water pouring out of fridge while travelling ?

[Paul J]

so, before my recent trip, I ran the fridge on electric until we were ready to set off, it then (automatically) ran on 12v while we were travelling, and it was on gas for around 12 hours while we were on site, I then turned the gas off as we set off, confirmed that the 12v operation was on, we drove for an hour to the Trafford centre and parked up while the girlfriend bought some shoes, maybe 40 minutes stationaty, and during this time I had forgot to turn the gas on, so there was no power to the fridge. We returned to the van and set off for home, stopping after another 45 minutes to find water running out of the fridge, into the unit below it, and all over the floor.
Inspecting the fridge, the large metal element was covered in water, likely it was frosty/frozen and then thawed, it was also wet in the front top, the sort of roof of the fridge closest to the door, and water had dropped into the little 'gutter' which has a little hole for draining, it seemed not terribly successful at draining this water, either that or it had possibly thawed and somehow remained there, perhaps we weren't parked level, and then poured out when we moved ?
I'm going to presume there's probably nothing wrong with it, wouldn't have expected it to have thawed in 45 minutes while the fridge was closed, but must be the way they are, next time perhaps I'll put a pot towel underneath the big salad box in the bottom of the fridge, I guess that will catch any water before it runs out.
does anyone have any tips on if they've had a similar experience ?

(next time I go out, I'll be sure to do a few checks on the thermometer to check that the 12v operation is actually working, clearly if it's not, we'll have persistent thawing out problems)

 

[Jasz]

Have you made sure that the door isn't in the storage position - slightly ajar? If the chiller was frozen it seems as though the fridge is working ok.

 

[Paul J]

I'm back ! forgive me, my subscription had run out

I'm also back from a weekend away, and again more fun with the fridge ! so, in this episode..... the fridge was pre-cooled (and loaded up) overnight, unplugged EHU and confirmed fridge showed the battery operation on the screen, all was good. We drove non stop to our weekend spot, Santa Pod, which has no EHU's, gas on, fridge lit, and yep, confirmed many times that it was running just fine. At this point certain things in the fridge were so cold they were partially frozen, I'm fine with that. During the evening, we had the habitation heater on, and the water heater at which point there was an error on the heater controls that the gas had run out, or more to the point, the water heater had blown out, indeed the gas bottle was absolutely empty, I quickly swapped it, and the fridge stayed on throughout. All fine apart from the fact that water had poured all over the packets of food in the top of the fridge, down the back of the fridge, and partially wet the tea towel I had skilfully placed under the salad box The silver element in the top of the fridge again looked partially frosty, and partially like it had defrosted, covered in droplets of water (I'm not sure what one of these is supposed to look like)

does this again all point to the natural water created within the fridge not being send out via this evaporator cup mechanism ?

and the lower vent cover comes off the outside of the motorhome, and I'll be able to see this cup thingy ? will a thin piece of wire pass through the hole in the 'water collection channel' of the fridge and exit next to this cup, and I can check it's clear in this way ?

note : the water collection channel is not full of water, so to me, looks like it's dropping directly off the evaporator ?



edit : the fridge door is certainly closed, however it doesn't close in the same way as the freezer, makes me wonder if the seal is not seated properly at some point, something to check perhaps, I'm not with the van at the mo

 

[Lenny HB]

We drove non stop to our weekend spot, Santa Pod,

Haven't been there since the 60's, I expect its changed a bit. I doubt if spectators can still camp in the paddock.

edit : the fridge door is certainly closed, however it doesn't close in the same way as the freezer, makes me wonder if the seal is not seated properly at some point, something to check perhaps, I'm not with the van at the mo

A strong possibility as there is no way the fridge should be producing that amount of water.

 

[Paul J]

yeah, the water is pouring off the top of packets of food and all over the floor..... fortunately, it's due its first hab service in a month or so, I'm sure the guys will be able to test it out

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[Minxy]

Madame Clouseau here ... as the issue happened again only when you had the heater on I suspect the fridge seal is the culprit - the warm air inside the MH would be able to permeate the interior of the fridge, melt the partly frozen stuff at the top of the fridge so that the ice on it would melt, also the fridge would try to cool more which creates more moisture hence more water. It sounds like the 'dripping' water isn't going near the rear overflow so that's a bit of a red herring and is probably fine.

So ... check the seal, especially at the bottom of the door as I've found that they aren't always fitted that well there.

 

[Paul J]

Good work Miss Clouseau ! I'll give it a good coat of looking at in the morning, thanks to all, for your great advice, I seem to become obsessed with things that go wrong, especially when I can't understand them. looking forward to getting it sorted

 

[BossHog]

edit : the fridge door is certainly closed, however it doesn't close in the same way as the freezer, makes me wonder if the seal is not seated properly at some point, something to check perhaps, I'm not with the van at the mo[/QUOTE]


The fridge freezer in our MH has adjustable receivers on door latches which ensure doors are sealed when in use, and keeps doors ajar when not in use to stop mold forming etc. Possible the latch on the freezer door receiver is not in the sealed position and keeping door slightly ajar.

 

[Paul J]

did the 'piece of paper test' and to be honest, now I've actually looked properly at it, there's a several millimetre gap at the top of the door, only visible where the cutout for the opening catch allows, but obviously theres no seal there, and even half way down the door, it's not really getting hold of a piece of paper. Spoke to the dealer, and it'll get sorted when it goes in for service in May. Thanks for all your replies, but it does look like a badly fitted door is the problem, the seal is all intact and straight

Paul

 

[mitzimad]

both doors should be shut the same are you sure its locking and not just on the first hook which is to keep the door a jar

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[Paul J]

It’s certainly closed, there’s only one clip, no ‘ajar’ setting, you can see the clip and hook on my fridge,.... and the door catches on the fridge and freezer, the actual mechanisms are different... but it was always feeling different closing the fridge door, because in reality, it’s not aligned, it’s touching at the bottom first, so twisting in at the top, hence it’s springing outward when you shut it and let go... and making the gap