JBarca
Radnor, Ohio, USA
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rvman69 wrote:John, Thanks for the photos and information. Well I have had it plugged in for 6 hours. All of the lower pipes I can reach 6 thru 12 on your diagram are still cold to the touch. So there is no movement in the cooling unit is this correct? The flue is so hot all I can do is tap it with my finger with out get burned or blistered. I am pretty sure it is not working at all. I got a feeling I am going to be ordering a cooling unit. I know it takes a long time for it to start cooling down inside fridge and freezer but it should start circulating in 6 hours correct? Just as a note after 6 hours the temp in the freezer and fridge did not drop at all. Thanks
Hi,
As you see from my data, point 10 on the cooling unit started at 53F, and approx 1 1/2 hours later, point 10 was close to 106F on a working fridge with only 1 gallon of ambient temp water inside the fridge.
At approx 5 1/2" hrs later from starting, the yogurt cup of water in the freezer was frozen solid. The cup is about 1 1/2" deep water.
The above readings are from cycling on and off of the electric heating element from the control system.
If you have been on for 6 hours non-stop heating element and point 10 is still cold, well, the fluid is not circulating.
Point 1, which is the sleeve of the electric element, gets up into the 600 to 700F degree area. The boiler tube with moving fluid, I suspect, is less but still very hot and could be in the 450 - 550 range. The metal shield over the insulation gets convection heating, which is where the thermal disk switch sensor is mounted and shuts the system down. I am not sure what setpoint that trips at.
It could also have partially blocked flow internally and just now starting to leak. If the fridge is run off level for a good period of time or multiple smaller amounts of time, the fluid gets burnt and starts clogging until there is no flow. It's an accumulative issue that once the fluid is burnt, that area will never get better unless the coil is cleaned out during a rebuild.
Again, curious about what Doug will say, but the test so far does not look good; your cooling unit is not working and very possibly leaking.
I will say this, if you change the cooling unit, plan on changing the electric element at the same time. They are not that expensive, and they do go bad over time, they short out inside the element and trip any GFIC the camper is ever plugged into.
John
John & Cindy
2005 Ford F350 Super Duty, 4x4; 6.8L V10 with 4.10
CC, SB, Lariat & FX4 package
21,000 GCWR, 11,000 GVWR
Ford Tow Command
1,700# Reese HP hitch & HP Dual Cam
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2004 Sunline Solaris T310SR
(I wish we were camping!)
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dougrainer
Carrolton, Texas
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Yes, you have a leaker. New cooling unit(rebuilt amish). Attempt to remove the 120 element after it has cooled down. They sometimes will not pull out. If it comes out. Great. If not, Then order a 120 element when you get the cooling unit. Be advised on Dometic, you do NOT get a new Baffle. You have to transfer from old cooling unit. Doug
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JBarca
Radnor, Ohio, USA
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rvman69 wrote:Well I had the camper plugged in out in my shop since last November after last camping with the fridge on. The propane was on also. So I wonder if the unit had leaked out some. Then when the storm took out our electricity the burner kicked on and caught the tube inside on fire. Wonder if that could have burnt some of that stuff up maybe clogging that tube up some. Then when electricity came back on it got to hot and thermal fuse popped out. Just an idea. Thanks
I'm not sure about the fire part, I have never seen the fluid burning outside to know what it looks like when burning. I have only had to deal with cleaning up the mess of leaked-out fluid when installing a new cooling unit.
I will say that the controls' stack safety sensor (thermal disk switch) is not auto-resettable. You have to push the button to reset it. The controls do not care if you are on gas or electric; the sensor will trip the same. It might trip faster on gas, but if it tripped when you were on electric and the power went out, the gas would not fire off as the safety switch would have been tripped already. If, by coincidence, the gas did fire off and the switch got tripped, it would shut the gas down, never to come back again. If a burning glob fell, it should have landed on the gas burner tube, and you did not report the burner tube had any large glob in it. The system may have started leaking over the winter, but once they start leaking, they are not cooling right, and the safety should have tripped sooner or later.
Your post is a good learning one, for me, anyway. The cooling coil unit I had to replace failed overnight and never tripped the safety sensor. The fridge was on in my shop as the camper was there for water damage repair. When I walked in the following morning, the shop smelt like a big ammonia bottle. In this case, the fluid leak was a big one, it let out the coolant quickly, made a big mess, a big stink, and I caught it before the system tripped the safety sensor. The fridge temp could have been satisfied and not called for cooling.
John
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rvman69
philpot
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Joined: 09/26/2013
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Ok a rebuilt cooling unit it is. Will the rebuilt units that come with new flue have the place for the thermal breaker? Or do you have to make the spot. Thanks
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rvman69
philpot
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Also where would be the best place to look at the amish rebuilt units? Thanks
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rvman69
philpot
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Has anyone bought a remanufactured cooling unit from cooling unit warehouse? If so what was your experience. Thanks
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JBarca
Radnor, Ohio, USA
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rvman69 wrote:Ok a rebuilt cooling unit it is. Will the rebuilt units that come with new flue have the place for the thermal breaker? Or do you have to make the spot. Thanks
Usually, none of the sheet metal covers come with a new cooling unit. You reuse all the old sheet metal covers and in this case, the boiler tube insulation cover. You can double-check with the place you are buying them from.
This may help. The last cooling unit I bought was from RVCool. I believe they are no longer in business, they sold the business to someone else, not sure I recall who. This is what they shipped for an RM2652; it was a new cooling coil. It was a well-built unit, in my view. And you had to return your old core to them.
![[image]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52972984061_55026d9469_b.jpg)
This may help; this was their install video. This can give you a feel for what is involved. After the 2 adds, the screen will be black for a few seconds until the words and people start showing up. https://youtu.be/L8kBX9LzIJo
Hope this helps
John
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rvman69
philpot
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RVcool units are now at RVpartsUSA.com I had looked at them. I know I need new insulation no matter what I buy. If I buy one that does not have new insulation what kind needs to be used? Thanks
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rvman69
philpot
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I ended up ordering a Amish remanufactured unit from cooling unit warehouse. Now just to wait. Actually I spoke with the owner and he said if I ordered it this morning it would go out tomorrow. He said that to my location at most 2 days after the ship date. I hope. I am getting ready to order a new hose and hose drain plug. Mine just feel apart in three pieces. I want to thank everyone for your help and suggestions.
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dougrainer
Carrolton, Texas
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NEW Dometic Cooling units have the complete CU with the Thermal disc. You only transfer the baffle. Since the Thermal disc is a Dometic part, I doubt any rebuilder will have or supply the disc. Usually over the years if you give Dometic a call and give them the model and serial number, they sometimes will ship a disc. No charge. But, I am a service center and have a relationship with Dometic, so they may defer to my knowledge and send N/C. There are 2 Dometic thermal discs. NO RESET when it trips you replace it. Manual reset with a button in the center you can push and reset. Note. Make sure you use LOTS of Thermal mastic when replacing the CU. You can NEVER use too much. Doug
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