Dometic Refrigerator - Montana Owners Club

owenwetzel · 07-26-2005, 03:12 PM

We've got a Dometic refrigerator and the freezer is still working but refrigerator is warming up. The temp here in Inianapolis,IN. has been in the 90's the past week. We've been running it on AC as well as water heater and Air cond..
Put drain tube through vent and switched to gas thinking that there was not enough electricity complete operation of refrig.
Has anyone else had a similar problem?

Parrothead · 07-26-2005, 03:20 PM

Although I think humidity affects the frig, you could have a problem. We ran ours in 100+ temps with no problems. But it is not as humid in Calif as the midwest and east.
Happy trails...................

Glenn and Lorraine · 07-27-2005, 01:47 AM

We are here in southeast PA with similiar hi temps and high humidity. Somedays it feels like 110 degrees out there. We have had no problems with the frig. When we have the voltage we run it on elecric, if the voltage begins to drop we switch it over to gas. Either way it performs perfectly.

Bob & Lee · 07-27-2005, 04:22 AM

We are here in colorado and it has been HOT,the side the frig is on the hot sun beating down on it and is very hot so last year I put in a fan (computer fan) w/ switch just under the frig I had been running it and the freezer was runing about 10 Deg and the frig about 50 so I went out and put in another Fan and now the freezer is at 0 and the frig at 40 so later I may find a larger CFM fan and replace the two w/ one

sreigle · 07-27-2005, 06:51 AM

You probably have a good amount of humidity there in Indiana. When you open the freezer door, feel along the upper edge of the freezer opening, right where the door fits. There should be a switch. That's for operation in high humidity and heat. I'm not positive this will make a difference but it really seems to help ours. Be sure to turn it off when not hooked up to electric as it is a heavy draw on your battery. I'm not sure if it works when on gas.

Also, inside the refrigerator, on those fins at the back, on the far right fin should be a white slider with a wire. This is the thermistor or whatever it's called that determines when the fridge needs to be made cooler, etc. Slide that white thing upwards to get colder temperatures, down for warmer. That worked on our prior Dometic Americana refrigerator. It also works on our new one (a warranty replacement) but this one actually has a decal on the side telling you to move the slider up for colder, etc.

I don't know if either of these things will help but thought I'd toss them out just in case. Also make sure the fridge door "snaps" shut or it will leak a bit.

Parrothead · 07-27-2005, 01:39 PM

Steve good point about the snap. We notice ours is not shut tight every once in a while. Especially if something is blocking inside. It looks shut, but the lock hasn't snapped.
Happy trails...............

Russ and Sandy · 07-27-2005, 03:36 PM

We've (Colorado too) had a number of days above 100 degrees and I've been doing some experimenting with fans also. I had placed a computer muffin fan under the fridge tubing as Bob & Lee did. It is 120V. I have it on a GE remote switch with a fob on the inside of the rig. It seemed to help a little.

Then I added a very small 12V computer processor cooling fan connected to the internal fridge light wiring. I have found that placing it just under the top rack on on the thermistor side (right) it dropped the temperature down to about 35 degrees with the thermistor all the way to the top on a 104 degree day and a empty refrigerator. I have it attached to a binder clip so it will be easy to try other positions if necessary.

We then took a trip up to Golden Gate Canyon State Park, which is about 9,000 feet, and with highest temps in the 80's I found that positioning the thermistor in the middle provided about 38 degrees (12V internal fan running)- and the temperatures were much more even in different areas of the fridge.
I did not use the exterior fan.

Side note: I noticed some yellow fiberglass insulation near the truck as I was hitching up.
Today, I found the source - a LARGE chunk of firewall insulation is missing and other portions ripped as well as the hood insulation. Thank you varmints! Hope they stay warm this winter!

Russ

sreigle · 07-27-2005, 04:03 PM

Good point about the fan inside and outside. And that reminds me. If I recall, the fridge on the 3280RL is in a slide, in which case it should have a fan builtin, probably up the flue behind the fridge. It may be visible by removing the outside vent cover and looking up inside. If that fan is not working it will affect the cooling ability of the fridge on hot days. The fridge-in-slide models have the fan because they do not have a roof vent for the heat to escape.

campbud · 07-27-2005, 04:53 PM

We are in Illinois and have had no trouble with ours. It has been keeping everything nice and cold.

melnjoy · 07-27-2005, 05:12 PM

You did not say what year Rig you had So we do not know if you are still on warranty or not. I know that Dometic has had some recalls on thier reffers. I have been in all kinds of weather and have not had proplems with the humidity like you are talking about. I would get it checked out but I think your PC board is bad.
Just thought that might be wrong
Mel

harleyrider · 07-28-2005, 12:35 AM

Steve

Your right on the mark with the fan already built in.I have the fridge in the slide and their is a fan their already.It seems to be doing its job and as I have had no problems with the fridge staying cold.

Montana_3359 · 07-28-2005, 07:23 AM

We went to the beach 2 weeks ago, was going to go back the next week, so we stowed the Montana at the campgroung for a week. We left it in the gas mode on the 4th level of tempature. When we picked up our camper at some point it had defrosted and the ice started to melt and ice cream bars had melted. The refrigator was warm. After we got it on the site hooked it up to AC, the freezer started to work fine it took a day before the refrigator got cold again. The unit was level, so I don't think that was the problem, just not sure, it all seems to be working ok now. I'm going to attempt to put it on gas for a week and see what happens again.

Bob & Lee · 07-28-2005, 08:58 AM

Russ and Sandy we are in Fountain. You have made me start looking at things again and I gess I need to do more testing with the fans to see if I can get it cooler.

virgil47 · 07-29-2005, 12:58 AM

willyj,

After reading your post, I wonder if your fiver was plugged in when you "stowed the Montana at the campgroung for a week".
When on gas, my refrigerator requires battery and mine won't last but a day or so before the battery is dead. Then the frig will no longer cool.

Montana_2785 · 07-29-2005, 03:52 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by virgil47

willyj,

After reading your post, I wonder if your fiver was plugged in when you "stowed the Montana at the campgroung for a week".
When on gas, my refrigerator requires battery and mine won't last but a day or so before the battery is dead. Then the frig will no longer cool.

Virgil,

If you have the humidity control switch turned on (open the freezer door and look for a switch at the top) that will definitely kill a battery in a hurry. That switch turns on a heater strip in the door openings to prevent condensation in humid weather around the door. If you make sure that is turned off, then your battery should last at least a few days with the fridge on.

With our old TT, we had lots of condensation that caused mess and rust. I keep ours turned on as long as we are plugged in, but I do try to turn it off when on battery as your observation of "...a day or so..." is about what I've seen when I forget

Eric

captbanjo · 07-29-2005, 07:35 AM

I found a guy in NH last week who has the new 3400RL and I noticed his Dometic refrigerator has five levels of adjustment. Alas, ours has zero, leaving us with moderate cold in the frig most of the time. Freezer seems good.

Montana_3359 · 07-29-2005, 08:53 AM

I thought that the battery would last at least a week, wasn't sure maybe that is the answer to my problem. nothing else was on in the camper, only the refrigator working off gas,and the condensation mode off. Does anyony know the average time the battery will work when the fridge is on gas.

Montana_2785 · 07-29-2005, 09:59 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by willyj

I thought that the battery would last at least a week, wasn't sure maybe that is the answer to my problem. nothing else was on in the camper, only the refrigator working off gas,and the condensation mode off. Does anyony know the average time the battery will work when the fridge is on gas.

Other than the refrigerator, did you have a rechargable flashlight plugged in? That is a 12V charger and will noticably drain the battery. Any 12V light or fan on? The propane detector runs all the time, but if that is the only other thing then I would still expect several days of refrigerator run time.

Perhaps you can have the battery load tested to see if it has lost its ability to hold a charge. OR perhaps your builtin charger (on the converter) isn't charging it very well....

One other possibility, how big a battery do you have? Perhaps you have some small snot battery??? I have an 85amp hour battery that managed to last a day with the condensation guard turned on. That should still equate to several days with the guard turned off.

Eric

owenwetzel · 07-29-2005, 04:19 PM

Thanks for all the info. We defrosted the freezer raised the slide to highest position and cool spell and lower humidity all this the frig is now working.
Our 3280rl is a 2000. and I did not find a fan any where inside or out. Looks like I will find a fan to install.

sreigle · 07-29-2005, 05:23 PM

I believe the fridge and the water heater both have boards that require 12v even when running on gas. It's just the electric heating elements that are not running when you run off gas. The boards still require 12v.

Captbanjo, slide that slider up on the rightmost fin in the inside upper part of the fridge. That should cool things down.

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