Another fridge / electrical Problem

[hguilmette]

Our 2004 Roadtrek Popular on a 2003 Chevy chassis has 139,000 miles on it and yesterday I ran into a new (for me) fridge / electrical problem.

We were at a Campground plugged into camp electric. A/C was on along with several lights and a fan.

We switched the fridge (RM 2453R 3 way) off propane, onto electric. After a very short time, the gfi popped. Never had a problem with fridge on electric in all the years we had it. Had checked the electrical connection at the park before plugging in. Reset the fridge and gfi and same problem occurred.

Thought it might be park problem so continued to daughter's home where we have successfully plugged in for 20+ years. Same problem. Same result. Checked fuse for fridge under the bed, put it back, no change. Not much else I'm capable of doing electrically.

I suppose the problem could be with the gfi, but it continues to operate without a problem with fridge on propane.

Any thoughts? Thank you.

Harris and Pauline Guilmette
Guilmette@aol.com
F337475
2004 Popular on 2003 chevy

[BBQ]

.

It could be the GFI

It could be a bad wire (short) between the GFI and the fridge

It could be the heater inside the fridge


if you can get at the wire, you can try to plug in directly to your daughter's outlet at home. Just be sure she has GFI on her outlet too.

[hguilmette]

Thank you. Hard wired, but I have the same thoughts. Guess I need a electrician.

Harris

[BBQ]

Originally Posted by hguilmette

Thank you. Hard wired, but I have the same thoughts. Guess I need a electrician.

Harris

No it must not be hardwired.

I am talking about the cable from the fridge to the RV's GFI AC outlet.

If you unplug it and plug it into your daughter's home, would the fridge work?

[InterBlog]

To elaborate on what was said above, if your fridge is a 3-way, remove the outside lower vent cover. It should have some sort of thumb screw assembly, or another form of grate covering it.

That'll expose you to the back side of the fridge. To the right or to the left, you should see an outlet into which the fridge is plugged.

At least, that is what I assume. I owned two Dometic 3-way fridges and that's how they were configured. They may appear at first glance to be hard wired, but they are really not (not for AC electricity, at least).

[hguilmette]

Thank you both. You were both correct. The fridge IS plugged in. I was looking at the wrong wire. However, it was a foot up, in a narrow space between the wall and the hot ammonia tubes!

Real interesting placement. Not for the faint of heart (or hand & arm).

I was able to plug in the fridge direct to an extension cord and it worked fine at all levels with the usual things plugged in. Hooray. Not the fridge.

Narrowed it down, but still not sure if its gfi, wiring to fridge, etc.

Thank you both again. Would not have looked so hard if you both hadn't convinced me about the wiring.

Harris

[BBQ]

Originally Posted by hguilmette

...

I suppose the problem could be with the gfi, but it continues to operate without a problem with fridge on propane.

Any thoughts? Thank you.

Harris and Pauline Guilmette
Guilmette@aol.com
F337475
2004 Popular on 2003 chevy

It is good to hear the fridge is OK.

When the fridge is on propane, it uses 12v for the control panel.
The GFI is only needed when the fridge is on AC.

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by hguilmette

Thank you both. You were both correct. The fridge IS plugged in. I was looking at the wrong wire. However, it was a foot up, in a narrow space between the wall and the hot ammonia tubes!

Real interesting placement. Not for the faint of heart (or hand & arm).

I was able to plug in the fridge direct to an extension cord and it worked fine at all levels with the usual things plugged in. Hooray. Not the fridge.

Narrowed it down, but still not sure if its gfi, wiring to fridge, etc.

Thank you both again. Would not have looked so hard if you both hadn't convinced me about the wiring.

Harris

When you plugged in using an extension cord was this cord plugged into a GFI receptacle?

[hguilmette]

Boy, I am slow.

Somebody asked if I had a gfi on my extension. Duh, of course not! What was I thinking? It wasn't a valid test.

So my much scratched hand and wrist was for nothing! Fortunately I was able to connect with our main guy, with the information gathered here, who believes its the heating element and we will be able to get it checked / fixed tomorrow or Thursday. Change of plans, but worth it!

I really appreciate all the help from this forum. You folks are great.

Will keep you posted.

[BBQ]

.

Good lesson for all.

Thanks.

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by hguilmette

Boy, I am slow.

Somebody asked if I had a gfi on my extension. Duh, of course not! What was I thinking? It wasn't a valid test.

So my much scratched hand and wrist was for nothing! Fortunately I was able to connect with our main guy, with the information gathered here, who believes its the heating element and we will be able to get it checked / fixed tomorrow or Thursday. Change of plans, but worth it!

I really appreciate all the help from this forum. You folks are great.

Will keep you posted.

Well, you actually did determine something using the extension cord which is that although the heating element may have current leakage, at least it isn't dead shorted, because if it was, you would have tripped the house breaker.

It's possible that the cause is a flaky GFI. That's easily tested by swapping it out with a Home Depot/Loews replacement.

But as you indicate, the more likely suspect is the boiler heating element which only has to develop leakage as little as 5 milliamps to trip the GFI. It might require replacing the element but before assuming that, try a thorough cleanup of the boiler tube area, particularly electrical connections, which might eliminate an external stray leakage path that's developed over time.

[arm]

Just a question. When you were last camping did it rain and did you have some wind with the rain. We had the same issue and the problem was that the plug in the fridge compartment got some moisture from the wind and rain and was popping the GF. Dried out the interior of box and the plug....used a hair dryer...and problem solved.

This may not be your problem....but worth a try.

Good luck

[hguilmette]

In conclusion, the heating element has been replaced and all is well.

Thanks to all.

Harris