Fridge/Freezer won't stop running?
Submitted: Monday, Dec 01, 2008 at 07:10
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Hi all - I have a C41 Vitrifrigo 12V fridge/freezer. I think it is about 7 years old. Just recently it has started playing up. After about 24 hours or when the outside temp gets warm (not sure which) it will stop then immediately start again. It will keep doing this until the battery drains?
There is a wire that enters the freezer and sits up against the sidewall - not sure what this is but it looks decayed to me. What is this?
Any ideas why it keeps starting up all the time? Any ideas who I could call for repairs/advice?
Thanks for reading.
Cheers Paul
Reply By: wendys - Monday, Dec 01, 2008 at 13:16
Monday, Dec 01, 2008 at 13:16
Have had a Vitrifrigo in our van since built in 1997.
The wire will be part of thermostat.
Your problem could be thermostat. Or it could be that the fridge needs regassing. We had similar problem last year just after leaving
home on trip - fridge hadn't been on for a few months.
Mildura was our first stop and we just went to fridge service place there, they said needed regas, did it and all has been fine since.
Vitrifrigo originally a marine unit, for yachts etc. We put ours in van because it is offroader and we liked the idea that it was built to run in "pitching" conditions and when not level. Had also read somewhere that the compressor run units worked much better in hot conditions than "normal" van fridges. We have been very happy with the unit - it has run a lot, since we have towed van over 100,000km and also lived in it parked (while we worked up north in hot
places) for about a total of 24 months. So they last
well - and they really do keep things cold/frozen - one place we stayed for 4 months had temps outside that were consistently mid 40's+.
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Follow Up By: Supercalafreakinawesome- Monday, Dec 01, 2008 at 15:52
Monday, Dec 01, 2008 at 15:52
Hi Wendy
Can you tell me what size your vitrifrigo is and also what setting you were running it on when you were in the hotter areas? We found that if we turned the thermostat to 6 or 7 it just caused the plate at the back to frost up and didn't really help the cooling but if we left it on 5 it wasn't cool enough either. Ours is a 150 litre two door fridge freezer - any hints you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
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Follow Up By: wendys - Monday, Dec 01, 2008 at 19:40
Monday, Dec 01, 2008 at 19:40
Not sure of the capacity but it is bar fridge size - one door - little freezebox inside with a pull down door. It fits under a bench. We do not have any special cooling fans or anything set up, but there are openings from the back of the fridge space into the cupboards each side and a grille/vent in
the bench above the back of the fridge. The 4 months we worked south of
Port Hedland (Sept - Xmas) when it was 40-45+ outside, had it set on about 4 (think it goes up to 7 or so). That was enough to keep the beer cold and also keep the freezebox meat etc frozen. Normally I would not run it any higher than about 3, and mostly 11/2 to 2. I keep it defrosted (manually) every couple of weeks - depends how often it is opened. If the freezebox is fairly full, I think that helps. However, we were away for 3 days last week (in Vic - not hot!) with nothing in freezebox and still worked fine.
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Follow Up By: Supercalafreakinawesome- Monday, Dec 01, 2008 at 23:08
Monday, Dec 01, 2008 at 23:08
Thanks Wendy
Your fridge sounds a lot more efficient than ours. I wish we could leave ours on the lower settings but anything less than 4.5 and it's useless - might try the vent in
the bench top idea.
Cheers
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