? for those who own travel trailers

[T. Lynn]

We just purchased one this past weekend. The owner told us that he didn't think the refrigertor was working properly and they purchased it in 2001.

We turned it on and you can hear it running. We want to leave it plugged in (electrical) for a couple of hours and see if it does get cold or not.

My question is, if it just needs charged, can you take the travel trailer somewhere to do that or do most places require you to take out the fridge and bring it to them?

Either way we want to get it fixed, whether the whole thing needs replaced or just charged. We got it at a really great price and the whole thing is so clean...it's well worth it.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I don't want to alarm you, but this could be a bigger problem than you think. Do NOT take the refrigerator out. RV refrigerators do not work the same as your at home refrigrator. They are not a sealed, gas filled system but rather use a circulating liquid. They are quite a bit more expensive to replace than your refrigerator at home, despite their smaller size. Best to take your trailer to an RV repair center and hope for the best. At worst, you will need a new fridge - depending on the size, this may cost $700 or more.

 

[stillh2o]

If an Rv refrigerator is running you can not hear it. Rv refrigerators unlike your home unit runs on heat so there are no moving parts. So you will not hear the refrigerator. To see if it is working OK level your TT and plug your TT into the electrical outlet. In about 6 Hr. your refrigerator should be cold. Good luck

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

When we bought our TT new last year we were told depending on outside temps it could take up to 24 hours for the fridge to reach it's coldest temp. Let it run for a day with a thermomitor(sp?) and make sure it gets to at least 40* if it does not get that cold then yes you will need to go to an RV dealer to have it checked/replaced. Good luck!

 

[campingcorgi]

You may also want to check the website for the manufacturer of your TT fridge. Norcold had a big recall a few years ago and maybe you'll be lucky and it will cover yours.

 

[Disney Campers]

you probably have a bad cooling unit. Our trailer is 2001 and our fridge crapped out last fall, it was an Dometic Americana, Look in the accesss panel on the outside, if you have a yellowish powder its a bad cooling unit. I choose to replace with a house model fridge, it cost me less than a third of the cost to replace with the RV fridge. the unit i have is a perfect fit and is actually bigger on the inside, of course it does not run on propane. When i sell or trade i will have to replace with an rv fridge which will cost about 1200.00.

 

[T. Lynn]

Ours is also a Dometic Americana. Really no big deal if it doesn't work. I was just curious and we might take it over the winter for an estimate. We go camping twice a year so it's not a REAL big deal.

We do like coolers because when we camp outside with a bunch of people, we have the cooler sitting between our chairs for easy access.

The owner gave us the paperwork and the refrigerator was 1,000.00 and it's really nice. For the price we got our travel trailer for, I can't complain.

Depending on the cost, I might not even bother with it. We could always use it as a pantry to store our chips, pretzels, etc...

Does anyone know, could you possibly use the freezer part with ice and put sodas in there like a mini cooler (keeping the ice in bags and just laying it on top of your sodas)? Then I'd have a small cooler and a nice pantry fridge for snacks.