Just took our first trip, have refrigerator question

[karaintn]

We just enjoyed our first trip in our new 26TBUD. Everything went well except one peculiar thing with our frig. Before we left town, we cooled down our frig/freezer with propane and it worked great. On the way to our destination the frig stayed on with either battery power or propane (my husband did that part, and I'm not sure which he used, or if he even had a choice).

Once we got to the campground we plugged into electricity, and turned the frig to "auto", thinking it would run on electricity, since our PDI guy said that "auto" would use the "least depletable source of energy". Well, something went wrong. I think the frig was getting power, because the frig light continued to work, but it obviously quit cooling because after a few hours we opened the freezer and our once rock hard ice cream had liquified . We changed the button back to gas, and it froze up once again.

What did we do wrong, or is there some kind of problem with the frig?

I should mention that the electricity seemed to work fine everywhere else (our interior lights, etc.). And I think it was 30 amp, if that matters.

Thanks!

[LadyWindrider]

Hard to answer. You left out the fridge model. You are correct, at least on most frdges, the auto mode, should use electric, then switch to gas if the electric drops. Best way to test is to plug it up at home, then put in auto, turn the gas off, and wait a day, and see what happens. Check all your breakers, fridge may be on one by itself. You don't need a 30 amp cord for the fridge, will work on one of the adapters to 15 amp. Just don't run the microwave that way. You also didn't mention trailer make or model.

[karaintn]

I'll go out and write down the refrigerator make and model tomorrow and reply. The TT is a 2011 Salem 26TBUD.

[cardinal4fun]

I would say that the breaker for the fridge was tripped. I know sometimes when I plug my unit in the breaker for the fridge trips for no reason, check that. The light is 12v

[cfsoistman]

Originally Posted by cardinal4fun

I would say that the breaker for the fridge was tripped. I know sometimes when I plug my unit in the breaker for the fridge trips for no reason, check that. The light is 12v

Have to agree. This is where I'd start. If there's no issue there then the board may be bad. All of the lights will be lit since they all run off 12 volts.

[peskin]

I know it sounds silly but check the back of the frig from the outside and see if it's pluged in. I had the same problem with my MH when I bought it and their "check out" never caught it.

[gregm59]

Sometimes, if I leave the button to "auto", remove the electric (for traveling), then re-connect once we get to our site, I have to physically toggle the button to get it to work properly. I think the indicator is "check" but the trailer isn't local right now. Does that light come on?

[samsc03]

I am thinking that by actually pressing the 'auto' button after plugging into shore power you turned the unit off. When we are on LP before plugging in I don't press anything. It goes over automatically. Hense the automatic switchover I always figured. Then when I unplug and drive away it is back to LP. Always done this,both fridges we have had.

Sam and Tonya

[jamesp]

I had the same issue as PESKIN. Once I removed the outside cover I found a standard 110 volt outlet and a three prong plug. Plugging it up solved my problem.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by samsc03

I am thinking that by actually pressing the 'auto' button after plugging into shore power you turned the unit off. When we are on LP before plugging in I don't press anything. It goes over automatically. Hense the automatic switchover I always figured. Then when I unplug and drive away it is back to LP. Always done this,both fridges we have had.

Sam and Tonya

Sam is THE MAN.

If you want the fridge to work AT ALL; the Auto switch must be ON (auto light on).
Pressing the Auto switch again turns the fridge OFF (auto light off).

To select propane only (even when there is AC power) you press the GAS button (gas light on) Pressing the button again (gas light off) puts it back on AC power.

The check light should only come on if the gas DOES NOT LIGHT when the fridge tries to light it. To do that there must be no AC power AND no propane available.

[karaintn]

Originally Posted by peskin

I know it sounds silly but check the back of the frig from the outside and see if it's pluged in. I had the same problem with my MH when I bought it and their "check out" never caught it.

Peskin - if it wasn't plugged in at all then the lights inside the refrigerator wouldn't have worked, right? They were on even when the refrigerator wasn't cooling.

I didn't make it out there to check the make and model of the refrigerator today, we had major storms here.

Thanks everyone for the tips.

[karaintn]

Originally Posted by samsc03

I am thinking that by actually pressing the 'auto' button after plugging into shore power you turned the unit off. When we are on LP before plugging in I don't press anything. It goes over automatically. Hense the automatic switchover I always figured. Then when I unplug and drive away it is back to LP. Always done this,both fridges we have had.

Sam and Tonya

Sam,

Our unit doesn't have two separate buttons for auto and gas. The refrigerator has 2 buttons total - one for on/off and the second is gas/auto. That second button is depressed for gas and sticking out for auto. So it had been depressed on our drive, and then when we arrived we pushed it to pop it out for auto.

We will check to make sure the unit is plugged in (even though as I stated above, the lights inside the frig were on the whole time, so I think it's plugged in). But even if it wasn't plugged in, on "auto" if it wasn't getting power it should have pulled propane.

Very perplexing.

Edited to add: we checked the breakers when we realized the problem and they were all fine.

[Herk7769]

I the AC is not plugged in, the unit should STILL WORK on propane and 12 volt DC. The panel lights and propane control circuits come off the power center on their own power wire wired directly to the fuse panel.

When self contained, that outlet is dead.

Was the gas turned off at the bottles? If you shut off the gas while traveling and you then remove AC power, the auto light will be ON and so will the CHECK light.

The check light will not come on immediately since the fridge is still cold and not calling for cool yet. About 15 minutes down the road, the fridge will try to use AC to cool the warming fridge. NO GO
So it will then default to gas and try to light it. If gas is shut off...
NO GO and the check light will come on and your chocolate ice cream will melt.