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Old 03-03-2019, 08:12 PM   #1
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Fridge leaking/sweating?

Fridge is a Frigidaire.

If you open the FRIDGE door (not freezer), it’s wet with water. The shelves are wet, the drawers on the bottom have water in them too. In this picture, you can see it’s leaking from this top thing.

The picture is taken from inside fridge area. This white piece that has water on it is located in the center of fridge in the back, and at the top. It looks like the water starts here and drips down on everything


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Old 03-03-2019, 08:29 PM   #2
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I don't have that style frig in my TT, but the same thing happened to our house frig years ago. I finally traced it down to some frozen peas that somehow made it in the drain line that runs down to the bottom pan during the defrost cycle. Took a little bit of work but I finally got it cleaned out and the leaking stopped. My daughter had similar problem and it was ice build up in the drain line. She made a funnel with a hose and slowly poured hot water down it till the ice melted. Not sure if that's you particular problem, but it might give you some things to look at.
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Old 03-03-2019, 08:58 PM   #3
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So the way these fridges work is that the freezer gets cold, and there's a fan that blows the cold air down to the fridge part. It's behind the plastic center piece on the back wall of the freezer. There is no cooling per se in the fridge part. The cold air comes out of the piece in your picture.

Most likely your fan has died. It wasn't very warm in the bus, so it didn't cycle very often, there's ice forming in there, the fan blocks and when it tries to run it burns up. Now at the bottom the warm air from the fridge is melting it the ice and there's your dripping. You'll also notice at some point that the fridge is not really getting cold anymore. Especially when it gets HOT in the bus. Do you hear the fan running in the freezer?

The good news is it's easy to replace, from within. Don't even have to pull the fridge. Covers snap out, a few screws, a few electrical connectors. Amazon, $40

Watched a tech do it to mine under warrantee 3 months after we got the thing. Been good since.

Tech said it was a known issue.

Now, your fan may not be dead, yet, he also added a styrofoam restrictor so the fan would run more (basically making the whole thing less effective) and less chance of ice to form.
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Old 03-03-2019, 09:17 PM   #4
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Gotcha. Thanks. I’ll take that cover off tomorrow and check it out. Freezer and fridge are cold and the fan does sound like it’s running in freezer. But I’ll report back when I get it apart and get it solved. Hopefully it will help someone else in future too
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Old 03-03-2019, 09:34 PM   #5
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If the fan is running there's probably just ice in there.... Not sure how you would get a hold of the restrictor. It's a dumb piece of styrofoam, but the dimensions are important.

I should do a writeup on my blog.
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Old 03-13-2019, 01:46 PM   #6
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Check this out .... pics are of the plastic center piece in the fridge. This is at the top of the fridge all the way in back

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Old 03-13-2019, 03:21 PM   #7
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Well, that'll do it...... Good job... now you gotta fix it.... lol
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Old 03-13-2019, 03:25 PM   #8
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This thing is a few months old. They (fridge co) are covering it. They are sending a tech to my house and taking care of everything. Very simple process to be honest.

And they even said if I want to extend my warranty for another 3yrs, it’s just $70. Which doesn’t seem hateful at all. And it’s the same full 100% parts, labor or replacement of unit warranty that I have now. These house-style fridges I don’t think are made any more robust before they put them in RVs, so the vibration may take a toll on it.
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Old 03-13-2019, 03:44 PM   #9
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Excellent...
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Old 03-15-2019, 11:33 AM   #10
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Call the repair place and tell them to bring a new fan with them. That way you don't have to hear "we don't have that part, we will have to come back". It is a known repair that has happened to plenty of Berkshire owners. And yes, it is under warranty. Don't let them tell you any different.
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Old 03-15-2019, 11:38 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RKNOLA View Post
Call the repair place and tell them to bring a new fan with them. That way you don't have to hear "we don't have that part, we will have to come back". It is a known repair that has happened to plenty of Berkshire owners. And yes, it is under warranty. Don't let them tell you any different.


Yep I tried that. The person said that they have to come out and “verify” what’s wrong with it, THEN get authorization to fix it with whatever parts are needed, THEN actually fix it.

These fools are gonna drive from Deleware all the way to mid-Maryland just to ‘verify’ what it is. It’s a joke and a total waste of time.

But you’re right about the ‘warranty’ aspect of it. There’s no disputing that. I bought this RV a few months ago brand new. They’re definitely paying for it. But they never seemed to argue with that. Seems so far all good.


I’ll report back. They are coming this Wednesday. So I’ll post more pics of it apart.
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Old 03-15-2019, 11:46 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eagle5 View Post
Yep I tried that. The person said that they have to come out and “verify” what’s wrong with it, THEN get authorization to fix it with whatever parts are needed, THEN actually fix it.

These fools are gonna drive from Deleware all the way to mid-Maryland just to ‘verify’ what it is. It’s a joke and a total waste of time.

But you’re right about the ‘warranty’ aspect of it. There’s no disputing that. I bought this RV a few months ago brand new. They’re definitely paying for it. But they never seemed to argue with that. Seems so far all good.


I’ll report back. They are coming this Wednesday. So I’ll post more pics of it apart.
They probably do it that way so they can charge more for the repair under the warranty claim. Hopefully they can get you up and running soon without too much drama! Good Luck!
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Old 03-15-2019, 12:10 PM   #13
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They probably do it that way so they can charge more for the repair under the warranty claim.
Bingo.

That said, the dude that came to my house had a box full of fans with him and told me he replaces 20 a week........ One visit, 30 minutes, done. Probably gets paid for more.
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Old 03-19-2019, 05:25 AM   #14
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They probably do it that way so they can charge more for the repair under the warranty claim. Hopefully they can get you up and running soon without too much drama! Good Luck!

As some one who did appliance repair years ago- for a single brand- we stocked most parts- but if the warranty repair company does many brands they could never stock all parts- and the service tech would go broke buying parts that he thinks he may need. Today some manufactures ship warranty parts to the customer. Also as for labor- the repair company will only get a flat rate to repair.
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Old 03-27-2019, 07:24 AM   #15
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Ok .... got it fixed/replaced. Here’s the pictures

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Old 03-27-2019, 07:25 AM   #16
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If you see the last pic above with the 2inch nipple sticking out the back ..... that’s the piece that broke off. Thus, dripping the condensation into the fridge instead of the tube in the wall

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Old 03-27-2019, 07:33 AM   #17
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They replaced the entire piece. 4 screws and about 3 minutes to change it out (if that). Since it was under warranty, the ‘service tech’ had to do it. He was laughing because it’s such an easy job and they could have easily just sent me the part to do myself. Oh well.

So to prevent this from happening again.

1. This could have just been a fluke thing

2. Could be from over-vibration. In which case I could put some rubber washers on the 4 screws that hold the piece on? Maybe a rubber strip where the big center piece meets the roof of fridge?

3. There’s items in the fridge that bounce up and hit the center piece while we’re driving perhaps? Our fridge is always packed. So not sure if this is happening or not.
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