richard5933

If they don't provide technical support, then it's unlikely the person you spoke to would know whether or not the unit needs to be replaced. To me it seems unlikely that exposure to cold could damage the unit, otherwise there would be warnings all over the thing to not store it outside in the winter. Since we know that they are routinely stored outside in sub-zero temps in the north, without any damage, I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that once you get the thing warmed up it should start to work again. Might need to reset the power to it once you warm it up, but that's easy. There are lots of good threads out there on other sites. Just do a Google search on "Dometic LP fridge winter problem" and you'll find them.

Sounds like good advice. Good news is that with the cold temps there is no worry about food going bad. Friend of mine had an apartment in Paris - it was in an old district, and his 'winter fridge' was a cabinet with a back side that opened to the outside air with nothing but a screen to keep food from falling out. Maybe you have a basement bay that is at about the right temp where you can store food to accomplish the same thing till you get a definitive answer from Dometic.

If my understanding is correct, it's not the temp of the coils inside the fridge that is the problem. The problem appears to be that the heating element cannot always overcome the extreme cold and heat the ammonia solution to make cold. I know it sounds weird, but if the system in the rear of the fridge cannot make heat, it cannot make cold. The system at the rear of the fridge is pretty much isolated from the interior of the coach. This is largely done to prevent any exhaust gases from entering the interior as the system operates. Unfortunately, that means that all that balmy air inside your coach isn't going to help the backside of the fridge be warm enough to operate. I've search through the manual for your unit that I could find, and it doesn't mention anything specific to winter operation. However, there are notes in the manual for another Dometic manual which specify a partial vent cover for use when outside temps fall below +8C (approx +45F). I can't find such a recommendation specifically for your model, however. I did find one recommendation that mentioned parking the rig so that the side of the coach with the fridge gets as much sun exposure as possible. Guess that might help on sunny days. Hopefully there are a few absorption fridge experts out there with more specific advice?

Shooting from the hip here, so hopefully someone with more experience with absorption refrigeration can confirm the theory... These machines make cold by first making heat. Whether on LP or electric, they have to heat the refrigerant. That's why there are vents on the back of the unit, to vent the exhaust gases. From reading a bit online, if the unit is well ventilated to accommodate summer use (the usual time these are used) there exists a possibility that the extreme cold outside air coming in the vents is keeping the unit from being able to produce enough heat to make the inside of the fridge cold. Some solutions I'm reading about this are variants on a theme - warm the temps in the area behind the fridge. They include things like placing a light bulb behind the fridge to warm things a bit and/or to partially block the intake to help keep the temperature up back there. Both of these seem to me to have inherent safety issues, so I don't feel comfortable suggesting these as a solution to you. Hopefully others can chime in as the method of partially blocking the vent seems popular on other sites, and it would be nice to hear from someone that's actually implemented that as a solution.

Welcome to the forum. Glad that you're here. A little more information might help us offer suggestions. What type of refrigerator are you talking about (make/model)? I'm assuming that the refrigerator is inside a heated RV and not outside in the -14 weather, so what makes you think that something has gelled? If this is an LP fridge, have you checked all the necessary outside vents to be sure that they are clear of snow and that they haven't become blocked by freezing condensation in/on the vents?

Terrible accident and it's by the grace of God that no one died. Hard to make any definitive assessments of what happened without more information, but from the information posted on the irv2 site, the RV collided with a small car and rolled. It is shocking how it looks like the body simply detached from the chassis. Some manufacturers do a better job of building a solid and strong body, even going as far as using steel framing and making sure that the body is firmly attached to the chassis. Others (most) do not. At the RV show in Milwaukee last year I was able to talk to a few manufacturer's reps, and some are still using wood framing and or just laminated walls with no support cages. Even the ones with steel framing in the body sometimes use only fiberglass in the front end. We walked away from a head-on collision in our coach in 2017. That collision really emphasized the importance of having a coach which was not only comfortable when camping but also road worthy and able to withstand a collision. We looked at a few modern RVs after the collision, but none that provided the safety features we wanted was in our price range. They're out there, but they're not always the lowest cost. We opted for another bus conversion. I think that there are many improvements in RV safety that could easily be made by the manufacturers. But, in my conversations with the manufacturer's reps at the RV show it was obvious that more consumers are concerned with bells and whistles than they are with safety. I'm thinking that people assume a vehicle as large and heavy as an RV must be safe, especially considering that they are built on a heavy duty chassis. As soon as safety and collision protection becomes important to consumers, my guess is that the manufacturers will start to come around.

Another member posted asking for recommendations for a toilet for a motor home. After spending about half an hour doing some research to help answer the questions, it appears that the entire thread has disappeared. As I clicked on the 'post' button to post my reply the forum responded that it could not find the thread. I have no idea what happened, but my assumption is that it has something to do with the last post on the thread - something about this subject being offensive. Not sure how a discussion about RV toilets is too offensive or inappropriate for a forum about all things RV. Maybe someone can explain how a thread disappears like this?

I don't have any hard facts on this, but I'd be willing to guess that a huge number of electrical problems can be traced back to ground connection problems. Glad to hear that you are making progress. Sounds like you're attacking this methodically and will get it fully functional soon.

Bob - how did you check the element? Continuity testing or did you pull it and do a visual? If you feel confident working around live 120v wiring, and if you have a test meter or 120v testing lamp, you can try the following. Steps I would take are: Breaker on Reset button is pushed all the way in (located inside the maintenance panel of the water heater near the element/thermostat) 120v to thermostat (the one mounted on the water heater and which sends power to the element) 120v to element when water is cold The 120v side of these things don't have a lot of moving parts. If the breaker is on, 120v goes to the thermostat. If the water is cold enough the thermostat sends power to the element. If you've had a situation where something went wrong (ie: power on but water heater empty, or thermostat failed in the 'on' position) the reset button will pop and cut power to the element. This should help you narrow down where the problem is. Good thing is that most parts you'll need are easy to get hold of and easy to replace. Hopefully it's just a tripped breaker or a popped reset button.

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but leveling jacks are not intended to be used as jack stands for working under the coach. Please read through the safety warnings in your manual about properly supporting the coach when you are under it doing maintenance, especially if you are doing maintenance work on the leveling jacks themselves. Here's a piece of the warning from HWH: WARNING: BLOCK FRAME AND TIRES SECURELY BEFORE CRAWLING UNDER VEHICLE. DO NOT USE LEVELING JACKS OR AIR SUSPENSION TO SUPPORT VEHICLE WHILE UNDER VEHICLE OR CHANGING TIRES. VEHICLE MAY DROP AND/OR MOVE FORWARD OR BACKWARD WITHOUT WARNING CAUSING INJURY OR DEATH. There have been deaths over the years as a result of vehicles (coaches) falling as owners worked on them, so proper safety precautions are in order. I know that some will say they've worked for years under a motor home using the leveling jacks to hold it up, even changing tires using the jacks. Still not a good idea, especially given their propensity to fail from time to time. A properly sized/rated jack stand placed according to the manual could save a life when working underneath the coach.

You should have a battery charger for your house batteries already onboard. Might be a converter/charger, might be an inverter/charger, or might be a stand-along charger. Not sure what coach you have, but if you post some more information I'm sure that someone with the same or similar coach can tell you more about it. I have a built-in stand-alone house battery charger, and it's basically the only thing that I've got turned on right now. I've got a trickle charger incorporated into the system that keeps my chassis batteries topped off as well. If you don't already have something built into your setup you can easily get a small battery tender that clips onto the chassis battery posts to keep it fresh. You'll see that many people add their coach make/model either to their profile or to their signature, as well as a name.

Welcome to the FMCA forum. When you find the settings/profile page, please add a little information about your coach so that we can better answer questions like this for you. I've got mine parked for the winter months. Everything is off, with the exception of the battery chargers. A modern charger can be left on all the time and will keep your batteries in top shape. Some of the newer coaches will have phantom electric draws all the time, even with switches in the 'off' position. Doesn't take too long for the batteries to drain down to the danger zone where damage is possible, so leaving the chargers on to maintain them is a good idea. Assuming you're in a warm climate and/or you've winterized the plumbing, nothing else should need to be on.

If you can get to the back side of the switch, you can also check to be sure that all the wires are firmly seated. A lighted switch usually has it's own ground wire, and if that gets loose light won't work.

I believe that most roof-top a/c units can run on a 15-amp circuit, with actual draw slightly less than that. Technically it might be possible to run two units on 30 amps, but I'd guess that at some point they'll cycle at the same time and the start-up draw might pop the breaker. Or, more likely, the battery charger or something else which was forgotten will kick in and increase the draw over the 30-amp limit. Obviously I'm talking about those with more manual power management. In our coach each of the a/c units draw 19 amps on startup, and about 15 otherwise when the compressor is running. We can run one on 30 amps, with a little left over for things like lighting, battery charger, and fans. Lucky for us our basement a/c units will turn the coach into a meat locker if we want, so one can usually keep us comfortable enough. We had only 30 amps in Gillette, but there was no problem keeping cool inside. Since our kitchen is all electric, we carry a portable propane single burner stove which we use whenever we're hooked up to 30-amp service. If we use the microwave, the a/c is first switched to ventilate only with the compressor switched off.

Thanks for the information. Just to make it clear, my comments earlier were in on way to make any type of statement about Kiley. Not whether they are in business nor whether they still serve as a vendor to other organizations. The purpose for my posting the information was in response to the thread from last spring. In that thread I had posted a link to Kiley, only to have a rather cryptic posting about the FMCA vendor which sort of corrected what posted. Later on Dan B informed us that Kiley was no longer the vendor for FMCA plaques and accessories. So, based upon that information, I posted what is I believe still the most current information about the 'official' vendor of plaques and related accessories. Not sure why there was any controversy about this, and not sure why there seems to be a hesitation to promote the FMCA vendor/distribution chain on these things.

Still lots of smaller campgrounds with only 30-amp hookups, as well as those with only a few 50-amp pedestals. We stopped at a few on our drive from NJ to Wisconsin. Always good to have a plan for making do on 30-amp.

Good advice for gasoline engines as well. Machinery does best when used. Sitting still is not good for engines long term, and will lead to dried gaskets, seals, and other problems.

Single phase is pretty much the standard electric service in residential buildings. The other option would be three phase, something usually found in commercial or industrial settings. Look at Wikipedia for an explanation.

Some plastics don't take epoxy well. Scuffing them up will help, as mentioned earlier. Also would suggest trying to find a product specifically designated to be compatible with the materials being bonded (steel/plastic). There are many type of plastic, so hopefully the one you're working with has a marking stamped into it which will help you identify it. Also might be good to thoroughly clean the area to be bonded with something like acetone to remove any grease/wax/etc. I just looked at the photo you posted (PDF) and see how big that name plate it. Bigger than I imagined based on the description, and I'm actually surprised that they only used three bolts, and more surprised that they used adhesive to connect the bolts to the plastic. But, maybe they were hoping to get a mechanical bond due to the heat of the hot glue causing a slight 'heat weld' to the plastic name plate.

Dan Ball posted in April that the relationship between FMCA and Kiley ended on March 22nd. If something has changed since then and Kiley is once again the supplier, it would sure be helpful for the information to be announced. Otherwise, the link I posted above is the most current one for ordering supplies that I can find. Here's a link to that earlier thread:

Unless something has changed since the spring, Kiley is no longer the supplier for FMCA plates and mounting accessories. Here is the link that was provided at the time of a previous discussion about this for ordering supplies (including mounting hardware): https://www.fmca.com/rv-plates

It's also possible to get an egg which is a vinyl sticker only (minus the plastic backing plate) which can be applied directly to the coach. Or at least it used to be with the previous supplier. I assume it still is. This is what we did up front. The space for mounting was slightly curved, and the vinyl followed the curve easily.

Photos? (best to get both front and rear of switch) There are lots of places online which sell these switches, and depending on what you're looking for it might be easy or it might be difficult. If this is a 12v circuit, be sure to get switches which are rated for DC current, and the switches only rated for AC may not last long. (There's more arcing by nature in 12v circuits when making/breaking the circuit, and the DC switches are rated to handle this).

These things usually heat the water pretty quickly, and having hot water would be the best test. If you don't have hot water on electric only, then perhaps your circuit breaker needs to be reset. If that's okay, you should check the reset button on the end of the electric heater element. These reset button will trip is things go bad or if there is a problem. My reset button popped once when the unit was turned on before it was filled with water. Wouldn't heat again till the reset was pushed in. If you don't have a manual for your water heater you can find them online. Here is one link I found: http://www.dyersonline.com/downloadfile/download/aitfile/aitfile_id/1985/ Good luck!

Maybe I missed it, but did the OP ever mention what type of batteries he had in the coach? Until we hear back from the OP we're just guessing, but I agree that power lead in the tow harness could solve all this (if hooked up correctly.)