Quote by Ally
Quote by ROBANDSUE
Ah bummer. why upside down.?
Allegedly the gas solidifies slightly if the fridge hasn't been used, or with age. It then doesn't circulate enough to cool. Turning it upside down for 24hours allows the gas to move from one end to the other and frees it all up again.
At least, that's my understanding.
I know my Uncle many years ago, made a bit of money by fixing them that way
This post on the Hymer owners forum. Not totally relevant but perhaps helpful.
Dometic / Electrolux Absorption 3 way Fridge Problems
Not getting cold or only the freezer getting cold
Try plugging into mains with fridge 240v thermostat set to max and gas on max as well for a couple of hours then drive up and down the bumpiest road you can find.
The chemicals used are a liquid cocktail of chemicals that will separate out over time if the fridge has not been used and you need to get them re-mixed to perform correctly. turning the fridge upside down risks emptying all of the crud in the reservoir chamber into the system and blocking the evaporation jet (dead fridge).
Turning an old absorption fridge upside down is a very last resort, first try shaking on bumpy road, then remove fridge and 2 people shake as hard as they can.
final attempt of rotating the fridge in (for most absorption fridges) an anti clockwise direction looking from the back with out stopping with the fridge upside down.
The last resort has a success rate for the fridge then working with out problems in the next 2 years of about 10 %
about 80 % of fridges will work perfectly after this for a few weeks to 6 months
10 % will be dead and only get hot inside due to a blocked evaporation jet.
It is not possible to repair the absorption heat exchanger or evaporation jet that bis inside as they are sealed units.
STANDING A FRIDGE UPSIDE DOWN IS NOT GOOD and ROTATING IS A LAST RESORT WHEN ALL ELSE HAS FAILED
1) check fridge on both 240v and gas (there should be little difference in performance if the fault is with the actual refrigeration system rather than power source)
2) If performance is the same on both check your ventilation. The air in the rear of the fridge should not be above 42c for the fridge to work correctly. if above this fit some fans blowing out of the top vent (never blowing into the bottom vents if running on gas)
3) if the fridge runs fine on 240v but not on gas then no matter how good your flame looks it is either not getting enough heat into the system or it is putting too much in. This can be wrong jet / wrong gas pressure / burner tube sooted up / burner tube baffle either missing or in wrong place / feed pipe restricted (corroded) / burner Venturi corroded and restricted primary air ports / burner crown missing damaged.
4) if the fridge runs ok on gas but not on 240v then it is either no power getting to the fridge (easy check if you have a switch that lights up when switched on) / faulty switch / faulty thermostat (rare) /faulty 240v element (most common)
After all of this then it might be time to remove the fridge and start shaking etc.
Author Pete Curry of Cotswold Motorhome Services.
Davy
- it wasn't drained over the winter so maybe froze and broke it.
