Refrigerator question

Wife of Big Doofus · 08-12-2007, 10:13 PM

I have a lot of ice build up on the evaporator thingy (long metal things in the back of the fridge?) I have turned it down to the lowest cooling setting, but it still builds up. Also a lot of ice builds up in the freezer. Is this normal?

I have the side by side so when the unit is closed & not running I cannot leave the freezer open to air and dry out because you can't open the freezer side when slid in. Is there anything I can do to keep it from getting stinky inside? Ya'll have any suggestions? I wipe it out, but there is still moisture & I know it has a drain but it still doesn't dry out very well.

I will be taking it back to to the dealer soon & want to know what all I can about the things I want looked at.

rverdlm · 08-13-2007, 08:40 AM

The ice buildup is normal, especially if you are in an area of high humidity. These are not frost free as all home refrigerators are now. We are full time and when in the Rio Grande Valley in the winter we need to defrost about once a month or so. We are now in WY and because it is quite dry we have not defrosted all summer. There two switches at the top of the refrigerator door one of which is for humid areas. Check your manual for which switch and how to set it. As to the freezer compartment when slide is in; can the door be just a little open? If so put something inside that is long enough that the door won't quite close. That would allow some air circulation.

Thom · 08-13-2007, 09:23 AM

you might consider putting about an inch of baking soda in a shallow container. Before we moved into this unit full time I used to pour about half a small box on the bottom of the freezer and the fridge, did the same with all the coolers as well, keeps them nice and fresh.

Thom

Wife of Big Doofus · 08-14-2007, 07:08 PM

Thanks for the replies. When I asked the question I didn't think I could open the freezer at all with slides in, but checked & it can be propped open enough to air out.

Also, I didn't even pay attention to the extra buttons at the top. I better read up & find out how to set it.

Sorry for the dumb questions, but "Big Doofus" wasn't any help!

rverdlm · 08-15-2007, 08:49 AM

There are no dumb questions! We all had to learn these things the hard way. Fortunately there now are places like this forum where we can go to pick brains with experiance.

SuiteWheels · 08-16-2007, 01:36 PM

I just checked my ice build up....yikes, I'm going to have to defrost this week-end....I found using a hair dryer is fast & simple!

suitediver · 08-16-2007, 02:55 PM

I had the problem with the ice build up , turned down to lowest temp and fridge side melted right off but not the freezer. Have temp on 2 and ice has not built back up in fridge.

SuiteWheels, what is the trick with the hairdryer? Do you turn off the unit and take everything out, YUK. I need to defrost the freezer.

Thanks
Suitediver

bstark · 08-16-2007, 07:24 PM

Please be careful with the hair-dryer as the heat from one of those can melt or warp the interior liner (don't ask, it's a story from the past

) and it can happen veeeery quickly!

rverdlm · 08-17-2007, 08:53 AM

You do need to remove everything from the fridge and freezer to do a defrost. The best way we have found, we've been doing this for over 11 years, is to use a fan. Just set the fan up so that it blows into the fridge/freezer and the ice will fall off in just a few minutes. Put a towel in the bottom so that the water doesn't run all over. Yes, it's a pain in the neck, but it's what we do so that we can have this great lifestyle.

hitchup · 08-17-2007, 09:50 AM

I remove everything from the freezer & place in the fridge. Hairdryer helps speed up defrosting on MED or LOW with fan on HI. Even COOL setting helps. It really depends on the inside tempurature of the RV, how fast it goes.

Our fins only freeze at certain times. I'm constantly setting & resetting temp to find happy medium. Sometimes I resort to the hairdryer to unfreeze fins. But it's rare.

rdunk · 08-17-2007, 01:44 PM

FWIW - It has been a while since I looked at the Dometic refrigerator operations manual, but I seem to remember that it specifically makes the statement to not use a hairdryer, or such like, when defrosting. I don't recall it saying why, but might have something to do with potential harmful results when high heat temps are applied to very cold plastic type material in the freezer/fridge??? I would pull the manual, but we are not at home right now.

The fins on our refrigerator will generally defrost overnight, buy running it on a lower setting, especially if this is done reqularly so that there is not a major ice build up. Usually, to defrost the freezer, we turn off the fridge, open the freezer door, and leave the fridge door shut. The food in the fridge will stay reasonably cold, while the ice in the freezer melts. During this time, any ice build-up in the fridge will melt some also. The ice in the freezer melts fairly quickly, without applying any supplemental heat.

Motor31 · 08-18-2007, 09:55 AM

We defrost using the fan method. It takes less than a half hour generally even in the freezer where the worst build up happens. I just did the dollar bill test on the fridge and freezer seals. That is where you close the door with a dollar bill in the area where the rubber seal seats. The dollar bill shouldn't move or be easily dragged around the edge of the seal area. Mine failed miserably. This indicates the fridge and freezer doors are NOT sealing, allowing air to move into the unit adding to the frost inside. I'm going to contact Dometic and see if I can get a new set of door seals sent to me.

JudyGail · 08-18-2007, 11:35 AM

If you use the hair dryer (we do), never set it to the hot setting. The hair dryer Thom uses won't get hot (which is why it's in the kitchen for defrosting) so it's perfect for defrosting. Our fridge is not the side-by-side. We put the food in the freezer into a fold up insulated ice chest, even the ice stays frozen.

As far as ice on the fins in the fridge, we don't get it anymore.... since I put one of those little battery operated box fans on the bottom of the fridge (about 3"x3"x4"). The fridge now stays at a consistent cool temp with no ice on the fins.

Seal on the doors -- Every time I do dishes, which isn't often (maybe every two weeks) since I cook he cleans, I wash the seals on the doors and the inside frame of the fridge. We've been in our MS a year and both doors still seal really good.

Carny Bill · 08-18-2007, 04:39 PM

We have the 2 door dometic and it always frosts up in 3 weeks. Have had it to Wheels RV 2 times and never any better. Even had a complete door replaced and you still can see the light on in the thing when the inside light is turned on. This is out second MS and the first dometic frig was junk. If I purchase another MS or whatever, it will not have a dometic frig.

rverdlm · 08-19-2007, 08:34 AM

Our doors (side X side) seal so well that if we're not careful when we close them they won't open. When closing we stop the door just before it's completely closed then click it closed. Otherwise the air rushes out causing a slight vacuum. Then the doors are very difficult to open. I can always tell if something is sticking out to far and touching the door in either the fridge or freezer because even though the door clicks shut it opens to easy.

RustyJC · 08-19-2007, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill

This is out second MS and the first dometic frig was junk. If I purchase another MS or whatever, it will not have a dometic frig.

We've had the cooling unit replaced at ~2 years on our current Dometic fridge. However, we had a cooling unit fail at ~3 months on a Norcold fridge in our previous Jayco Designer XL. I don't know that one is substantially better than the other....

Rusty

Hobo · 08-20-2007, 11:37 AM

A safe and easy way to defrost is after emptying the freezer stick in a large pot of boiling water and close the door. It will add enough heat to speed up the proses with out the fear of damaging anything.

Carny Bill · 08-20-2007, 07:49 PM

I will have to look into a standard home type on the next RV. These RV units don't seem to be much. I will just have to run the generator when moving.

bstark · 08-20-2007, 08:34 PM

There used to be residential style refridgerators for park model trailers that were dual mode of propane and 115V. I wonder whatever became of those types?

I wonder if googling the major appliance mfgr's would be worth the trouble?

rdunk · 08-20-2007, 09:53 PM

Quote: "There used to be residential style refridgerators for park model trailers that were dual mode of propane and 115V. I wonder whatever became of those types?

I wonder if googling the major appliance mfgr's would be worth the trouble?"
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There are some RV mfgrs. putting residential fridges in their 5th wheels now, probably as an option. One that we saw at a show was in an Alpenlite. It was a stainless steel fridge with a large bottom drawer freezer, which was the same as we had in out home at the time. It was a 110V fridge. They also offered up to six batteries, plus a solar panel, to provide some power while traveling. I believe they said these would power the fridge for 6 or 7 hours.

For infrequent "camping" for a few days or few weeks at a time, the Dometic/Norcold type fridges might be ok, but for fulltime RV'ing, we need a compressor operated refrigerator/freezer, just like home.

Just FYI - In this hot weather, our fridge was getting down to the 38-40 degree range at night, and then would spend most of the day in the 40-44 degree range, depending somewhat how many times we opened the door. For us, that is not cold enough. So, I disconnected the thermister a few days ago, from the system board on the back of the fridge. Now, over night I am a little concerned about stuff freezing, since the fridge temp gets down to the 31-33 degree range. During the day, with use, it is going up to the 34-36 degree range. Wow, this works good for us! Being concerned about possible freezing, I have taken out one of the two fridge fans from inside the fridge.

With the thermister disconnected, the fridge defaults to run on high. I don't know if this will result in a fridge problem, if left that way, but I do think this shows that the thermister is probably faulty. I probably am going to run it this way for a while, because it is doing a better job of cooling than it ever has since new. (Have had the cooling unit replaced once)