Fridge freezer knackered! Thetford N175

[Marzar]

Edina
I think this is having a happy ending, no need for sad face
lol

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Exactly what it says. Door opens on left or on right depending which side you pull on.

As what I thought it must mean, but the hinge arrangement must be interesting so then the penny dropped, it will open either way but not both, new ones seem to give you the choice but old ones can be changed by swapping the parts around.

 

[trevskoda]

Spec on mine.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

UPDATE
the problem we were having was, the fidge and freezer not getting cold enough!
we had a mobile refidgerater engineer come take a look at it and he said "the pipework at the back is blocked probably with congealed ammonia, or rust" taking off the 2 ext. vents he said pipes should be cool at top and hot at bottom ours was hot at both
after a week of deliberating I called Jacksons Leisure to buy a new one, the fridge specialist, said a new fridge should work better, but could not tell me the temperatures to expect!!! I said ours when good is -1 freezer and +4 fridge but reciently has been +5 freezer and +12 Fridge and worse on occasions! he said he could not guarantee a new Thetford would work much better than ours!!!

so we decided to do some work on ours.

we removed the fridge, turned it upside down for a coupe of hours, (did this before with limited result) giving it a good shake at the same time(what did we have to lose) left it on its back and bothsides for half hour at a time,
we also sealed/retaped all the rear edges/corners with silver aircon duct tape, (not ducktape) and whilst we had the fridge out, I put foil on the wall behind fridge,and taped in place with same silver tape, this is to reflect warmth from the sun.

we have been monitoring the situation for 2 or 3 weeks now, and the fridge is mostly around 3 to 4c and freezer -4c but in the morning can be fridge -0.2c and freezer -9, but on one occasion did get freezer -11.2c
mde ice cubes in the freezer over a week ago, and put in a plastic box, waiting for it to thaw and refreeze, but it is still cubes and no sign of melting.

we dont want to tempt fate and that is why I have held off sending this update, but if it plays up again i wont hesitate to take it out and give it a shake about. (the fridge)

I am also thinking of changing the outside vents to bigger ones.

I will keep you posted

UPDATE
the problem we were having was, the fidge and freezer not getting cold enough!
we had a mobile refidgerater engineer come take a look at it and he said "the pipework at the back is blocked probably with congealed ammonia, or rust" taking off the 2 ext. vents he said pipes should be cool at top and hot at bottom ours was hot at both
after a week of deliberating I called Jacksons Leisure to buy a new one, the fridge specialist, said a new fridge should work better, but could not tell me the temperatures to expect!!! I said ours when good is -1 freezer and +4 fridge but reciently has been +5 freezer and +12 Fridge and worse on occasions! he said he could not guarantee a new Thetford would work much better than ours!!!

so we decided to do some work on ours.

we removed the fridge, turned it upside down for a coupe of hours, (did this before with limited result) giving it a good shake at the same time(what did we have to lose) left it on its back and bothsides for half hour at a time,
we also sealed/retaped all the rear edges/corners with silver aircon duct tape, (not ducktape) and whilst we had the fridge out, I put foil on the wall behind fridge,and taped in place with same silver tape, this is to reflect warmth from the sun.

we have been monitoring the situation for 2 or 3 weeks now, and the fridge is mostly around 3 to 4c and freezer -4c but in the morning can be fridge -0.2c and freezer -9, but on one occasion did get freezer -11.2c
mde ice cubes in the freezer over a week ago, and put in a plastic box, waiting for it to thaw and refreeze, but it is still cubes and no sign of melting.

we dont want to tempt fate and that is why I have held off sending this update, but if it plays up again i wont hesitate to take it out and give it a shake about. (the fridge)

I am also thinking of changing the outside vents to bigger ones.

I will keep you posted

I had a mobile man out last week, I asked about this upside down thing, he said he's tried it when customers ask and it hardly ever works, it's going to his unit next Monday so I'll report back then.

not sure bigger vents will do much, a couple of computer fans (they are 12v) blowing hot air out of the top vent might be a better way forward.

 

[Marzar]

Sorry I should have mentioned I fitted fans last year

 

[Pudsey Bear]

I'll forgive you this time, did you think it was better then? I could never make my mind up, I bought one of those laser guided jobbies last week for when ours is hopefully fixed.

 

[Marzar]

I'll forgive you this time, did you think it was better then? I could never make my mind up, I bought one of those laser guided jobbies last week for when ours is hopefully fixed.

I fitted 3 fans on 2 switches, two more power full fans and one not so, the two on when very sunny/warm ,not so good,
The one on most of day, and does seem to help, I also have a thermostatic controller, but have not fitted yet, may do it next week whilst in France.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Yes I did the 2/1 thing as well, someone on one of the forums said that perhaps the fans themselves might cause a problem reducing the air flow, but I reckon the fans would increase the flow, as that's what fans do.

 

[wildebus]

As what I thought it must mean, but the hinge arrangement must be interesting so then the penny dropped, it will open either way but not both, new ones seem to give you the choice but old ones can be changed by swapping the parts around.

It will open both ways, but just not at same time
(Apparently it is possible if you try hard enough to open from both the left side AND the right side at the same time, but the result is the door falls off )

 

[Marzar]

I fitted 3 fans on 2 switches, two more power full fans and one not so, the two on when very sunny/warm ,not so good,
The one on most of day, and does seem to help, I also have a thermostatic controller, but have not fitted yet, may do it next week whilst in France.

I am thinking of putting some thin say 15 or 20mm extruded polystyrene sheet with foil backing on the wall behind the fridge, to help keep it cooler when sunny.
All this is experimental, and I will post results

 

[SquirrellCook]

Spec on mine.View attachment 60679View attachment 60680

We have one of these in our kitchen at work.

 

[2cv]

My Dometic 3 way has played up since lockdown. The freezer part is working but not the main area. I can’t switch to compressor as firstly I know that the noise would annoy and secondly I have only a 110 ah battery and 100w solar so could not cope off grid in Winter. There is no space for more batteries or solar.
I think that the solution lies in a new cooler unit, nearly £600 but a lot less than a new fridge. I suppose I can’t complain really as I’ve had 10 years without any problem from it.

 

[wildebus]

Just on the "compressor noise" thing ... I don't know if some people have amazingly acute hearing, but a decent compressor fridge is not noisy at all.
I don't know when mine are even running. Sometimes I have opened the door to see if the light comes on just to check as really was that quiet (the way I set things up, the light only stays on when the compressor is running - my way of a quick check )

 

[Penny13]

Replaced the fridge freezer in my Chausson recently £1200 fitted Dometic be aware that the fridge will NOT fit through your Habitation door I had to remove the passenger seat in my van and the table to get the old fridge out and the new one in through the front passenger door?

Do you have the small door ? Just trying to mend ours has been a pain you need two people in place one being stuck in the bedroom end ! Only way out is back window for us

 

[wildebus]

Trigger said:
Replaced the fridge freezer in my Chausson recently £1200 fitted Dometic be aware that the fridge will NOT fit through your Habitation door I had to remove the passenger seat in my van and the table to get the old fridge out and the new one in through the front passenger door?

Do you have the small door ? Just trying to mend ours has been a pain you need two people in place one being stuck in the bedroom end ! Only way out is back window for us

When I wanted to take the fridge out of mine, I expected a similar issue,

I had to take a cupboard door off to pass the fridge between the kitchen area and the living area.

Measuring the fridge and the door, the door was narrower then the fridge for sure. However, we took the rubber trim off from around the door surround and that allowed the fridge to literally scrape through the gap. I say 'scrape' as the labels on the side of the fridge actually got peeled back as the fridge was pushed through it was tight.
But it went out without having to take out any windows or the passenger seat (which is what I was gearing up to have to do).

 

[Deleted member 144]

When I wanted to take the fridge out of mine, I expected a similar issue,

I had to take a cupboard door off to pass the fridge between the kitchen area and the living area.

Measuring the fridge and the door, the door was narrower then the fridge for sure. However, we took the rubber trim off from around the door surround and that allowed the fridge to literally scrape through the gap. I say 'scrape' as the labels on the side of the fridge actually got peeled back as the fridge was pushed through it was tight.
But it went out without having to take out any windows or the passenger seat (which is what I was gearing up to have to do).

Well the seat came out easily but heavy tokk the seat off the base then removed the base, up side was that we were able to give the seat and location a good clean, did think of putting a third leisure battery under the seat but sat in a dark room till the urge to do it went away hee hee

 

[Mickrick]

My 3 way dometic would not run cool turned it upside down could hear the fluid moving in the pipes but still didn't work tried it on mains hook up it worked! It turned out even though it would light up the flame wasn't hot enough. I cleaned up the gas nozzle put it back together and now it's never run better.

 

[in h]

Generally, if a three-way fridge isn't working on one power source, try it on the other two.
If one or more works, the refrigerant is OK.
If it's the mains not working, it's probably the heating element (cheap to replace).
If it's the 12v not working, it's probably a wiring, fuse or relay problem.
If it's the gas not working, it's probably a partly blocked jet. They're tiny and block easily.
If it's the gas not staying lit at all, it's probably the thermocouple worn out or wrongly positioned (or the burner is dirty).
Also check that a spider hasn't blocked the flue with a nest.
The only expensive but likely fault is a blown control board. These tend to be damaged by unplugging the hookup when mains powered fans (usually fan heaters or aircon) are running: the voltage surge from the spinning motors destroys the fridge electronics. And it costs a bomb to fix. Always switch stuff off before disconnecting hookup.
If it works in cold weather but not hot, it's not getting enough circulation. Remove the vent covers or fit fans.
Turning the fridge down (to less cold) will help by making the cooling task less energy-consuming.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

there is also the possibility of the cooling pipework becoming blocked which is what my mobile man has suggested.

 

[in h]

If it works on any of the power sources, it isn't blocked cooling pipework.
Although turning it upside down can dislodge blockages, chances are it's only a temporary fix.