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Old 08-17-2009, 09:21 AM   #1
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refrigerator problem

Hi, refrigerator quit after about a week out camping. Quit after switching it to propane. Never cooled right after that. It had been working fine on electric until that point. Had trouble getting the burner to light initially, then it never seemed to cool right.
It is a Dometic two door from a 1999 Sunline Solaris 2453.
The heating element seems to get really hot. The refrigerator never gets cold though.
Checked the fuses. It's getting power. All seemed good. Wondered if it could be a clog due to sitting at the campground on a hill after lighting the gas. Any help would be appreciated. Ronny
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Old 08-17-2009, 10:27 AM   #2
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Clarification point. As I understand it worked on electricity. After switching to Gas it did not work. Does it work on electricity after not working on gas?

Norm
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Old 08-17-2009, 10:31 AM   #3
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No, it does not work at all now. Not on electric or gas. It is getting power for electric (all the lights come on) and the burner works on propane, but the refrig does not cool. The boiler gets hot, but nothing happens. Ronny
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Old 08-17-2009, 07:35 PM   #4
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Ronny

Do you have a model and serial number we can lookup so we know which exact one you have?

Did you ever have the Dometic recall done?

Do you see any yellow type residue on the bottom area of the flue pipe. Would be near the propane flame area most likley if you have a cracked cooling coil that let all the amonia out.

If yours looks like this


Turn all power off to the camper, 120 AC and 12VDC. Take the little cover off by the LP burner and look for some yellow residue in here. Also look for heat discoloration on the sheet metal from over heating. Use a small mirror and look up inside too


If the electrical element get's hot, if the LP lights and burns, the bolier area get's hot but no cooling, well that rules out most common electrical issues. You "might" be the victim of a cracked cooling coil which if that is the case, then you really do not want to run the unit a lot as the steel will get so hot bad things may happen with no cooling going on. The cooling cools the steel down.

Hope this helps and if possible take some pics with the LP side cover off so we too can see.

John
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Old 08-18-2009, 12:47 PM   #5
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Thanks John for the help. I checked the serial number and it doesn't appear to be recalled. That would have been too easy. After further inspection, yes, I did find a yellowish colored stain near the heater at the bottom of the chimney. The heater got really hot which I thought was a little unusual, so I turned it off after about an hour. From everything I have read in the past few days online, it appears you may be correct. The heater may have cracked and leaked. I am wondering what I did to make this happen, or if the refrigerator was questionable when I purchased the coach a little over a month ago. I am now investigating the cost of a new cooling unit or new refrigerator and what my options may be at this point. I will try to post some pictures as soon as I can. Thanks again. your pictures were really helpful. Ronny
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Old 08-18-2009, 06:58 PM   #6
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Ronny

Yes the more you describe the worse it looks like you may have a cracked coil.

Now what caused it? Need more info to tell before I speculate. Pictures of the crack will help then tell to a possible cause.

If it is a metal fatigue crack in a weld joint, those take many many cycles of heat and cool to create, normally. And if it is a fatigue crack, it started long before you ever acquired the TT and the prior owner had no idea it was going on.

If you can dig your way into the sheet metal of the chimney and see the 2 slots where the 120 VAC element goes and an optional 12 VDC would of went, then you “might” see the crack. That is the area all this recall excitement has been about.

Good luck and for sure let us know how this turns out. So far you may be our first reported Sunline member to talk about this happening to them. I know, lucky you…

John
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Old 08-19-2009, 09:40 AM   #7
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Thanks for the info. I had checked to see if mine was one of the recalled refrigerators, but I am sure it was not.
I have not yet taken the chimney off, and probably won't be able to do that until the weekend. I did take a photo of the back, and if you can see it, there is a yellowish stain at the bottom of the burner. Is this the stuff that means it leaked?
Hopefully I can get the chimney off this weekend and get a better look. I will try to post more photos then. I will maybe try contacting dometic at that point and see what they think about it.
I am thinking of getting a remanufactured cooling unit and replacing it, rather than a new refrigerator. Cost is a big factor, and the rest of the refrigerator seems to be in good shape. I got online and found a couple of places that have pretty good warranties. Ronny
I still can't get these photos to publish. What am I doing wrong here?
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Old 08-19-2009, 05:57 PM   #8
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Ronny

Here is your pic



Now what are you doing wrong, Well are you adding extra img commands?

Only need 1 set of them. When you copied the IMG code hot link from photobucket, then just paste it in here as it will come with the IMG commands already added.

If you start with a raw web address, then you need to add the IMG commands.

The yellow stuff, h'mm by that pic it is suspect. I myself have never seen it up close, only info from others then further investigating and figuring it out.

When you get the sheet metal off, I would suspect the trail of yellow stuff would be more pronounced under the sheet metal.

Good luck

John
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Old 08-19-2009, 07:23 PM   #9
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Thanks John for the heads up about the recall. Turns out my refrigerator is one of the recalled units and I didn't realize it until now. Opened up the chimney and the yellow stuff is all over the place.
Teh scary thing is we ran this thing all the way from Northern Illinois to the southern tip of Illinois on propane, and then switched to electric and went to bed. In the morning everything was cool, but not yet warm. Being tired from traveling more than 3,000 miles from Colorado through the Midwest to attend a wedding, a memorial service and visit relatives, we fired it up on propane again and continued to Georgia. All this while, it could have caught fire at any moment.
I thought I had checked the numbers for the recall, but apparently got the wrong numbers. Needless to say, I checked mreo carefully this time, and I will be contacting a service center about fixing it as soon as I can. I will take photos of it before I take it in, and hopefully, if I can figure out this photo posting, I can post them soon. Will let you know how it turns out. Ronny
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