#1 Check Light keeps blinking

The check light is usually the yellow colored one next to the green colored ‘ON’ light. It basically is meant to show that normal refrigerator functioning is being interrupted.

One instance it might come on is when you unplug the 120 V AC outlet. You’ll see the yellow check light blinking momentarily until the fridge automatically restarts on propane.

Here are a couple other reasons why your check light might be coming on:

• Because the RV isn’t level
• AC/DC electricity supply was switched off and you need to manually configure it to propane OR the other way around
• Propane and electricity supply both are switched off

#2 RV refrigerator is leaking a yellow fluid/ making gurgling noises

If this is true for you, then all signs point to an ammonia leak.

Ammonia is used in the evaporator section of a propane refrigerator, and is an essential part of the refrigeration process.( Check out this article on how RV refrigerators work? )

How to know if you have an ammonia leak:

• You get a chemical-ly smell when you open the fridge door that makes your eyes water and chest burn. This probably means there is a leak in the evaporator
• There is a yellowish or lime-green residue around the burner area. This is a sign of a leak in the boiler section of the pipes
• If the leak has been happening for an extended period, the ammonia smell may not be distinguishable. Listen for a bubbling sound from the back of your refrigerator unit when you turn it on.

In case the above tips don’t help, here’s how you can check the ammonia level in a RV fridge:

Get a combustible gas detector, such as  this LP gas detector on Amazon It runs on 4 AA batteries and along with detecting ammonia levels, it can also detect other combustible gases such as propane- bound to come in handy when you’re living in a propane fuelled machine.

#3 RV refrigerator is not cooling

There could be a LOT of reasons why your RV fridge’s cooling isn’t up to standard. Let’s look at all of them, one by one.

First, few general tips for ensuring proper cooling:

Don’t overload shelves

One of the most common reasons for insufficient cooling is that the refrigerator is stacked with way more food than it can hold.

Stuffing the shelves all the way to the back of the fridge blocks air flow from the cold air fins(at the top) to the rest of the fridge.

Get a fridge fan

You may find that air circulation still isn’t great inside your RV fridge. In that case, I recommend you get a small fridge fan. They’re quite inexpensive and last about 6 weeks on a single pair of batteries.

Another spot you could stick your fridge fan in is the rear vent of the refrigerator- usually accessible from the outside of the RV.

If you have enough space, you could point the fan to direct the reject hot air out through the vents, and hence, cool the system down a bit further.

Here is the on Ammyzon.

Minimize door openings

It’s important to remember that RV fridges aren’t as efficient as home refrigerators. For instance, if you leave the fridge door open for a minute, it’ll take the refrigerator about an hour to regain the temperature it was originally at.

This is why you should try to be economical about opening the fridge door while travelling in your RV.

A great way of doing so is having a fridge magnet that allows you to take notes, like this one on Amazon. Simply write down whatever food you have inside so that you don’t need to keep opening to check.

Also writing the quantity next to the food in the list will be helpful for you to keep track, albeit cumbersome.

Monitor the temperatures

You can only deal with a problem when you know there is one, right?

Your fridge should ideally be in the range of 37-40 degree F, and so, it’s just easier to know whether you are there or not if you have a small fridge thermometer.

It won’t take up much space- you can just hang it from one of the shelves in your fridge Check out this popular fridge thermometer on Amazon.

Know that there is a thermostat/ thermocouple

A lot of RV owners do not know of the thermocouple that they can use to change the temperature.

It’s the tiny white thing stuck inside a plastic clip that you’ll either see stuck on a cooling fin (Norcold) or to the side of the fins (Dometic).

Moving it up will increase the cooling in a Dometic fridge. In Norcold fridges, it’s supposed to be moved horizontally to change the temperature.

All other brands will be somewhat built similarly as well. When in doubt- just read the product manual. You’ll get the exact instructions for changing the temperature over there.

If none of the above tips work

There is a high possibility that the thermocouple itself is shot, and needs to be replaced.

Don’t worry, it’s a simple process to test if it’s working and replace it, if need be. I wrote about it in this post

#4 RV refrigerator not cooling in hot weather

Again, one of those typical RV fridge things that you can’t do much about.

The cooling in a propane RV fridge will be dependent on the outside temperature, to a certain extent. Meaning, that when it’s hot out, it won’t cool as effectively and when it’s cold outside, it’ll cool a bit TOO much.

In fact, if you’re in a region with temperatures above 90 degree F, no propane refrigerator is going to be able to function properly in those conditions.

You’ll need to aid the process of cooling. A hack that I came across online is to place a block of ice into the fridge, when it’s particularly hot out.

However, don’t forget to put a small pan underneath to collect the melted water!

#5 RV refrigerator cooling TOO much/ freezes everything

Big problem that a lot of RV owners face from time to time, even though there is a defrost function in most fridges today- go figure.

This is a pretty big topic though, and I wrote a complete post on why your RV fridge might be freezing everything that you might find helpful.

#6 RV refrigerator ignitor not working OR making continuous clicking noises

The ignitor is a small part of the control board that provides the spark to light up the burner when you switch the fridge to propane.

Usually present inside the rear vent(on the outside of the RV), you’ll hear a couple of clicking sounds from the ignitor until the burner lights up.

Most RV propane fridges have an ignitor these days- the other type of systems are those where you ignite the burner manually with a match.

Anyhow, here are a couple reasons why the ignitor may not be working:

• The burner is dirty, and hence is having trouble lighting up- you just need to vaccum clean it a bit
• Ignitor needs to be replaced
• Issue with the control board- full control board needs replacement

#7 RV refrigerator not working on electric

A common thing to check is whether the fridge is plugged in to the 120 V AC switch?

And no, I don’t mean inside the RV. Usually located inside the rear vent, you’ll see an electrical point where your fridge needs to be plugged in.

Another really common thing that might occur is that your GFCI circuit breakers may be tripped. If so, you just need to go reset them manually to get the fridge running again.

Now, if the above two tips weren’t helpful, then it might mean that the electrical heating element has gone bad.

In any 2 way fridge, there are two circuits- one for the electrical element to provide heating and another where the burner provides heating. So, in fact, if your fridge isn’t working on either mode, it could be because the heating element or burner needs to be checked.

If, even the heating element turns out fine, then you probably need to get the control board changed.

#8 RV refrigerator problems at high altitude

RV fridges don’t work well on propane at altitudes greater than 5500 ft. This isn’t because of any defect in the refrigerator, it’s because the low pressure doesn’t allow the propane burner to light up efficiently.

Basically there isn’t enough oxygen in the atmosphere to provide a robust flame.

There are high altitude refrigeration kits that RV fridge manufacturers also sell.

Otherwise, probably best to run your fridge on electric if you’re camping out in high altitiude for long.

#9 RV refrigerator keeps tripping breaker

This can happen when the heating element gets shorted by touching the ‘ground’ metal plate in the flue, which in turn trips the GFCI breaker. You could try connecting to another GFCI circuit to verify this.

If that wasn’t super-clear, check out the first part of the video below:

#10 RV refrigerator keeps shutting off

Probably the most common reason for this is that the refrigerator isn’t level. RV refrigerators, (because they are gravity fed instead of being compressor based) are required to be level for proper functioning.

In fact, if you park your RV on an incline for more than 15 minutes, you could do some permanent damage.

This is because the coolant liquid can accumulate in a couple of spots in the pipes- which then makes the circulation of the coolant inefficient, bringing the cooling power down.

If the refrigerator is not level, you’ll probably see a yellow check light coming on, which will go away as soon as you bring it level.

Keep in mind that this isn’t an issue while driving- of course, you can’t have a completely stable and level ground while on the road. However, when parked for extended periods, RV fridges need to be level.

A few things to check for which could be causing the fridge to keep shutting off:

• Is the electrical 120 V AC point plugged in?
• If running on electricity- Is the heating element working?
• If running on propane-Is the burner working?

#11 RV refrigerator fan keeps running all the time

The refrigerator fan is not supposed to be running all the time but even if it does, it’s not a huge issue,  functionality wise. It probably just means that there is an inline fuse before the vent fan.

There are lots of quieter varieties of fans that you can replace your standard one with- but you probably need to get a professional for this.

#12 RV refrigerator warm in cold weather

Usually happens in sub zero temperatures. The reason for this is the coolant gets sluggish in the cold weather and doesn’t circulate well, bringing down the overall refrigeration levels.

Couple things you can do:

Get a winter kit for your RV fridge, such as this one by Norcold . It basically will provide more heat to the system in order to keep the coolant circulating well.

If you have an extra electrical outlet inside the rear fridge vent, I also found mention of a pretty creative workaround that also will do the same job.

What you basically do, is place a small electric bulb there. As the bulb lights up, it’ll get hot,  and so will the air around it. The idea is that the hot air will travel up the drain pipe and into the refrigerator.

Also, during the day, ensure that your RV is parked such that the side that the fridge is on faces the sun.

Lastly, a lot of RV owners just prefer to forgo the hassle and just use a portable cooler instead, in the winter months. You may want to consider that as well.

#13 RV refrigerator leaking water

According to  forum, a common cause for this is that the condensate drain tube may be leaking water outside.

It should be ideally placed between the grills in the rear vent(outside of the RV behind where the fridge is placed) and should be leading the condensate out.

If you have a Norcold fridge, then the system is probably slightly different.

Instead of leaking outside, the condensate leaks into a pan which may have sprung a leak. You’ll need to get that fixed.

For a better idea of the rear/side vent that I’m talking about- check out this article.

#14 Top RV refrigerator vent leaks

Isn’t it the worst when it’s raining out and there’s a leak somewhere in your RV?

If there’s water leaking from the top vent of your fridge, it could cause some electrical damage too. Here’s what you do:

Identify where the leak is- is it around the edges of the vent? If so, you can simply apply some weatherstripping tape and seal it.

If, however, the patch needs to be made on the vent, and seems pretty big-ish- of course you could seal it up with the weatherstripping tape(for the time being).

But I would also recommend that you go ahead and buy a new one. They’re pretty cheap, like this vent on Amazon.

#15 RV fridge is wet inside

The most plausible reason for this would be that there’s a leak in the fridge (usually it’s the gasket) from which warm air is coming inside the fridge.

#16 RV refrigerator drains battery power

If you have a residential fridge, there’s nothing much to be done about this honestly. They are much bigger in size, which is the biggest reason why they’re a huge power suck.

In fact, you’ll require either custom batteries or solar panel installations to run your RV with a standard refrigerator. Otherwise, even if you switch off all other appliances, you can expect to deplete your batteries completely within 6-7 hours.

Alternatively, even if you have a standard 2 way RV fridge (AC/propane), you might want to close the propane connection while on the road(as I believe you should!)

In that case, you’ll run the fridge on battery power with the help of an inverter. While the load is much lesser than a residential fridge, you’ll still end up depleting around half of your battery with about 8 hours of usage.

If none of the above seems to be the reason, you should get a professional’s opinion on this.

#17 Mold formation

Mold forms inside damp surroundings. If you’re not using your RV for an extended period, unless you take precautions, you may just find mold inside your fridge when you come back.

The #1 reason for this is that the fridge door was left closed while the refrigerator was switched off for a long period.

A simple fix is to get a no mold door holder, to keep the fridge door ajar when the RV isn’t in use.

#18 Food keeps flying around on the road

Two cheap but essential products that you’ll need- get a couple of fridge braces to hold the various items in position.

For items placed on the door shelf- get a shelf hog– it’s basically a balloon that provides a bit of padding to hold the food in place.

Conclusion

Did you find the post helpful? Any other troubleshooting tip you’d like to share?

Let us know in the comments and we’ll include it in our post!

If you are wondering what makes your RV refrigerator freeze, then this article might save you a ton of pain (and maybe some money!)

Why Does My RV Refrigerator Freeze Everything?

While researching for another article on RV refrigerators recently, I came across a popular question that a LOT of people were searching for. I did a little digging later and it took me WAY too long to find the answer.

Now, this really bugged me- so I decided to create this resource for everyone.

The question was really simple- Why Does My RV Refrigerator Freeze Everything? Here’s what I found out:

The most common reason your RV refrigerator might be over-cooling is because the thermistor/ thermostat inside the fridge is either turned up too high or isn’t working properly. Another common reason is warm, humid air from outside entering the refrigerator through and frosting over.

Let’s look into what all this really means.

Firstly- What is a Thermistor or Thermostat?

Once you open your fridge and look towards the back side of the top shelf, you will see the metallic fins through which cold air comes in.

If you have a Norcold fridge, you will see a thin wire inside a white clip-on, attached onto one of the fins. This is the thermistor. In Dometic fridges, this clip-on is present at the side of the fins.

A thermistor gets its name because it is literally a temperature varying resistor. Simply put, in any circuit- with varying resistance, the voltage and current flow changes with changes in the refrigerator temperature. Using thermistors is a an easy way to measure temperature in an RV refrigerator electrically.

In the context of the RV fridge, the thermistor controls the amount of cooling generated inside the fridge by controlling the voltage and current – roughly speaking.

If the thermistor goes bust, then the refrigerator keeps continuously pushing cold air through the metallic fins at the back- which can lead to the fridge freezing everything.

Another reason for the temperature being too cold may also just be that the thermistor setting was accidentally turned to a colder level. This is sort of a “lens cap, lens cap, lens cap” problem (put a comment below if you want me to explain).

Many RV owners don’t even know about the temperature setting knob inside their fridges, which is why it doesn’t even strike them to regulate the temperature using it, and check if the setting was accidentally moved.

So, first things first, we’ll need to check that.

How to change the temperature setting in your RV fridge

• If you have a Dometic fridge, you’ll see the clip on the top right corner of the fridge, as you open it. The higher you drag it upwards, the lower the temperature will go. If you drag it downwards, the temperature will rise.
• If you have a Norcold fridge, you’ll see the clip-on attached to one of the metallic fins. You’ll need to drag the clip in a horizontal direction to manipulate the temperature, rather than vertical, as in the case of a Dometic fridge.
• All other RV fridge brands– you’re probably going to have a similar set-up for temperature control. If you’re not sure how to work the thermistor, or where it is, you can take a look at the user manual, or look it up online if you don’t have one.

Now that you know how the thermistor works and where it is- bring it to a moderate temperature setting, and leave the refrigerator be for the next 4 hours.

While the frost build-up wouldn’t have gone yet, you should see some improvement in the temperature inside the fridge.

If this doesn’t do anything, then the next thing to check is whether the thermistor is malfunctioning.

How to check for a malfunctioning thermistor

This is a simple test that ANYONE can perform really. You’ll need a multimeter and a glass of ice water for this.

If you’ve never used one before- a multimeter is used to test electric circuits. You can test a lot of things, such as the voltage, current, power consumption, etc.

However, we just need to test the resistance.The idea is to use the multimeter to measure the resistance of the thermistor and how it varies with temperature.

1. You’ll notice that the thermistor leads are attached in a harness above the top shelf of the fridge- where your lightbulb might also be hanging from.
2. If not so, the leads will be attached to a circuit at the back of the fridge, which you’ll have to access by removing the rear panel with a screwdriver.
3. You’ll need to remove the thermistor from the clip-on and also take out it’s leads which are plugged into the circuit.
4. Next, you’ll attach the multimeter probes to the two ends and put the multimeter setting to ‘Resistance’. If you’ve never used one before- it’ll probably be the setting with a ‘R’ written and an ‘Ohm’ symbol.
5. Note the resistance level being displayed on the multimeter
6. Now, put the thermistor in cold water and see if the resistance changes
7. If the thermistor is working fine, you’ll see an increase in resistance. If there is no change in resistance, it means the thermistor isn’t functioning properly and needs to be replaced.

Here’s a video demonstration of what I just described:

How to replace the thermistor in your RV refrigerator

You may want to get the Dometic thermistor replacement kit , OR, if you have a Norcold, then the relevant thermistor wire assembly for the Norcold Refrigerator . You could also go for just about any other thermistor as well, if you prefer- it’ll all work the same.

1. First, unplug the thermistor leads from the circuit.
2. Remove the clip-on to expose the thermistor inside.
3. Clip the thermistor off the wire
4. Trim back about ½” of the plastic coating using a wire stripper to expose both the positive and negative ends of the wiring
5. Attach your new thermistor to the wiring.
6. Plug the leads back into the circuit and you’re done!

Here’s a helpful video tutorial on how to replace your thermistor:

Gasket leak may also be causing frost which causes your RV refrigerator freeze

Okay, so you tested out the thermistor and that didn’t work. This means that you should now be checking for leaks in your refrigerator, where outside air could be coming in from.

What happens is this:

Relatively warm, humid air from the surroundings finds it’s way inside the fridge and meets the cold air inside. Upon coming in contact, the humidity in the outside air cools down and forms frost.

A good indicator of where the leak in your fridge could be- is where is the frosting occurring the most?

Is it by the doors? Top shelf? Lower shelf? Freezer?

To this end, the first thing that you should check is the fridge door gasket and whether it is sealing correctly. A simple way to do this is to stick a piece of paper between the refrigerator doors and close them.

If you’re able to move the paper around- you’ve found the issue! The gaskets aren’t sealing tightly enough and need to be replaced.

Repairing the leak also saves you money because your fridge will now be more efficient- meaning, it will use less power to provide the same level of cooling it had to work really hard for earlier.

2 other reasons your RV refrigerator freezes up

#1 Lack of ventilation

There could be vent blockages that are causing air circulation issues and thereby causing RV refrigerator freezing. Possibly, the fridge is placed too close to the back wall.

Lack of air circulation could also be caused because the vents need cleaning. They tend to get clogged with dirt and debris over time.

#2 The thermostat itself is covered in ice

If the thermostat is covered in ice, it may not be functioning properly. You should unplug the fridge, let the ice thaw around it and then plug it back in to test if it’s working fine.

How to defrost your RV refrigerator?

A lot of RV’ers online seem to promote the use of a hairdryer to provide heat to the ice and speed up the thawing process.

My only concern with this is that it may damage the fridge, since you’re blowing hot air at everything, and not just the ice.

The other thing that I personally wouldn’t recommend is to use a wooden spatula or some other sharp object to break apart the ice as it thaws. Unless you’re really careful, you may just end up damaging something inside the fridge.

My suggestion?

Keep it simple. Just unplug the fridge, put a small bowl in the bottom shelf to collect the melted ice water and… wait.

Your food isn’t going to spoil- as long as you keep the door closed, the fridge won’t lose more than 3-4 degree F over the next 6-8 hours.

Alternatively, you could also empty the fridge completely after unplugging it and leave the door open- this will speed up the entire process.

Is there a correct temperature for an RV refrigerator?

Generally speaking, you’re good if the temperature is in the range of 38-43 degree F.

One small caveat here is that if you have some processed meat, cuts, etc inside your fridge(not the freezer), then you should keep the temperature at 40 degree F or below, to ensure no spoilage.

Honestly though, as long as you’re roughly keeping within this range, it doesn’t really matter much what the exact temperature is.

For the sake of being specific, however- my research tells me that the most optimal temperature for your refrigerator is 38 degree F or 3 degree C.

In fact, if you start going below 38 degree F, there is a good chance your fruits and veggies are going to freeze.

Conclusion

There aren’t a lot many reasons why the inside of an RV refrigerator freezes.

If you didn’t find the solution by going through this post, I’d say you probably need to call a professional to come look at your fridge.

Hope you found the article informative and if you’re looking for a more in-depth guide on how RV refrigerators work, check out the page!

The master RV52 refrigerator how-to page is a great starting point for RV refrigerator research.

Find thermisters in the RV52 refrigerator database.