Refrigerator not working on LP - spoiled food...

patmcd

Member
We have a new Big Horn and the Dometic refrigerator was on gas for a couple of days while we visited our son, when we got back to it had to throw away everything in the freezer and in the refrig it was a mess, also costly. What is the problem?
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
patmcd,

Does the refer work fine on electric?

Were you able to use the stove burners during the time the refer was set for gas operation?

Here's a link to Dometic's website where the refers are.

Here's Dometic's Customer Service phone and email: 800-544-4881 / CustomerSupportCenter@DometicUSA.com
Have your model and serial number handy and give them a call.

Other's here will have other questions and ideas for you as well, but you'll have to supply more info for others to help you figure this one out.

Jim
 

bking

Active Member
Jim, this isn't about this specific situation, but I don't recall seeing a place on the forum where all the Heartland manufacturer and supplier contacts are listed. This includes names of contact person, phone number, email address, etc. I have overlooked it?
 
K

Ken Washington

Guest
Bob,
Check your owners manual. Mine has a list of suppliers with phone numbers.

Ken
 

Jimmyt5

Well-known member
I had the same thing happen to me. The refer was running on gas and no electric hook up. I left it for about a week. When we got back all the food was bad. I still had a lot of gas, the problem was the battery went dead suppling the RV with the power it needs to maintain systems so the circuit board in the refer shut down....
Jim
 

HSmith1551

Member
Big Horn Refrig problem

Had problem with refrig not working on gas only when unit was plugged in at a campsite. Found a fuse blown but real problem was with wiring harness under kitchen slide. Harness had slide down post and rubbed on tire causing wires to short and break.
 

Uncle Rog

Well-known member
jimmyt5, you probably hit a homer with that one. I have had it happen to me only I was fortunate to catch the unit before things started to grow in cavern. I have seen a few that were not pretty!!
 

mrcomer

Past Ohio Chapter Leaders (Founding)
That's right about the battery draining. You could be suprised about how many items are using the battery like the CO2 detector, LP detector, antenna amplifier, refer if set for gas, possibly a light left on in a storage area. It would only take a couple of days for these items to drain a battery just ask those who dry camp. Hopefully some of them will weigh in here.

Good luck,
Mark
 

cjbearden

Visitor
This may not fit your situation but will pass along what worked for us. When we had our unit in storage last year, we noted that the battery seemed to be draining pretty fast and if we didn't check on it at least every two weeks it would be down completely. Finally a tech at our dealership suggested that we turn the defrost button off. We did, and we had no more trouble with fast battery drain. The button is located under the right edge of the freezer section. We have never left our unit turned on by LP for more than a day as we prep for going on a trip and with the defrost button off, fridge still gets cold and we are ready to load it and leave the next day. Hope you find a solution for your fridge soon.
 

ChopperBill

Well-known member
The first time we took ours out we were at 8000 + feet and it was pretty unreliable when it went form electric to gas (was running the generator). We went to AZ last winter at 300 feet and ran the whole 5 weeks on gas with no problem. I am not sure whether or not it was an altitude problem or it just need broke it. Any way I keep a pretty close eye on the panel now.
On a side note: We like the Norcold in our truck camper a WHOLE bunch better than the Dometic in the Bighorn. Even though the TC fridge is 2 foot smaller it just seem bigger and has a better control panel.
 

Uncle Rog

Well-known member
Howdy, when I came home this afternoon I noticed a humming from the BH, reefer, I turned it off and emptied the contents. Too hot to leave it on for no reason. I did switch to gas prior and it fired off as advertised....
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
cjwigley covered one possibility although ours doesn't have a defrost button. It has 2 switches. 1 is low ambient temp and the other is climate control. One of these prevents the interior light from going out when the door is closed and the other warms the metal frame surrounding the freezer in case you are getting condensation that might freeze and keep the freezer door frozen shut. I know for a fact, the one that keeps the interior light on will drain a battery in a day. I'm not sure if the other is run on 12V or A/C ???
 

trdeal

Past North Carolina Chapter Leader
Ray LeTourneau said:
cjwigley covered one possibility although ours doesn't have a defrost button. It has 2 switches. 1 is low ambient temp and the other is climate control. One of these prevents the interior light from going out when the door is closed and the other warms the metal frame surrounding the freezer in case you are getting condensation that might freeze and keep the freezer door frozen shut. I know for a fact, the one that keeps the interior light on will drain a battery in a day. I'm not sure if the other is run on 12V or A/C ???
I know for a fact that the other switch you are speaking of runs off 12 volt also.
 

phranc

Well-known member
UR.....That humming may be from the small fan in the rear of the fridge.May have been hot enough for the thermo switch to turn on the fan..
 

Uncle Rog

Well-known member
phranc, you are probably right, it was 100+ and the BH is parked with the reefer on the south side so she was doing all she could to keep up. Everything was nice and cool but there is no reason to beat up the equipment sitting at the dock so to speak.....
 

thall1226

Member
We had the same problem where the stove would not even boil water and so I checked under the slide to find the gas hose kinked. When i straightened out the hose the stove and refridgerator work fine. I am still not happy with that connection under there.
 
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