benr8440667 Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Hello Gents. I hope that my symptoms might ring a bell for someone... I have a dometic aes fridge (RM6405L) it works well on 240v and 12v. When on gas it initially lights well and has a good strong blue flame. however cuts out and fails to relight after a while- sometimes after 30 mins. sometimes after several hours. when it does go out the igniter clicks for 30secs or so with no relight. then you get the flashing red light. if i then reset the fridge immediatley it tries to light again but cant. if however i wait 10 minutes for it to cool down or whatever before resetting it then it relights fine after a couple of clicks. Then the process continues again. i.e. it fails again after various time intervals!! Please someone throw me a pearl of wisdom!! p.s. ive done all of the obvious stuff- check gas flow, clean jet, clean burner, clean flue, visual inspection of igniter and thermocouple(which seems well positioned) everything looks almost as good as new to be honest. many thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 I posted this on an earlier post, My fridge freezer failed in France a couple of weeks ago , lost all the food, it was in the 30s , tried to manage a week without the fridge but gave up after a week and came home , went to my local Electrolux agent in Romsey Hants and had the fridge inspected, dead he said and the parts are unavailable as the fridge is at least 14 years old,and obsolete, so a new one is on order £1500 plus, all electrolux parts are now sourced from Germany and where before could be got in a couple of days locally ,it now takes at least 2 weeks, so waiting for a new one to be delivered, to add to the fun, the old fridge will not go out through the habitation door nor will the new one come in that way, so I have had to remove the table and the front passenger seat so the fridges can pass through the front of the van,[ Chausson lowline,] common problem with vans it seems, but hey ho it all adds to the fun ? Sounds as though you are experiencing the same problem I was having, My fridge kept going out , it would relight but eventually it would not, it would not work on any of the energy sources in he end, There is so much electronic gubbins on the fridge, the front light panel for one, the main brain control for another, I had that bit replaced in Portugal 2 years ago 350 euros that cost, it could be that again, all the elements were tested 12 v 240 volt this time all are OK but not getting the messages from the controls, so as the parts are now unavailable it means a new updated fridge /freezer for me long wait for it though, hope you have better luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alanb Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Ben, The document linked to below may throw some light on your problem. In particular see page 15 and perhaps 16. Alan http://web.adria.dk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Dometic-RM4185-6405.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 Either that, or the following page on the thermocouple. It needs a test by a Dometic fridge tech to determine what it is that is actually failing in use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benr8440667 Posted July 4, 2018 Author Share Posted July 4, 2018 many thanks for your input chaps. it does seem that i may have to bite the bullet and get a pro to do some fault diagnosis (which upsets me) the parts are just too expensive to go changing one after another untill its fixed. i suspect its probably the main pcb/control unit or associated wiring. I have very occasionally noticed it trying to light on gas whilst connected to mains. it has also failed whilst on mains once or twice. These occurances have been so rare i have discounted them in my own reckoning on this matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 benr8440667 - 2018-07-04 5:09 PM...………………… 1) I suspect its probably the main pcb/control unit or associated wiring. 2) I have very occasionally noticed it trying to light on gas whilst connected to mains. it has also failed whilst on mains once or twice. These occurances have been so rare i have discounted them in my own reckoning on this matter. 1) Not that I wish to cast aspersions, but I wouldn't suggest that as a possible cause, just in case! :-)Those boards are expensive! 2) This can be caused if the local mains supply falls below somewhere in the region of 210V. This is not that unusual on campsites etc where large numbers of pitches are using connections, as many of the site installations are old, and may have had additional supply outlets added, so that voltages can begin to fall as the total load connected rises. It is also noticeable during local (ish! :-)) thunderstorms in more rural areas, as the systems responds to lightning strikes. If the mains voltage falls below the critical threshold, the fridge will switch to gas. That is as it is designed to operate, and is normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benr8440667 Posted July 4, 2018 Author Share Posted July 4, 2018 guess what- i tempted fate! im actually staying in the motorhome at the moment and im on mains hookup. 5 minutes ago the fridge igniter ran then i heard it light, then i heard a gas valve clunk and then the flame went out again. no warning lights. no mains interruption whatsoever during this episode. fridge is running perfectly on mains apart from those observations. any theories?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 So you are saying the fridge was on Auto selection and running on mains, then switched to gas for a couple of minutes then back to mains, all of its own accord? If so I'll go along with Dereks Low Voltage theory. Invest in something like an Energenie Power Meter to monitor the supply Voltage... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Energenie-429-856UK-Power-Meter/dp/B003ELLGDC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1530726167&sr=8-4&keywords=energenie+monitor Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 Oi Fred, Derek's Derek, and I'm Brian! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 It is not unknown for the spindle (which the adjusting knob moves) to break. It is easy enough to remove the knob for the Auto/Manual selection to see if the spindle is OK or not. I suppose it is possible for this to cause your problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 Brian Kirby - 2018-07-04 6:58 PM Oi Fred, Derek's Derek, and I'm Brian! :-D Ooooops, Sorry Brian :$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alanb Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 Ben, In view of the further information given, and the fact that the idea of seeking help from a fridge technician upsets you, would it be worth ruling out an intermittent fault in the 240v system, including the EHU cable. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benr8440667 Posted July 4, 2018 Author Share Posted July 4, 2018 once again, thanks for all of the input gents. very interesting theory about a fluctuating mains supply causing the fridge to swich to gas briefly now and again. interestingly it has done it twice today- once earlier when i was plugged into the mains at one site and again this evening on another site 40 miles away. Taking on board what everyone has said, i will look into a possible 240v supply issue upsetting the fridge before i concentrate further on the gas running issue. However, given that the gas issue occurs whilst off mains hookup i suspect it is not the main issue but possibly another symptom of an overall electronic control problem. tatally invaluable getting this brainstorming work from you guys. cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benr8440667 Posted July 4, 2018 Author Share Posted July 4, 2018 ... just to clarify a couple of points: Jim, my fridge doesnt have a power source selector knob- its totally automatic. just an on/off button and a temperature button. Rubbish design! Keith, it is running on mains when the gas lighting process occurs. but i have no indication that it switches to gas mode other than a brief lighting operation. nothing else. infact i was assuming that it somehow was doing both at the same time for some strange electrical reason. god, these stupid fridges are too complicated. i wish my fridge just had a selector knob and no stupid auto control system!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benr8440667 Posted July 8, 2018 Author Share Posted July 8, 2018 i have ruled out an issue with the mains supply as i have been using the motorhome on various sites over the last few days with the same issues. The fridge has been changing to gas whilst on mains and failing on gas whilst off mains. I presently think that this is because it is randomly choosing to change power source. (this concept was highlighted to me by you guys on the forum) and with gas once it switches away from, and back to gas, it isnt allowed to auto relight without manually resetting. hence the red light and failiure. As the power mode switching seems to be the responsibility of the aes2 electronic module (295 1876-10/7) confirmed by the document that was kindly highlighted to me on this thread... i think i need to change this but i cant find a seller for this item after googling it for ages. any ideas chaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benr8440667 Posted July 10, 2018 Author Share Posted July 10, 2018 Good news, my main issue- failiure during gas operation, is fixed. it turned out to be quite simple in the end- a loose connection between the thermocouple and the flame failiure device/thremocouple adaptor. i decided to pull the fridge out, which was actually quite straight forward and got quite excited when i noticed the loose connection. the linked document that a couple of people referred to, was helpful here. sure enough it is working perfectly on gas now. The gas starting occasionally whilst on mains issue is still present but doesnt really matter as it never actually causes a failiure (touch wood) I presume this is a control module fault and did take the lid off it to have a look whilst the fridge was out. it looked ok but its impossible to know really- the pcb is encased in a thick yellow laqueur. I cant for the life of me work out where to buy a new one. probably cant, as mentioned by vindiboy. I will worry about that when i causes me a problem! Thanks for helping gents. now that my fridge works on gas I can get back to my spanish wild camping plans! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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