Dometic fridge not cooling

[Offspring22]

So I got a 2021 trailer, with a Dometic DM2872RBX fridge. All has been great, but we were out at our seasonal site last weekend. Temps were about -20f over night, but we were nice and toasty inside. Things seemed fine until Sunday we went to make lunch and noticed the burgers in the freezer were soft. Oh great. Look at the fridge outside, and there was a giant icicle hanging off the drain tube. Turns out snow melting on the roof was dripping right onto it, causing a 2 foot icicle. Also causing some spashback that may have gotten inside the cover. I wasn't able to open it at the time to see due to the ice.

Fridge seems to have power fine. If I kick it to gas, it fires up and I can hear the flame. Just doesn't seem to be getting cold. The 120v plug has power as well.

Any thoughts? Tips? What to try?

[Offspring22]

To add a bit more, left it on over night on gas. It's sitting at about 60f, so maybe a little cool, but not "cold". The boiler was a bit warm. Not hot by any means.

[Dwilcox]

Is the roof vent clear of ice?

[Offspring22]

Originally Posted by Dwilcox

Is the roof vent clear of ice?

As far as I can tell. No/snow/ice for a good 6" around it, and it's quite warm to the touch.

[Dwilcox]

I did see in another post that they turned theirs off for a while then turned it back on and seemed to be cooling at that point. Try that and leave it on gas.

[Offspring22]

Originally Posted by Dwilcox

I did see in another post that they turned theirs off for a while then turned it back on and seemed to be cooling at that point. Try that and leave it on gas.

It was off for 5 days, and no better when fired back up unfortunately.

[Dwilcox]

Well, sorry I was no use, maybe someone else will jump in with some ideas.
Good luck.

[Offspring22]

Appreciate it anyway, thanks!

[Larry-NC]

Well, the good news is that if it's -20℉ outside, the whole world is your freezer.

The bad news might be the way absorption refrigerators work. They use heat to boil the refrigerant and compress the steam. They let the steam blow through an orifice where it expands. Expanding gases cool in a coil (like Right Guard under your arm) and air moving over the coil cools the contents.

That part of the refrigerator is on the outside wall, behind the plastic cover. It is possible that at -20℉, the refrigerant simply isn't getting hot enough to do its job--even if it does feel hot enough to melt snow around the vent.