Fridge stuff

I know that three way fridges are a regular topic on the forum. I have had a look through some of the threads but can't find anything that deals with my issue... happy to be redirected if the answer is already out there.

Essentially, my fridge used to work fine. It still works on gas, 12v and 240v... just not very well.

I have taken it out, cleaned the burner and tested the 12v and 240v elements... all fine. I have turned it upside down for a couple of days before refitting. It fires up fine but struggles to chill much below ambient.

When running, the cooling fins in the back are almost too hot to touch at the right end but not even noticeably warm on the left.

I know that there is the option of fitting a fan to improve air circulation but I don't think that this is the issue. I have tested it overnight when the air is cooler and with the vents removed but with no improvement.

What am I missing? Do these things need regassing like air conditioning in a car?

Thanks all...

Always hotter at right hand end of fins. Cannot be regassed in usual way as there is no connection , maybe an engineer could create one . 12v use only really maintains temp and will not bring temp down thats why you need to run on gas or electric and get down to temp before you travel. I had my 240v element replaced due to poor cooling. When tested by engineer it was only registering 60watt instead of 120watt so although yours may show it working it's possibly not the full 120w, have you simply tested that it has power to it?
My problem started back in 2019 when temperature hit 40c , fridge couldn't cope , had new element fitted and had fan fitted,  now it will freeze stuff and make ice cubes during the heatwave of this last week.

Not sure if this is relevant, but to get the temperature down before travelling and filling the fridge, we usually just put frozen freezer packs into the main fridge (not the freezer box) first.  If the journey is not a long one we don't even put the 12v on but wait until on site when, usually, we hook up to mains. The freezer packs go into the freezer box to re-freeze for use on the return journey.
Presumably this is not harming the fridge in any way, and seems to work well.

Paulmold wrote:Always hotter at right hand end of fins. Cannot be regassed in usual way as there is no connection , maybe an engineer could create one . 12v use only really maintains temp and will not bring temp down thats why you need to run on gas or electric and get down to temp before you travel. I had my 240v element replaced due to poor cooling. When tested by engineer it was only registering 60watt instead of 120watt so although yours may show it working it's possibly not the full 120w, have you simply tested that it has power to it?
My problem started back in 2019 when temperature hit 40c , fridge couldn't cope , had new element fitted and had fan fitted,  now it will freeze stuff and make ice cubes during the heatwave of this last week.

Hmm... I wonder. I checked the elements by removing them and connecting to a power source. Both got very hot very quickly. As I am getting similar results on gas and electric I suspect that it is something to do with the wizardry going on inside all those pipes.

I suggest removing it again, turn upside down overnight then let stand during day, then upside down again overnight then stand again and if you've time repeat again to get the refrigerant moving.

Paulmold wrote:I suggest removing it again, turn upside down overnight then let stand during day, then upside down again overnight then stand again and if you've time repeat again to get the refrigerant moving.

Away in the van at the moment... home this evening. I'll give it another try later in the week.

Hi Taff',The 3 way fridges are Absorption Type which use a heat source to circulate the refrigerant, If either the gas or "electric candle" are o.k and still poor refrigeration it is highly likely to be a blockage caused by debris in the capillary tube, it is rare to lose refrigerant due to leaks, as suggested by other members turn it upside down, or do, as we did, many years ago when " upcountry" in the Middle East, put it in a vehicle and take it for a bumpy ride, always worked. The heat source we had was a paraffin tank in the base similar to the old paraffin heaters, seemed bizzare to trim and light the wick when it was so hot. Regards

Also make sure you rotate the fridge over the same way each time, looking at front . Always clock ways each turn over etc. Seems to help...just look at the tubes path ar the rear.

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions - the fridge will be coming out this weekend for another try making use of the suggestions above.

I had a new heater and water heater put into my Topaz on Tuesday. all part of my original purchase. When I collected it from the engineer he went through all the gas/12v/electric controls for everything.

One thing he said about the fridge was when it is hot outside they just can't cope well. He said folk always turn the dial up which is a mistake, the elements overheat. He suggested turning the dial down to 2 which it will be able to cope with. Just thought I'd share.

It's already been mentioned here, and I once brought it up before.
We were a few months into our tour of NZ in our Mazda Bongo when the fridge efficiency dropped off to the extent that it hardly cooled at all.
We called at a motorhome hire company for advice and their engineer told us that at the end of every season they take the absorption fridges out of their vans, load them onto an agricultural trailer and take them on a 50k drive over the roughest unsealed road they can find, there are many in NZ...
Back to full efficiency afterwards. They claimed this treatment breaks up the crystallisation of the refrigerant.
We did similar with our fridge had no more problems for the remaining months of our trip.
Al.

Skeena wrote:I had a new heater and water heater put into my Topaz on Tuesday. all part of my original purchase. When I collected it from the engineer he went through all the gas/12v/electric controls for everything.

One thing he said about the fridge was when it is hot outside they just can't cope well. He said folk always turn the dial up which is a mistake, the elements overheat. He suggested turning the dial down to 2 which it will be able to cope with. Just thought I'd share.

We had a strange time with our fridge last trip, first time off grid with fridge on gas, everything started to freeze so turned the control down and it got even colder, turned it down again to 3 and it seemed to run at a normal temperature after that!
Up to now I have to say the fridge seems very efficient on 12v mains or gas so we just use 12v when driving, mains when available and gas when off grid.
Graham