Weird stuff happening with my Dometic Cr110..

[radarcontact]

...today I noticed it was running, even though I had the knob turned to the "0" position. Green LED light was on, nothing else. I pulled the fuse to turn it off, hoping it would magically reset when I reinserted the fuse...no dice, at first. I pulled the fuse again and went in the house to do some research on the thermostat, etc.

When I went out about 30 minutes later I reinserted the fuse....now when I turn the knob to "0" it doesn't run like before. I have to crank the knob to 5 or higher for it to come on.

A touchy thermostat? A fluke? Faulty thermostat perhaps? Anyone else ran into this problem?

My frig is only about a year and a half old...frustrating. Maybe it won't happen again ....hoping

I'm wondering if leaving the fuse out for that 30 minute period somehow reset something on the thermostat.

***Update....I spoke too soon...just went out to check it again, and, with the temp. control knob in the "0" position the frig is running. Green LED light on, the fault light next to it is not illuminated. When I rotate the knob clockwise to the "1" position the compressor shuts off.....!?!!?!!???

What do you guys think? Bad thermostat? I guess it's warrantied, but I'm not sure where it's located. Anyone replaced one before? Thanks for your input.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

'Zero' isn't off, if that was your goal. There is a hard detent to get it to the off position, or at least that was how my 80L behaved. Rotate the knob to zero, then a little more. It's surprisingly hard, and you're going to be afraid you're going to break something. There is at least one earlier thread on the issue. If you can't find it, let me know and I'll do a search for you.

Edit: http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/10854-turning-fridge-off/page-2

 

[rfg]

<p>I have had the exact same problem with my Dometic. Have always had to pull the fuse to shut it off. Dometic tech support has told me I need a new thermostat. I'll be putting in a new one in the spring.</p>

 

[radarcontact]

@Sagebrush....thank you for your reply. I am aware of the detente, and I can feel it go over a 'bump' when I turn it to zero, but the frig compressor keeps running. Was wondering if it might be the dial itself that's faulty...

@rfg....sounds like we have the same issue. Is your refrig old or still under warranty? Guess I'll call Dometic and see what to do.
Thanks for responding.

 

[radarcontact]

If anyone's still reading this...another bizarre development in the diagnosis of my frig...

The frig plugs in to a regular wall-style outlet in the storage cabinet next to the frig. I'm assuming this is so the frig can run off shore power when connected, and the circuit breaker is in the ON position.

Well, I unplugged the plug from the outlet in the cabinet. I also pushed in my master KILL switch, so no appliances could be run off of 12V battery power...the frig STILL runs...? Am I looking at this the right way? Because I can't figure out how it's running. Keep in mind, I am plugged into shore power, but the refrigerator breaker is OFF (the main breaker is on, however) and the plug is out. The only way to turn it off completely is to turn the main breaker off, or disconnect from shore power. But, why should that matter? The plug from the back of the frig is disconnected....

It is close to Halloween, so maybe my frig is possessed LOL.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I believe your electrical system is working correctly. With shore power on, the converter is still providing DC, and I think that's why it's still running when unplugged. There should be a fuse for the DC side of the refer. Try pulling that, or just better yet trip the CB for the converter and see what is happening. It should be truly off at that point.

If however, you're past the off detent and it's still running... Something is hinky.

 

[radarcontact]

Sagebrush, thank you again. Yeah, I had to go back to Electricity 101 to figure out how 4 Wheel wired this thing. What was confusing me was when I'm plugged in to shore power and the circuit breaker for the frig is OFF why the frig was running, when the 12V master knob was pushed IN (i.e., OFF). I could see that, if the 120V refrig breaker was OFF that the frig would revert to battery power, but I couldn't figure out how it was doing that when the 12V master knob was in the OFF position. Alas, I went back and read my 4 Wheel manual carefully....it does say in there that the position of the 12V master knob has no meaning when the camper is plugged in to shore power. Apparently plugging the camper in to a home power source overrides that 12V master knob. Why, I'm not sure.....but that's the way it works, I guess.

As for the frig running when the interior temperature knob is set to "0", yeah, it's bizarre. It must be a knob or thermostat issue. I'll call Dometic and see what they say.