to cool down ready for departure to Croatia on Saturday, chilled down to -18 in the freezer by last night.
Looked this morning -3 and rising, oh bugger, appears to be not working on ehu !
Hook up ok and fridge light on.
On way to work so no time to check anything
I think there is a fuse on the ebl so I'll look at that later and a recent post by @Lenny HB suggested another fuse block for fridge next to it. Mine doesn't have this second block, at least not next to ebl. Anyone know location of fuses ?
Failing that, what are the chances it'll work on gas when I get home ? It worked fine on gas last week.
I don't fancy six weeks without a fridge !
But I could manage if it worked on gas.
It's a 2003 era dometic 6270? I think.

 

[Lenny HB]

The 20 amp fuse in the EBL is for running of the hab batteries, doesn't matter if that is not there. The 2 amp one that is often close to the EBL supplies the electritronicsfor the fridge. If the lights are on on the front of the fridge control panel or it lights are on. If it works on gas the fuse must be OK. Probably the mains element that has gone.

Edit:
Just looked up your fridge, it's a manual selection type, apart from the gas ignition it doesn't have any electronics.
The only things that would stop it working on mains would be the mains element faulty or no mains supply getting to the fridge.

 

[Figaro]

Thank you @Lenny HB
Sounds like my best hope is it works ok on gas and our trip isn't spoilt.
Can mains element be replaced do you know ?

 

[DavidG58]

The only things that would stop it working on mains would be the mains element faulty or no mains supply getting to the fridge.

Or if things are really bad it might have lost all the refrigerant gas, like ours last year, didn't work on any power source then

But OP would have had the odour give away I would have expected

Hope it is a simple fix @Figaro

 

[TerryL]

Agree probably the mains element and, yes, you can replace them although it's (usually) a fridge out job and a bit of a faff. Ask me how I know!

Will probably work fine on gas though. Mine failed at the start of our winter trip; getting a replacement element was nigh on impossible but we managed for 3 months on gas - although we used a bit more than normal.

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[Figaro]

@DavidG58
No odour so I'm hopeful it'll work ok on gas.
Fingers crossed for when I get home to try it
I wasn't really looking forward to that conversation with the Mrs to tell her we had no fridge

 

[autorouter]

If the mains element has blown, this is a situation where you could use it on 12V from the hab batteries. The 14 amps or so from the hab batteries will be replaced by 14 amps from the mains charger, so they won't go flat. That will save using the gas. You might as well use the ehu if it's a fixed price.

 

[nicholsong]

If the mains element has blown, this is a situation where you could use it on 12V from the hab batteries. The 14 amps or so from the hab batteries will be replaced by 14 amps from the mains charger, so they won't go flat. That will save using the gas. You might as well use the ehu if it's a fixed price.

I thought all fridges when selected to 12v could only take that supply from the alternator/engine battery when the engine is running. This arrangement to protect the hab batteries.

Maybe somthing has changed.

Geoff

 

[Lenny HB]

If the mains element has blown, this is a situation where you could use it on 12V from the hab batteries. The 14 amps or so from the hab batteries will be replaced by 14 amps from the mains charger, so they won't go flat. That will save using the gas. You might as well use the ehu if it's a fixed price.

Except that the 12v elements are lower power than the mains ones so if it's warm best to run on gas.

 

[DavidG58]

I thought all fridges when selected to 12v could only take that supply from the alternator/engine battery when the engine is running. This arrangement to protect the hab batteries.

Maybe somthing has changed.

Geoff

I found as part of a thread about auto changeover while refuelling that our Hymer amongst other will run quite happily on 12V if selected manually

I say happily guardedly there, if not on hook up the batteries are not going to last long

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[Lenny HB]

I thought all fridges when selected to 12v could only take that supply from the alternator/engine battery when the engine is running. This arrangement to protect the hab batteries.

Maybe somthing has changed.

Geoff

Normally if it is a German van and the 20amp AES fuse is fitted in the EBL they will run off the hab batteries.
A bit irelavant as the OP has a manual fridge no AES.

 

[autorouter]

What variant of EBL is it? Many of them will enable the fridge to run off 12V hab batteries if the AES/Kompressor 20A fuse is inserted. The warning about not using it for the manual fridge is only to avoid inadvertently flattening the hab batteries. If you know what you are doing, and are careful, then the 12V works fine. Obviously if the EHU is tripped for some reason, and you don't notice, the fridge on 12V will drain the batteries

Except that the 12v elements are lower power than the mains ones so if it's warm best to run on gas.

In my fridge, the 12V element is 200 watts. With all the voltage drops, the element draws about 14.4 amps, which makes it about 175 watts. That's not as good as the 220 watt mains element, but it's fine for most situations. If not, the OP can always just use gas.

 

[Lenny HB]

In my fridge, the 12V element is 200 watts. With all the voltage drops, the element draws about 14.4 amps, which makes it about 175 watts. That's not as good as the 220 watt mains element, but it's fine for most situations. If not, the OP can always just use gas.

That is quite close, mine is 170W on 12v & 250w on mains.

 

[jezport]

Check the 240v connector to the element. On my last van it was arching.

 

[TerryL]

Check the 240v connector to the element. On my last van it was arching.

I found signs of arcing on mine when replacing the element - but it could only be seen with the fridge out on the control board. Just in case I cleaned it up and replaced the fuse with a good quality one.
I would presume the OP has checked the 240v connections you can see with the fridge vent removed.

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[Figaro]

Update : all day I'd been fretting over what to do if it wouldn't work on gas.
Well imagine my relief when I got in from work and found the temperature display at -19.2 on ehu.
I've no idea why it went off in the night, all I did this morning was twiddle the thermostat.
Anyway it's working so off we go tomorrow.
Germany, Austria and Croatia await.
Maybe a one off or maybe a sign the fridge is failing but at least we're going and will have to deal with whatever happens en route.
Interesting what @autorouter said about running it off the hab batteries whilst on hook up. I might need to explore this further depending on how it works out.
Thanks to all who helped

 

[jezport]

Check the connection to the 240v element as it can lead to intermittent cooling