ATF: Landmark - Refrigerator Problem

jjwink

Well-known member
We purchased our Rushmore Sept 2010 and spent Dec-April in it in AZ with no problems. On the way home when we stopped in VanHorn TX our Dometic refrigerator had blown a 15 amp fuse. There was no code. We replaced it and continued on. When we got to the next stop it had again blown the 15 amp fuse no code. Each time the fridge was working when we hooked up and began driving but had stopped when we got to our destination. We called our dealer RVs for Less and made an appointment for repair. We spent the past 2 days there. They checked the plug from the truck and it is delivering the correct power, checked the fuse panel, checked the wiring and could find no problems so we returned home. After an hour on the road we stopped and the 15 amp fuse was again blown; we replaced it again and continued home. When we arrived home it had once again blown the fuse and now had the code EO. What is going on with this refrigerator? When we change the fuse it works fine until we travel. Has anyone else had this problem? It is a 3 hour to return to Knoxville.
 

hoefler

Well-known member
You have a intermittent short in the power feed to the refrigerator. It is pinched or rubbing against a ground when you are going down the road. I would run a new wire from the fuse panel to the fridge. As a temporary fix or to eliminate the feed wire, run a wire from the battery, 12 volt ***. receptacle in the UDC, or where ever is close or convenient. Make sure you fuse it.
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
If your fridge is in a slide, remove the cover on the junction box on the frame and look in there. Also make sure that the wire's in the wire cover (split tube) are not pinched when the slide is in. Might take some time to find. If you have extra fuses...install one and move all the wiring around in that area and see if the fuse blows. Then at least you have narrowed down the area.

OR...you could use the tried and true method. Install a nail in the fuse holder and then follow the smoke. Just kidding....not a good way to diagnose the problem.
 

Willym

Well-known member
My fridge is in a side and we blew a couple of fuses until I found the short. I also blew another fuse that supplied the 12v lights in the same slide. It only occurred on the road, with the slide in. On my unit the 12v supply to the slide for the fridge is one of two two conductor cables that go up through the slide floor at the rear of the slide. When the slide was retracted, this cable was catching, and getting cut, on the sheet metal plate that is behind the lower slide seal. The sheet metal plate was shorting the +ve and -ve conductors. The sheet metal is there to prevent the rubber seal from getting pinched by the slide support roller. The short was not easy to see, I rerouted the cable temporarily, and later my dealer then moved the cable penetration further out so that the cables were not going to be near the sheet metal. The first photo shows the cable damage with the metal of the conductors showing. The second photo shows the sheet metal plate, behind the lower slide seal.

IMG_0546.jpgIMG_0547.jpg
 

DougS

Doug S
I have a 2011 Grand Canyon, and I also had the 15 amp fuses blow while traveling. After about 12 fuses, I started to look for the problem and found it in the back corner of the slide out where it comes out of the floor. The wire would crush when closed and short out. I separated the wires and used plenty of tape, problem solved. When RV was brought into dealer for repairs, they re-routed the wires where they came out of the floor and better insulated the wires, no more problems since.
 

jjwink

Well-known member
Thanks for all the suggestions. We went on a scavenger hunt for the possible culprit and found damaged wires coming out of the bottom of the back on the off door slide just as suggested. Looks like when the slide goes in the wires are being pinched by a metal plate on the side of the coach. The rubber boot in the area is also damaged. We have done a temporary fix with lots of tape and will let the "Pros" fix it.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
My fridge is in a side and we blew a couple of fuses until I found the short. I also blew another fuse that supplied the 12v lights in the same slide. It only occurred on the road, with the slide in. On my unit the 12v supply to the slide for the fridge is one of two two conductor cables that go up through the slide floor at the rear of the slide. When the slide was retracted, this cable was catching, and getting cut, on the sheet metal plate that is behind the lower slide seal. The sheet metal plate was shorting the +ve and -ve conductors. The sheet metal is there to prevent the rubber seal from getting pinched by the slide support roller. The short was not easy to see, I rerouted the cable temporarily, and later my dealer then moved the cable penetration further out so that the cables were not going to be near the sheet metal. The first photo shows the cable damage with the metal of the conductors showing. The second photo shows the sheet metal plate, behind the lower slide seal.

View attachment 13207View attachment 13208
Great post Bill, looks like you were right on the money along with a few others. The pictures really helped.
 

jjwink

Well-known member
Looks to us like this is a problem Heartland needs to address with the number of us reporting this issue. When we found the damaged wire it didn't take an electrical degree to see this is a bad design. How do we get this info to Heartland?
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
JJ, you posted in ATF.....so maybe they read it. But you could drop a email or make a call to HL. I'm sure that someone will look into it. It might take some time to correct it because it would be a running line change.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Looks to us like this is a problem Heartland needs to address with the number of us reporting this issue. When we found the damaged wire it didn't take an electrical degree to see this is a bad design. How do we get this info to Heartland?

JJ,

I reported this to production a couple of days ago.

Jim B
 

FordMan1966

Well-known member
And Heartland still has not corrected this problem on my 2013 Landmark Grand Canyon. I have the same problem some 15 months after it was reported to Heartland.
 

DuaneG

Well-known member
Fyi just got my fifth wheel back after leaving it with the dealer for five weeks. They said my fuse kept blowing because the converter was bad. We tried our refrigerator and everything seemed okay. I turned refrigerator on propane and drove 20 miles. When I stopped the slide fuse that relates to the refrigerator had blown again.

So my guess is that the same thing is happening to my 2013 unit that others have posted. Unless there are just loose wires. Well I am taking it back and will mention this thread, so hopefully they don't keep it as long this time.
 

wdk450

Well-known member
There is a very similar thread going now, that I have posted on a couple of times in the last 2 days. For me the problems blowing the fuse was evidently NOT the refrigerator or the wiring from the fusebox to the refrigerator. Rather it was something in the loads on the same circuit beyond the refrigerator (light adjacent to stovetop and stove hood fan and light). Behind the refrigerator, in the outside access panel, there is a 2 wire terminal strip connecting the 12 volt power to the refrigerator. There are 2 red wires connected here and screwed to the strip. 1 wire is 12 volt power FROM the fusepanel, and the other wire is TO the stove area light and hood. My problem has been intermittent, but at one point I measured a dead short on this wire going to the stove area devices. I disconnected this red wire from the supply wire, reconnected the supply wire to the refrigerator, and my blowing fuses problems went away. That was in late August. I am in the process of trying to find the intermittent short on the stove area light and hood by putting a small inline fuse (5 amp - the main circuit fuse is 15 amp) on the stove area supply wire at the refrigerator terminal strip. Right now I just have the adjacent light working, which has withstood the test of time. I need to re-connect the stove hood now and see if the inline fuse will blow until I find the intermittent short.
So you might have the servicer disconnect the stove area wire, and see if the problem goes away. Keeping the refrigerator going is the primary goal.
 
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Willym

Well-known member
Duane,

Have a look under the slide and check to see of the 12 volt supply wires are getting pinched or cut just where they go up into the floor of the slide when the slide is closed. The cable was coming into contact with some flashing behind the fixed bottom slide seal and caused the fuse to keep blowing in my unit.

Fyi just got my fifth wheel back after leaving it with the dealer for five weeks. They said my fuse kept blowing because the converter was bad. We tried our refrigerator and everything seemed okay. I turned refrigerator on propane and drove 20 miles. When I stopped the slide fuse that relates to the refrigerator had blown again.

So my guess is that the same thing is happening to my 2013 unit that others have posted. Unless there are just loose wires. Well I am taking it back and will mention this thread, so hopefully they don't keep it as long this time.
 

DuaneG

Well-known member
I tried to get underneath to take a look but hurt my neck in the process. I couldn't even locate where the wires entered the slide. I have been able to troubleshoot a lot of issues, but have to rely on others for the underneath stuff. It's an old injury I agrivated, so now I will feel that for awhile. I dropped the trailer back off at the dealer today and told them what others have said so hopefully it will help them locate the problem quicker.
 

FordMan1966

Well-known member
I had the same problem with my 2013 Landmark. I diagnosed the problem and told the dealer how to fix it. The wiring that goes into the bottom of the slide out that the refrigerator is in has been installed too far into the floor and it pinches the wiring when the slide out comes in. They re-routed my wiring and no problems now. Mine came from Knoxville as well.
 
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