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Old 03-04-2016, 04:49 PM   #1
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Winterization Fail

So my first attempt at winterizing with air appears to be a massive failure. Connected city water today, thought everything was fine until I saw water start pouring out from the refrigerator vent outside, and from underneath it inside. Apparently the line that feeds the ice maker back behind the fridge (Dometic 1350) split somewhere, so I'm trying to figure out how to deal with that.

I found the shut off for the icemaker, and now I can run water to the unit with no leaks, but I'd really like to fix it since having ice is nice

So I'm trying to figure out what exactly I have to do to pull this fridge out. I located four screws (two at the top and two at the bottom) which screw the frame of the fridge into the wood around it and removed those, but it still won't budge and I don't want to apply any force until I know for sure that there's nothing else to disconnect.

Also opened the vent and see a bunch of stuff in there...but no clue whether I need to do anything in there. I took some photos to show what I'm talking about and am hoping someone can help. Thanks guys...
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Old 03-04-2016, 05:06 PM   #2
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Be very careful taking it out you will have gas lines, 12v and 120v electrical hooked up to it.
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Old 03-04-2016, 05:08 PM   #3
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Sorry can't help with removal process but I am keeping a eye on this one as I have the same fridge. But what I pass along to you in the future you need to remove the two lines from the water solenoid ( picture of valve with brown and white wires going to it) and let the water drain from them when you are winterizing, I actually remove the whole valve for winter. Good luck .
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Old 03-04-2016, 05:12 PM   #4
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I was looking at some Youtube videos and it seems like this is going to be a colossal amount of work because it looks like you have to remove a whole bunch of things from the back - gas, electric, etc. etc. etc. Looks like I'll be picking of bags of ice...
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Old 03-04-2016, 05:18 PM   #5
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I was looking at some Youtube videos and it seems like this is going to be a colossal amount of work because it looks like you have to remove a whole bunch of things from the back - gas, electric, etc. etc. etc. Looks like I'll be picking of bags of ice...
or you can make your own ice using one of those (the old way) using bottle water....
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Old 03-04-2016, 05:26 PM   #6
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or you can make your own ice using one of those (the old way) using bottle water....
Bet you can buy a whole lot of these for a lot less than fixing the water line
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Old 03-04-2016, 05:29 PM   #7
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Hmmmmm what is that odd blue plastic looking thing?!
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Old 03-04-2016, 05:33 PM   #8
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Hmmmmm what is that odd blue plastic looking thing?!
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Old 03-04-2016, 05:38 PM   #9
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Hmmmmm what is that odd blue plastic looking thing?!
It's a mold for making fire starter blocks.

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Old 03-04-2016, 06:10 PM   #10
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It is probably the solenoid that split. It shouldn't be too hard to replace.

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Old 03-04-2016, 06:12 PM   #11
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It's a mold for making fire starter blocks.

Actually its sling shot ammo for noisy neighbours?

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Old 03-04-2016, 06:25 PM   #12
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Nomad - Is the solenoid something that can be accessed without pulling the whole fridge out?
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Old 03-04-2016, 06:30 PM   #13
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The solenoid is the thing in your second picture with the brown & tan wires going into it and the clear ( cloudy) tubing coming out. You can check it by watching that area while someone briefly turns on water to RV
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Old 03-04-2016, 06:32 PM   #14
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Too dark to try now, but I'll be checking it first thing in the a.m. I hope you're right...that seems a lot easier to deal with then a piece of tubing god knows where. Thanks! I'll let you know how it turns out.
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Old 03-04-2016, 06:38 PM   #15
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So my first attempt at winterizing with air appears to be a massive failure. Connected city water today, thought everything was fine until I saw water start pouring out from the refrigerator vent outside, and from underneath it inside. Apparently the line that feeds the ice maker back behind the fridge (Dometic 1350) split somewhere, so I'm trying to figure out how to deal with that.



I found the shut off for the icemaker, and now I can run water to the unit with no leaks, but I'd really like to fix it since having ice is nice



So I'm trying to figure out what exactly I have to do to pull this fridge out. I located four screws (two at the top and two at the bottom) which screw the frame of the fridge into the wood around it and removed those, but it still won't budge and I don't want to apply any force until I know for sure that there's nothing else to disconnect.



Also opened the vent and see a bunch of stuff in there...but no clue whether I need to do anything in there. I took some photos to show what I'm talking about and am hoping someone can help. Thanks guys...

Sorry to hear about this. Devastating. In all the videos and articles I've seen and read about winterizing I've never seen anything about including the fridge at all as well as any problems with using air to blow out plumbing lines (at safe psi levels that is). Wonder what happened? Any chance you're under warranty still? Keep us all posted.


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Old 03-04-2016, 06:52 PM   #16
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I will be watching too. We have a 3010 on order with the icemakerfridge. I never thought about how to winterize the fridge. I read "pull the valve" above. Hope your repair isn't too complicated.
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Old 03-04-2016, 07:01 PM   #17
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The solenoid is the thing in your second picture with the brown & tan wires going into it and the clear ( cloudy) tubing coming out. You can check it by watching that area while someone briefly turns on water to RV
Yup!

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Old 03-04-2016, 07:07 PM   #18
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The way I winterized my residential reefer ice maker was to blow out all the lines with compressed air, including the water dispenser on the door. Now that still leaves water in the line going from the solenoid to the icemaker. I then leave the reefer running and leave the compressor connected but turned off at around 20#...overnight.

In the morning the compressor tank will be empty...and so will the icemaker feed tubing. Some instructions tell you to take the icemaker apart and manually cycle it. I'd rather just come back in the morning after as many normal cycles as necessary and close the "popup" feed valve and then winterize with RV antifreeze as normal, but since the popup is closed, nothing goes into the reefer or it's filters or lines.

Seems to work just fine.
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Old 03-04-2016, 07:49 PM   #19
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The easiest way to winterize the ice maker is as I stated in post #3 , just unthread the two lines going to the solenoid , when you blow the water system with air it will clear the supply line to the solenoid and the feed line to the ice maker will drain out by gravity.
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Old 03-04-2016, 07:56 PM   #20
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The solenoid is basically an electrically controlled valve that is normally closed. When blowing out with the valve closed ( normal state) it prevents the air from entering the line between the solenoid and the ice maker so water stays in solenoid and feed line. You can either disconnect the tubing on both sides of the solenoid and let it drain or you can disconnect the solenoid wires and connect to 12V to activate while you blow the lines. You may be able to turn on fridge and allow empty ice maker to open lines like normal operation, but not sure if fridge control is smart enough to not operate ice maker until freezer is cold.
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