Pajman Pete (SA) replied:

My dad had a chesscold 3 way that went the same way. The repairer's solution - replace the cooling section which cost only slightly less than a new fridge.

Ammonia dissolved in water is the active mixture so it seem you do have a leak. Looking at the dometic in our Jayco I can't see any seals so I would suspect a punctured condenser or corroded pipework may be the cause.

Pete

Member No 1 replied:

yep it defintely sounds like corroded pipework
its a hermetically sealed system, so no seals etc

take it to the dump...... and save the money you'll otherwise spend on a repairer telling you the same thing

obone replied:

hI dd, just had the same problem with mine. I had a reconditioned cooling unit put in at a cost of $500 (with a 12 month back to base warranty) If you live in the Sydney area I can give you the name of the repairer. Be careful buying a second hand fridge, if it's more than about 12 years old you could be buying somebody elses problem
Regards
Obone

Member - Roachie (SA) replied:

I used to call the 3 way fridge in our camper "Jeanette" (after Mrs Howard); cos it was "next to useless".....hahahaha

Anyway, I opted to replace it with a 12/240 volt unit from Engel. Waeco also make a similar sort of unit. Just need to make sure you've got enough battery capacity if you're going to be away from civilisation for weeks at a time....I have 2 x 105a/h SuperCharge SLA batteries that do a great job.

The compressor fridge will set you back about $1,000- for an 80 litre size and is HEAPS better at keeping a constant temp without the need to be dead level like the 3 way units.

Cheers

Roachie