Bailey Orion 430-4 Thetford Fridge Fault and Fix
Save yourself £1050!
Just thought I would share this :- Last week I put my Bailey caravan in for a service and was told by an approved caravan servicing centre that the Thetford Fridge in my Bailey 2011 Orion 430-4 wasn't working. So they removed the fridge from the caravan via a window (fridge too big to go through doorway), and turned it upside down to allow the coolant gas (ammonia and not Freon?) to rise into the system as if left for long periods, it can liquefy and settle to the bottom thus preventing the gas from doing its stuff. Anyway, having left the fridge upside down for a few hours, they put it back into the caravan, left it for a couple of hours, and then tried the fridge again. No luck, no cooling. They left it overnight and tried again in the morning , and still nothing. I resigned myself that it was u.s. and decided to take the caravan home along a bumpy road. I decided to try one more time and switched it on (mains), left it overnight. Next morning the fridge felt cold, so I thought hey ho, it could be working. I put a thermometer in the fridge and yes, 5C in the main fridge and -5C in the ice box. Brilliant, as this saved me £1050 for a new fridge inc. labour and VAT as it's a 2 hr. job to remove and replace a fridge. I have since read that a fridge with this problem should be turned upside down overnight ... say 15hrs and then left for 2-4 hrs. before switching back on after righting. The fridge has cooled down to 1C in the main compartment and -7C in the empty ice box. This problem is not particularly common ( about 1/100 fridges) but I would suggest switching the fridge on now and again during periods of longer periods of storage. Oh yes, the servicing Bailey dealers didn't charge me for the extra work and who are they.. Farnham Leisure, Main A.12, Saxmundham, Suffolk. Definitely to be recommended