16' Series Fridge Issuse

[darcy305]

Hi all,
We have had our van plugged into 240v at home for the last few days to get the fridge operating @ the right Temp. It was working fine until today, the wife went to put some goodies in to get ready to depart on Friday and the fridge was warm after being cold on Saturday!! I did have the van raised at the front end for an hour or 2 yesterday will I did some work on it , I didn't touch anything to do with fridge i've checked the 240 outlet has power the rear top vent is warm which indicates the unit is operating. But the fridge is warm inside I have switched to gas to see if that helps but has been on for 1.5 hours but still no change. Any ideas ? could it have been that the van was out of level for a short time whilst the fridge was still turned on or is its something more serious??

 

[bigcol]

usually it only needs to be spot on level when running it on Gas........ running it on 240v it shouldn't have affected it

unfortunately, I know next to nothing about them mate, so hopefully someone with the knowledge with be along shortly

hope its just something simple......

 

[Bellbirdweb]

It does need to be level on 240v as well, but you can have a little more latitude before it stops cooling.

Do you have power to everything else in the van ?

 

[darcy305]

So just went out to check if anything had changed. Freezer getting cold fins in fridge are cold? All I did was turn the thermostat down to 3 and also wound the jockey wheel up and down a few times ??? Have no idea what was/is wrong but certainly getting cold.

Happy Days

 

[ROnEM]

Have no idea what was/is wrong but certainly getting cold.

Cosmic Rays - They do this all the time... They can also make keys disappear and then eventually reappear exactly where you thought you left them...

 

[Crusty181]

Hi all,
We have had our van plugged into 240v at home for the last few days to get the fridge operating @ the right Temp. It was working fine until today, the wife went to put some goodies in to get ready to depart on Friday and the fridge was warm after being cold on Saturday!! I did have the van raised at the front end for an hour or 2 yesterday will I did some work on it , I didn't touch anything to do with fridge i've checked the 240 outlet has power the rear top vent is warm which indicates the unit is operating. But the fridge is warm inside I have switched to gas to see if that helps but has been on for 1.5 hours but still no change. Any ideas ? could it have been that the van was out of level for a short time whilst the fridge was still turned on or is its something more serious??

You don't need this when you leave in a few days, has it stayed cool?

 

[darcy305]

Fridge still cool!!!! Happy wife happy life.
Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year to all.

 

[17triton]

Might pay to get a thermometer so you can keep an eye on it.

 

[darcy305]

yeah just looking for a digitial one now

 

[MDS69]

I picked up a couple of analogue fridge thermometers today from Aldi that hang from a shelf inside the fridge @ $3.99 each. I put one in the expanda 3 way fridge currently on 240V and came back an hour later and it said -4 degrees. The digital one with a wired probe showed +1.5 degree. Go figure.
I have my 60L waeco compressor fridge running at the moment with the display set at 2 degrees.. The analogue one after half an hour shows 1 degree.

 

[Digger12]

Hey guys. Just read this post as I'm having the problem at the moment. Freezer is working fine however the fridge is not real cool even at max temp on the dial (items in fridge are JUST cool). Any ideas? I've levelled the van and everything else in the van is running fine through 240v at the caravan park at the moment. Is there anything else I should check/do?

 

[Smergen]

Hey guys. Just read this post as I'm having the problem at the moment. Freezer is working fine however the fridge is not real cool even at max temp on the dial (items in fridge are JUST cool). Any ideas? I've levelled the van and everything else in the van is running fine through 240v at the caravan park at the moment. Is there anything else I should check/do?

Ours struggled (according to our Ironman Gauge) on the last trip when the temps were reasonably high outside the van (~30deg) and went up to around 10deg. We switched to gas and that helped, and overnight temps came back down to "normal". Will look at putting fans on the exhaust vent to help out but it's something to manage. We've introduced the esky outside the van to put drinks with ice in it to stop opening and closing the fridge during the day uneccessarily.

Will keep an eye on this thread for tips and things to look for.

 

[Digger12]

Cheers mate, however i dont understand why we are having this issue now as its never been a problem in the past.

 

[Drover]

@Digger12 ,Mostly about air flow, if you haven't had a look at the back of your fridge then pop the top vent and see if it's open to the space around the fridge, if it is then it needs to be closed up so that the air comes in the bottom thru the fins and straight out the top vent allowing for the correct operation, fitting some computer fans does a great job. If the space around the fridge is open then the air doesn't move, fridge doesn't work real well and it turns into a food warmer.

Folks do a search this issue has been covered in some great detail on other threads and seems to be a regular one. Usually poor fitting of fridge. Pics on my thread.

 

[craigandteena]

This may not help but we are currently travelling during school holidays and at our current location (Sunshine Coast) the fridge would not stay cool enough during the day. We had no previous problems so it was baffling. Two days in I felt as though the van was slightly uneven even though the level on my A Frame said I was. I pulled out a spirit level and placed it on the floor near the fridge and it was slightly off. I readjusted the level of the van and now the past couple of days the fridge is sitting at 1 deg or cooler irrespective of outside temp at a setting on the fridge of 3.5. In summary, I am surprised that a small adjustment to the level has made a significant improvement to the fridge performance. Next job is to replace the level on the A Frame.

 

[MDS69]

This may not help but we are currently travelling during school holidays and at our current location (Sunshine Coast) the fridge would not stay cool enough during the day. We had no previous problems so it was baffling. Two days in I felt as though the van was slightly uneven even though the level on my A Frame said I was. I pulled out a spirit level and placed it on the floor near the fridge and it was slightly off. I readjusted the level of the van and now the past couple of days the fridge is sitting at 1 deg or cooler irrespective of outside temp at a setting on the fridge of 3.5. In summary, I am surprised that a small adjustment to the level has made a significant improvement to the fridge performance. Next job is to replace the level on the A Frame.

I have a T level on my draw bar. Talking to a gas fridge repairer he said that if the bubble was still between the lines but closer to one end of the zone then it can affect the efficiency of your fridge by 15-20%. I don't know if he told me or I read it here or myswag but a recommendation is to level your van at the fridge the place a dop of silicon on the drawer bar then in the silicon put a round bubble level.

 

[Smergen]

Hmm... maybe this is why ours was a little off. Why are the fridges so sensitive??

 

[Drover]

I have found that those T levels the bubble tube can move so it's not showing correctly.

Since Jayco have problems fitting the fridges then if it's level your drains probably won't..................lol,lol,lol.

 

[Crusty181]

We're away with few free camps between c/parks. First night on the road and first need for fridge on gas, the fridge wouldnt light. After pulling off a few guards off at the rear of the fridge, btw looking for a random Jayco rep to knock out, I managed to get to the burner box and light it by hand

Now settled in a c/park for a few days had a chance to have a better look. Everything appeared to be functioning, gas, piezo, bypass etc but it still wouldnt light. The gap btw the burner and the piezo strike is only about 10mm with the piezo about central btw the 2

The fridge gas ignition (mine anyway) is so fickle, the position of the piezo pin btw the burner and strike is critical, a touch too high or low and it wont ignite even tho visually the strike was identical. The piezo pin has some movement in its mount to, so its likely to play up in the future too

Easy fix, and i can post some pics if anyone is having gas lighting issues

 

[craigandteena]

We're away with few free camps between c/parks. First night on the road and first need for fridge on gas, the fridge wouldnt light.

Mine is hit and miss sometimes. If it does not light after pushing the ignite about a dozen times I let it sit for 15min and then bang it lights first time. I just assume it is settling after bouncing around on the travel.