2016 Leisure Travel Unity Fridge issue on AC

[cevano]

I have been fighting an issue with my fridge and am looking for advice. Here is the back story,

When we bought our rig in August of 19 we knew that there was an issue with the fridge. It runs great on battery and propane. Everytime you press the button to have it run on AC the fridge would fault and not run. This is a Dometic TYP:P-870 3 way fridge. This whole time I thought it was a fridge issue, and it still may be.

By total chance I started the generator and pressed the AC button on the fridge the other day and the fridge ran and did not fault. I had a mobile repair tech tell me that the issue was not the fridge but the auto transfer switch.

I was able to spend some time on this again over the weekend. Here is what I found What do you all think?

1. I disconnected shore power and and started the generator. After about 3 min I powered on the refrigerator choosing AC. It did not result in and error and let it run for for over an hour. When I came back to check it there was no error on the fridge but it was not cold or even cooling.
2. I powered down the fridge and shut off the generator. Plugged into shore power and watched the Sure Guard until I heard the transfer switch engage. It was a pretty loud thump. During the start up of the Surge Guard The Line 1 light was green and the Caution when flashing light was flashing until the transfer switch engaged. At that point the caution light went out and the power on light came on. I then powered on the fridge and choose the AC option. It powered on with no fault. This is usually when it would fault out and flash error on the fridge. I let it run for 7 hours and the fridge never got cold.
3. Last night I choose the battery option on the fridge and this morning it was 0 in the freezer and 34 in the fridge. I get the same results if I run the fridge on propane.
Do you all think I have a fridge issue or a power issue? I ordered a transfer switch that I can put in but I hate the thought of shotguning parts at the issue and never figuring out the real problem.

[rowiebowie]

Welcome to the forum cevano!

As I do not own a 3-way fridge, I'll have to leave your question to others, but thorough first post.

[peteco]

One possibility is your AC heating element has failed. It is easy to check by measuring the resistance of the heating element. I could not find the resistance spec with the model number you gave. Is there a different number on the fridge?

[cevano]

It’s a Dometic 289 0241 30
CE0085 AU0268

[peteco]

Originally Posted by cevano

It’s a Dometic 289 0241 30
CE0085 AU0268

I can't find anything under that number. The Dometic fridge model numbers are usually 2 letters and then 4 digits. Mine is RM 2554. However some of their fridges do not follow this designation.

https://www.dometic.com/en-us/us/pro...-refrigerators

[cevano]

Due to my real job I will not be able to check on it again until Friday. Thanks for the advice.

[cevano]

Got back in town and had some time to play with this today. I have a Dometic
Type C40/110
Model Number RMD 8555
Prod Number 00921084830
Ser. No. 53400002

The part number for the AC Heating Element should be 2890180033. However when I do a search online I get all the different heating elements for Dometic and none say they will fit my RMD 8555.

[booster]

Originally Posted by cevano

Got back in town and had some time to play with this today. I have a Dometic
Type C40/110
Model Number RMD 8555
Prod Number 00921084830
Ser. No. 53400002

The part number for the AC Heating Element should be 2890180033. However when I do a search online I get all the different heating elements for Dometic and none say they will fit my RMD 8555.

A quick look turned up a parts list for that frig with that PN for the heater, but it is 240v and most of the information from Australia, it appears. Is your frig on 110 or 240v?


This may be a Euro frig as some UK info also. If you have a 240v heater wired on 110v it will not heat enough to work the frig and that would be your problem.

[cevano]

The rig is all original but made in Canada. I will call the manufacture on Monday and see if they can get me the correct part. The fridge is 110VAC 12VDC and propane. There is no 220VAC on this rig and dealerships in the US are pretty far apart. I have been talking to Dometic and all they have done so far is email me the PDF of the fridge.

[booster]

If you can get at it, you may want to pull the heater and see what PN is marked on it. Perhaps they used a Euro frig and changed out the heater.

[hbn7hj]

I believe this is a fridge designed for sailboats, not available in the US, but available to LTV in Canada.

It is a sophisticated fridge able to switch automatically from solar power to auto 12 volt power, to propane power, and 120 volt AC power. LTV would probably be your first source for tracking down parts. My friend had trouble with one, happened to be able to stop by the factory and they pulled a part from another unit to get him going.

They should know how to get a replacement part. Having a part number should be a help.

Trying to source parts from Europe or Australia runs into the 120-240 volt problem.

That is all I think I know and willing to be corrected. We never did find a part source bypassing LTV.

[booster]

Originally Posted by hbn7hj

I believe this is a fridge designed for sailboats, not available in the US, but available to LTV in Canada.

It is a sophisticated fridge able to switch automatically from solar power to auto 12 volt power, to propane power, and 120 volt AC power. LTV would probably be your first source for tracking down parts. My friend had trouble with one, happened to be able to stop by the factory and they pulled a part from another unit to get him going.

They should know how to get a replacement part. Having a part number should be a help.

Trying to source parts from Europe or Australia runs into the 120-240 volt problem.

That is all I think I know and willing to be corrected. We never did find a part source bypassing LTV.

Do you recall if all the rest of the frig ran on 12v except the heater, so that is all that leisure would have had to change?

[hbn7hj]

That is my understanding. We assumed Dometic not LTV, made the change from 240 to 120 volt. Doesn't make it true, tho.

We also understood the fridge was available to the marine world in Canada but it definitely was not imported for sale to the US, also no parts support in the US. If the manual gave the watts I would look for a 120 volt dometic heater of that wattage and put it in.

Really slick the way it chooses between alternator and propane. I think Alternator has preference, then propane. No Dometic US fridge does that.

[booster]

Originally Posted by hbn7hj

That is my understanding. We assumed Dometic not LTV, made the change from 240 to 120 volt. Doesn't make it true, tho.

We also understood the fridge was available to the marine world in Canada but it definitely was not imported for sale to the US, also no parts support in the US. If the manual gave the watts I would look for a 120 volt dometic heater of that wattage and put it in.

Really slick the way it chooses between alternator and propane. I think Alternator has preference, then propane. No Dometic US fridge does that.

I think the parts list I saw said 390 watts, IIRC.

[cevano]

I finally broke down and found a Dometic authorized repair technician that has not only worked on this exact model he has one in his shop. He will be coming over Friday to give me the verdict on what is truly wrong with this fridge. He did confirm that this fridge goes into a lot of RV's. The one that he has in his shop was pulled from an Airstream. He also confirmed that parts are extremely hard to come by unless you are a dealer or authorized repair facility.
Update on Friday.

[cevano]

Thanks to D3 Repairs in North TX the fridge is repaired. It was the AC heating element and he actually one on him when he showed up at the house. The fridge is working at designed now as a three way fridge.