4cls Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 While we were away hob nobbing with the French in midwinter we had a lot of bother with a Thetford SES fridge in the Ace Airstream 680. It would work well enough on gas but failed dismally on mains hook up, 220-240V, both on my Honda generator and on the lower voltage French mains. 12v with the engine running also was not too clever, lots of defrosting over a 3 hr. trip. It has got to the state where I am considering ripping out the Thetford and installing a 'compressor' fridge. Has any one done this?. With apologies if this thread has been done to death previously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Installing a compressor fridge is a lot more straightforward than installing an absorption fridge - basically, you stick ithe compressor fridge in and connect it to an electrical power-supply. It was discussed here http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Hints-and-Tips/Absorption-versus-Compressor-fridges/25249/ and a GOOGLE-search on "motorhome compressor fridge" will retrieve more information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Before you go the radical route though, I think it may be worth getting the functioning of your existing fridge checked. If it worked on gas, the refrigeration circuit is working as intended. That it defrosted (is this a model with separate freezer, or with a freezer compertment within the main fridge?) on 12V indicates it may not have been getting any 12V power. Have you checked that 12V is getting to the fridge when the engine is running? Not sure what "failed dismally" in relation to mains power might mean. Obviously that it did not keep its contents satisfactorily cool, but at what external temperatures, and by what margin? Or did it fail to cool at all, and you just switched to gas in frustration? If the latter, it would appear there may be a control fault in that whatever energy source you select on the control panel, gas remains selected by the control panel. Is it an AES model, and might the automatic switching function have failed? If these possibilities can be rested and resolved, even at the cost of a new controller, I would expect that to be substantially cheaper, and definitely much simpler, than removing the whole unit to replace it with a new, 12V, compressor driven fridge and adapting the power supplies to suit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4cls Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 Brian, our fridge in the motorhome has the freezer box built in, not a separate compartment with its own door, the control panel on the front of the fridge door has an auto function when the left side button is pressed, it also has a manual setting that is the one we are using at the moment, when in auto mode it switches between gas/ mains once every second. when in manual mode it shows error code 10 on mains hook up! so there is a fault some where in the mains power supply in either the top printed circuit board or the lower board where there is supposed to be a fuse? this lower board is inaccessible to me. All the van fuses have been checked and all are fine, Before realising that it was nor working too well a fridge load of food got thawed out, hence my expression, 'failed dismally', France was chilly but that was about it, we have been in colder places. And yes, I did go onto gas mode just to keep food cold and fresh. The 12v supply to the control panel works, if it didn't there would be no light when the power button is pressed to switch on. The van goes into a m/home service shop for exploratory work to find out the problem in April. I hope the questions you ask have been answered in a some what satisfactory manner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 From what you say about the behaviour of the fridge when in auto mode, I would suspect the fault is in the controller and not the electrics. If there is only one source of energy available, it should "see" that and use it. It searches sources in an order of priority: so it looks for 12V electricity, then mains electricity, and finally gas. If it "sees" no 12V, and no mains, it will select gas. Clearly it "thinks" there is mains, which is why it is trying to use it, but it can't connect, so it then tries to switch to gas, but its logic won't allow that, so it goes from one to the other and is unable to connect to either. My guess is that the fault lies somewhere on the p.c. board/s. It may be a bad connection, or a failed relay of some sort. I don't expect the boards to be cheap to replace, if that is the cure, but even that should be way cheaper than swapping fridges! It might be wisest to take the van to a Thetford specialist, rather than to a general motorhome dealership whose staff may not be fully familiar with the detailed workings of the fridge. People can rack up substantial charges pursuing faults they aren't fully equipped to diagnose! Thetford's UK address is: Unit 6, Brookfields Way, Manvers, Rotherham, S63 5DL. Tel 0844 997 1960. Website here: http://tinyurl.com/o8hkfy7 This should allow you to find a service centre near where you live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Dwight Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 How old is the Motorhome, is it still under warranty. We had problems with our fridge on our last Auto trail Thetford were as much help as a snowball in Hell. Contacted Auto trail it took a technician 2 seconds to decide we needed a new fridge, fitted 2 days later with no hassle. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Shouldn't that be an AES Fridge ( automatic energy Source/Selection) ? Just thinking is all. 8-) Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickt Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 AES is a Dometic fridge , same idea differant make Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Rayjsj - 2014-03-30 4:18 PM Shouldn't that be an AES Fridge ( automatic energy Source/Selection) ? Just thinking is all. 8-) Ray Thetford's fridge-related acronyms are MEC - Manual Energy Control (controlled via knobs) EES - Electronic Energy Selection (controlled via push-button and display-screen) SES - Smart Energy Selection (automatic energy-source selection) http://www.swift-owners-club.com/support/oem-handbooks/thetford/troubleshooting-fridges.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4cls Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 Thanks to all who offered advice and the web sites which are appreciated. The motor home is on a 56 plate and is not in warranty! as we found out with the rotten floor along the side skirts, It, the van, goes up to Mullacott motorhomes next week, they are Thetford agents, and when I spoke to them this morning, Tom Donovan, the manager, says they have done a few Thetford fridges with this problem, they change both printed circuit boards and see how things work, we shall see! nd I don't hold my breath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.