Thetford fridge problem in Chausson Welcome 74

[Vixter]

We have a Chausson Welcome 74 fitted with a Thetford N 150 Fridge Freezer. The vehicle was purchased secondhand, and is a 2006 model, in good condition with low mileage. We have however discovered a problem with the fridge and would be interested in other forum member’s views.

 

The fridge door has dropped on its hinge and on inspection, the bottom hinge plate is held against the body with three small self-tapping screws and they have pulled through the sheet steel casing of the fridge. Possibly at some time the door had been over loaded with heavy bottles. Consequently the only way to close the fridge door is with a nifty lift achieved by putting your foot under the door as it swings closed.

 

Looking at the manual for the unit, there is no note regarding the max capacity the door can carry, and I think using self-tapping screws to hold such an important piece in the correct position is a poor design.

 

It is not possible to reinforce the base of the fridge as it has the insulation after the skin. So other than making a jack to take the weight of the door and transfer it to the floor of the van what else could be done?

 

We have also discovered that the on/off switch for the freezer doesn’t seem to actually turn the freezer off. We had never actually needed to do this, but on an aire in Caen, the French owner of a Chausson Welcome 74 stopped me and asked if I had a problem with the freezer switch as he was unable to switch off his freezer. We have checked ours and find we have the same situation. Is this a regular problem or is it our normal run of luck??

 

[Brian Kirby]

Hi Vixter.  Re the hinge plate, simplest, as it seems you can get at it, will be to remove the door and the plate, knock the "pulled" PK fixing holes back flat, and then re-fit the plate with the next size PK screws.  If countersunk, the heads may protrude a little and whether c/sk or pan head, you may need to open out the holes in the hinge plate with a drill to pass the screws.  Then, make a packer to fit between plate and floor, Araldite it to the base of the plate and, if you've taken out the fridge to operate on it, leave that for 24 hours to go off before putting the fridge back. 

I'd guess someone just overloaded the fridge door by using it to help them back up, after the customary grovel!

Re turning off the freezer part, if the manual is no help, try Thetford?  You can't be the only ones!

[pepe63xnotuse]

I know I may be a little off the topic title here,as it's Dometic but the freezer in our Chausson(an Allegro 83),isn't switched seperately from the fridge either...it's just "ON"...

I've always thought it'd be handy if it could be adjusted,so that if need be, it could be used as an extension to the fridge.

 

[David Dwight]

If you are talking about the switch between the Fridge and the Freezer. This is not a switch to switch the freezer off, its to switch on a heating plate to stop the freezer door freezing up. We have never used it on our van and it has just been running continuous for the last 10 weeks.

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

Ah, now I understand!  I thought Vixter meant she could turn off the fridge, but not the freezer.  Durrrr!  :-(

[Mel B]

When we had a split fridge/freezer in our previous van, the push switch on the front, sandwiched between the freezer and fridge doors, was just to de-ice the freezer door if it 'stuck' with the cold. As far as I can recall we weren't able to independently turn the fridge or freezer parts off.

 

Having a mooch on the web I came across the attached which may be of interest to some:

 

http://www.a-tconsulting.co.uk/caravan_tech/fridges.html

[Derek Uzzell]

I think, if you wanted to have a fridge/freezer where the fridge and freezer components could be operated completely independently, you'd need to have separate cooling systems. This would be a lot of fun on a 3-way absorption appliance!

 

My Dometic RM-7605L fridge/freezer has a 'frame heating' button next to its energy-selection switch. Its documented function is not to de-ice the freezer door-seal, but to evaporate water droplets that might form on the metal door-frame during high temperature/high humidity weather conditions. I've never felt the need to use this facility and, although water droplets do form on the freezer's door frame, I've never found that these freeze or prevent the door being opened.

 

For incomprehensible reasons known only to Dometic designers, the 12V frame heater is operable irrespective of the appliance being on or off. It draws 3.5W and, if inadvertently left on with the motorhome static, would inevitably flatten the leisure-battery eventually. At least there is a reasonably bright red LED to indicate when the frame-heater is on: on earlier Dometic models I believe the heater switch is between the freezer and fridge doors and much less apparent.

[Vixter]

Thanks to everyone for their inputs. I've passed it all onto VOH to sort out.

He said that there was nothing in the Thetford manual re the switch and having phoned them up, they confirmed it was the plate heater as correctly identified in the thread.

 

It is really comforting to know that there is such a wealth of experience and knowledge available on this forum.

 

Thanks again

Vixter

[Derek Uzzell]

If you GOOGLE on "thetford fridge mystery", you'll find that the switch thing has come up before on other forums. An explanation is apparently in Thetford's handbook somewhere, but I've repeated it below......

 

"The N145 and the N150 fridges have a divider heater. By heating the metal plate between the freezer and the fridge cabinet, the divider heater prevents ice-forming when the freezer door is opened and also prevents the freezer door from freezing stuck to the metal breaker of the fridge. To save energy, the divider heater can be switched off. The switch can be found on the side of the control panel near the latch."

[Vixter]

Thanks Derek. We'll probably switch it off for a while and see what happens.

 

Maybe whether it is turned on or off should be decided by how often you open the freezer door. In the summer when you will need access to the ice cubes to go with the G&T quite regularly , it may be quite useful. But in the winter when the freezer door is only opened rarely, like when you have run out of everything else and have to rely on the emergency rations (frozen peas, oven chips and beefburgers) for dinner it could be turned off.

[Mel B]

We had one of these fridges for 3 years and in all that time only used the frame heater twice, so I'd leave it turned off unless it looks like it's going to 'stick'.

[Brian Kirby]

Vixter - 2010-11-06 4:13 PM ............... In the summer when you will need access to the ice cubes to go with the G&T quite regularly , it may be quite useful. ..........

Now I'm puzzled.  Do you take your G&T summer only, or without ice in winter, or just leave the G&T outside in winter, to cool itself?  We really should be told!  :-D