Evaluating used fridge

[AlanMoor]

We bought a 2011 Mini-Lite Etc that has a medium size (5 cu ft) Dometic fridge. We bought an Atwood 6 cu ft for $300. The guy said it worked, but he didn't have 12v to make it run so he just got a residential fridge. He gave me the name of the "tech" who came to help him install it.

When I got home, I called the tech to see if he wanted to give me a hand installing it. I'm going to have to take part of the cabinet out above the fridge and I'm not much of a finish carpenter. I asked him if he remembered working on the fridge and he said he did, and he said it had problems when he hooked it up and tested it. I thought, well, that's that, I've wasted $300.

I decided to hook it up on a pallet in the barn and see if it works. I plugged it in to 12V (small battery with a charger) and 120V and put it in AC mode. It cooled the freezer down to 27 degrees in a few hours (80+ degrees outside). I have now hooked it up to propane, and it took the freezer down a few degrees in just a few minutes.

Any ideas what to look for aside from making sure the freezer gets down to 0? It seems like it is working pretty well to me.

I'm not looking forward to somehow removing the cabinet and then putting the face board back in without it looking like crap...

[AlanMoor]

It seems to cool OK (4-10 degrees in the freezer) but after a while the lights on the front start flashing (while in 120V mode).

It does cool for a while in gas mode, but then the check light comes on and it quits until I reset the mode.

Is this likely a control board issue or do I just need to clean the flux capacitor?

[Iwannacamp]

Might be an interesting read...kinda Long

https://www.keystoneforums.com/forum...ad.php?t=12272

[Iwannacamp]

Even more.


https://www.google.com/search?q=atwo...k%20light%20on

Need to get model a model and search that way

[AlanMoor]

I was on track to replace the control board, but my brother in law visited and said he had weird problems with one of his fridges and a tech told him it may be a problem with a ground connection.

He showed me a phillips head screw in back, close to the bottom on the right hand side, that had two wires (via ilets) attached to it. It was screwed into a horizontal piece of sheet metal. He said he just unscrewed his, cleaned it up, and put it back and it fixed the problem.

I was skeptical but when we got back from our trip I took the screw out (there isn't really room for a screwdriver, but I got it out with a small wrench and a driver from a drill). I used a brass brush to clean up the connection (even though I couldn't see any issues) and put it back together. It's been running for 3 days now with no issues (I have occasionally switched between gas and 120V).

Hopefully this will help someone else. I also hope I haven't jinxed myself!

[Scrapper]

Whenever you have a ground wire screwed to a frame it would be wise to include a star washer, sometimes called a tooth lock washer.

[Bama Rambler]

Those fridges are very sensitive to corrosion at the connectors and ground screws. Hopefully you found your problem and it will give you many years of troublefree service.