Swedish camper fridge acts quite oddly.

softdown

Found this thing at one of those "community dumps" where people unload pick up truck loads of "refuse" they don't want. The insulation is 2" think though rodents have chewed it in spots. Have no idea if the propane option works yet.

Plugged it in and nothing happened for four days. I just forgot to unplug it. Yesterday, unbeknownst to me, it came to life. Alarmed at the 1am voltage level of 49.5 I suspected the fridge had come to life. Sure enough the large coil below the coil array was very warm to the touch with fridge like noises emanating. 

With ambient air temperature of 37F it was impossible to tell if the fridge was actually cooling though. Unplugged it and voltage bounced back to 49.8 volts. 

Plugged it back in this morning and nothing immediately happened. There is often a reason that appliances get tossed. But if it works with propane it has value. Also as an emergency electrical fridge - if it actually cools. 

Can a fridge consume significant electricity and heat up the large bottom coil area unless the fridge works?  Like A/C in a car, it is harder to tell if cooling works in cool weather. 

Have not found a manufactures name. It does say Made in Sweden though. Might just be the guts? 

BB.

Asorbstion (ammonia) or compressor type fridge?

Bill

softdown

Guessing ammonia since that is what campers use. At least they used to. 

It just generates heat in the externals and burns electricity. Probably an easy fix for a knowledgeable person. 

I don't see a compressor. I do see a lot of tubing that is found on camper refrigerators. A few areas are either hot or warm. But no ice has formed in the freezer - after a day.

BB.

Here is a bit of debugging:

https://www.rvrepairclub.com/article/tips-rv-refrigerator-troubleshooting/

One oldtimers tip (from above link):

Sometimes, the cooling unit still is charged with the required ammonia mixture, but still doesn’t work. If it appears that the cooling unit needs to be replaced, consider using an old-timer’s trick, and remove the entire refrigerator and place it upside down for a week or so. This sometimes unclogs them and gets them working again, and all it takes is a little labor and time. What do you have to lose?

Check for any ammonia smell... If the internal gasses have leaked out, then it is major repair. The heating is how these guys work (instead of using an refrigeration compressor):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_refrigerator

-Bill

mike95490

And they have to be perfectly level to allow the fluids and gas to move properly

mike_s

The most common failure mode for RV absorption refrigerators is that they've been operated off-level for some time. Doing so results in localized overheating, which causes the anti-freeze used in the system (sodium chromate) to crystallize, blocking everything. The damage is cumulative, and irreversible.