Magic chef fridge

[2queensinamini]

This is not another topic of the doors.
I have had a problem with my fridge cooling, we couldn't get the fridge below 42 degrees. I have been in contact with our dealers Service dept who has been great dealing with. So in the fridge there is a duct that runs from the freezer to the fridge. It can be seen on the back wall inside the freezer running into the fridge. On the duct there are two vents that are located where cool air would discharge on the top shelf and one on the second shelf.
So my dealer told me they had been in contact with Rockwood and are working to resolve this problem. I was told that I could use a utility knife to make another vent opening in the duct on the second shelf and another on the bottom of the duct that spills to the bottom shelf. Within two hours of doing this my fridge temp had dropped to 34 degrees. That is the coldest since we have owned the unit.

[BuickGS]

1) Do you have a picture of your new vent openings that you could share, maybe even give sizes and exact location?

2) How did this affect the temp in the freezer compartment (is it now too high)?

[2queensinamini]

Size is approximately same as factory size. It has not decreased the temperature of the freezer.
Also in this process I learned that the higher the temperature knob setting in the freezer the less air would go into the fridge. Setting at 1 sends the most cool air to fridge.
This photo is looking into fridge with the door opened from the right. You can see the two openings that I made.

[BuickGS]

Originally Posted by 2queensinamini

...Also in this process I learned that the higher the temperature knob setting in the freezer the less air would go into the fridge. Setting at 1 sends the most cool air to fridge.

I guess that makes sense. The default setting for mine was 3 for the knob in the top freezer, and the thermostat setting in the lower refrigerator section was 3. The Magic Chef manual says to turn the freezer knob to 2 and set the thermostat setting to 2 in the refrigerator - in the Summer, which I assumed would be colder - but you never know if that was a misprint in the manual, but it did get a little colder in the lower refrigerator part after doing this.

The reason I said that I "guess" it makes sense, is because all of the other refrigerators that I own are just the opposite - the higher the number the colder it gets. They're trying to mess us up.

And thanks for the picture.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by 2queensinamini

Also in this process I learned that the higher the temperature knob setting in the freezer the less air would go into the fridge.

Yes. This is how all refrigerators work. The reason is that the refrigerator temperature is the most critical--needs to be maintained between about 34º and 38º. The freezer temperature can be anything from 30º to -25º or so, depending on how easy or hard you want the ice cream to dip.

The thermostat regulates the refrigerator temperature. The freezer temperature is set by a damper which divides the cool airflow between the two parts.

On a hot day, on a marginally-designed RV refrigerator, you could possibly divert so much air to the freezer part that the refrigerator part would never cool sufficiently, the thermostat would never be satisfied, and the unit would run continuously.

[tott9713]

It appears that Forest River may have issued a Technical Service Bulletin for this issue. Mine is arriving in the mail. TB 51-1798

[BuickGS]

Yep, I also received my Technical Service Bulletin 51-1798 in the mail today, which addresses this issue. Doesn't give detailed info though, just says that the Magic Chef refrigerator may not have the proper vents cut out inside the refrigerator potentially causing cooling issues, bring it to your dealer for repair.

[Life Without Whine]

Just took ours in for its new to us tune up & had to teach Blue Compass about the bulletin - they looked it up & we let them make the cuts. Frig at 35 degrees in a heartbeat :-)

[tott9713]

Flagstaff confirmed this is the repair procedure for this TB.