Fridge Level switch

[747]

My van is parked on my drive, which is on a slight slope.

 

The fridge does not work on hookup due to the slight angle yet my last van did not have this problem.

 

Is there any way I can check the switch to see if it is set up correctly?

[Clive]

Fridges don,t have a level switch. Its that they rely on gravity for the refrigerant to fall down a gradual set of piping for the absorbtion system to work. It sounds that the fridge in your new motorhome is less tollerant to the slope. Use some levelling blocks for the vehicle.

C.

 

[747]

Thanks for the reply Clive.

 

Not exactly the outcome I was hoping for.

 

Drat. :-S

[Dave Newell]

Absorption fridges will generally work if the tilt is forward or back but not side to side. Perhaps your last van had the fridge in a different location that changed the direction of tilt?

 

D.

[Derek Uzzell]

A couple of earlier postings relevant to fridges and levelling:-

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=17228&posts=17

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=15042&posts=3

 

Coincidentally, last weekend I was talking to a couple who had recently bought a 2004 Auto-Sleepers Symbol. They told me that the Symbol's fridge hadn't cooled when they put the vehicle on 230V hook-up on their drive at home. The dealer from whom they'd bought the motorhome tested the fridge and could find nothing wrong with it, eventually suggesting that their drive must be too steep for the fridge to work properly. I said that 'modern' fridges normally seem able to work OK up to 6° of slope and they confirmed that their drive was much steeper than that. Apparently they had owned a small Romahome (presumably with a 3-way fridge) before the Symbol and hadn't experienced this problem.

[Brambles]

All I can suggest is you try the fridge with teh vehicle on ramps to make it more level to at least prove it works when level on drive to eliminate any other unnoticed obscure problem. Be nice if it turned out your hook up lead was dead but expect you have checked this, or some switch in wrong position. Maybe switching off batteries also kills opertion of the fridge as it needs battery volts as well....just trying to think outside the box.

Maybe even turning vehicle to slope the other way will effect a cure.

 

edit - my usual high number of spelling mistakes and typos which someone indelicately said once was me getting het up.

[747]

Thanks to all for the helpful advice.

 

I can only reverse my van on to the drive, due to its length (8.2 metres). The other van was driven on and so there may be some truth in which way round it works.

 

I have 2 HGV wheel chocks under the front wheels to prevent any mishap. If it started rolling, it would finish up in my neighbours living room. :$ as the houses opposite are on a slightly lower level.

 

Brambles, the fridge works fine on 240 volts when on a level pitch, so I have discounted that problem.

 

For anyone else with this problem, I bought some plastic freezer bottles from a Pound shop. They are filled with water and frozen in the house and then transferred into the van fridge for a few hours. We then put the food in the fridge at the last minute before we set off. Its not perfect but it pre cools the fridge to some extent.

 

[Brian Kirby]

You could try it on gas while on the drive.  That should (reasonably) conclusively show if the fault is due to the slope, or possibly something that developed on the 230V side since last use.

[Dave Newell]

I had one in this morning with a fridge that didn't work on gas although it lights and consumes gas ok. Checked it out and after about an hour it was cooling well. Owners drive does slope so that is the most likely cause.

 

D.