Fridge Defrosting Problem - water everywhere
Does anyone else have problems with refrigerator defrost water flooding the fridge and running out onto the caravan floor? (See photo 01) If so, has anyone found a solution?
The fridge is a Dometic RML 933x (See photo 02). There is a gutter and drain hole in the fridge, below the ice box, to catch and drain the water safely out of the fridge. (See photo 03) It has been checked by the caravan dealer, and the drain isn’t blocked. Yet, under certain conditions the fridge still floods.
It happens when in hot European countries, when running on battery whilst moving between sites. Perhaps we have been in one place for a week, so ice has built up. By the time we reach our destination, the caravan floor is flooded, and the contents of the fridge are soaked. I have a couple of ideas why this is happening but want to check other people’s experience.
When running on battery with an air temperature of say 35C and above, (typical for Spain and Portugal) (See photo 04) there isn’t enough cooling to prevent some gradual defrosting.
Suspicion 1: The drain pipe doesn’t drain out of the bottom of the caravan, as I would have expected, but drains into a little plastic container at the back of the fridge (See photo 05). I suspect that when it gets full, it overflows onto the caravan floor. Solution, perhaps extend the pipe through the bottom of the van?
Suspicion 2: the gutter is not deep enough to catch the defrost water, so it sloshes all over the inside of the fridge when. Solution, perhaps to modify gutter to catch water properly?
Does anyone have any comments?
Comments
-
, so ice has built up.
That is the real cause. If there is little ice to melt there will be little water to go on floor.
0 -
Added to which 12v operation will do no more than maintain the status quo of the fridge temp but is extreme temps it will be fighting a losing battle over a prolonged period of time.
Btw, I’ve reported the 'moderator' issue. How much quirkier can this site get?
0 -
I would put the tea towel inside the fridge. It's what we do when ours has iced up and we are either defrosting it or traveling between sites on 12 volt. The fridge in our Cadiz seems to ice up badly if we are away for more than a week.
Particularly in winter I don't particularly want a cup of water on the back of the fridge, possibly overflowing, adding to the general humidity / freeze thawing.
0 -
Just a thought - have you checked that the door seals correctly (to reduce icing), and is the supply wire from the car giving the required current to keep the fridge cool while travelling?
0 -
LOW has a point.
My own experience may not help but I'll relate it anyway.
I bought a new Honda CRV and Lunar Clubman in 2015. No matter what I did I couldn't get the fridge to work when out on the road. Had the car back to Honda to check electrics, no fault found. The van went back to the dealer and when they connected up to their test bed the fridge worked perfectly. Back to the towbar fitter, who I have used for over 10 years and have complete faith in him. His testbed showed power was feeding from the car but once connected to the van power to the fridge was sporadic. He tweaked the power supply, hoping that would cure it, but it didn't. He put many hours in trying to work out what was wrong and didn't charge me a penny, Like he said, it is a learning curve, he needed to find out what was wrong so he wouldn't have the same problem in the future. After trawling through the internet he came upon the answer.
Apparently, on the new model of CRV Honda had, in their wisdom, fitted some sort of inhibitor device to the rear of the alternator that stopped power going to auxiliary circuits in certain conditions and this inhibitor was stopping power going to the fridge on the 12 pin plug.
The options to overcome this were;
a) have a modification done to the alternator which consisted of having a bit of wire fitted to the back of it at around £80 or,
b) drive with the sidelights on when towing. The requirement for power to the sidelights causes this inhibitor switch to the allow power to the van and the fridge works perfectly when on tow.
Needless to say I've taken option "b" and have had no problems since.
HTH
0 -
That seems really odd. I would have though DRLs, radio, heater fan, phone charger, sat-nav etc would have been giving the alternator a reasonable load on auxiliary circuits to keep it activ.
0 -
Thanks everyone for your helpful comments.
Hi RominYogi: that is very helpful to read that you have successfully implemented the fix of extending the drain pipe out of the bottom of the van and doing away with the cup. I will copy you. Many thanks
Hi Navigteur: I’m afraid a build up of ice is inevitable if one is away for 8 weeks continuously in a hot humid climate (i.e. NOT the UK most of the time, but February was fantastic!)
Hi SteveL: tea towel inside fridge is an excellent idea. Even after I re-pipe the drain I will use your tea towel trick, so that it can catch any melt water that goes elsewhere.
Hi lagororwine: The seal seems OK. I only have this problem in hot humid countries. I will check the current though, just to be sure.
Hi bailyvanman: an interesting one. I think the 12V is working basically, as the fridge stays cool when I’m in the UK. The problem comes with silly high temperatures of over 30C
0 -
A further suggestion - manually defrost at some point in the 12 hours before moving.
0 -
It's natures way of saying you should tour Scandinavia.
2 -
The alternator problem comes up regularly with motorhomes and the remedy as suggested (e.g. switching side lights on) seems quite well known.
Our new motorhome fridge works well with temperatures well in the 30’s but I did fit two fans to our previous caravan. Helped a bit and a fairly straightforward job.
0 -
HG, that is very interesting.
It seems strange that MH's suffer from this malady when, presumably, the chassis is intended for MH use from new. I suppose in the MH application, it is easier to monitor the situation while out on the road, especially if travel seats are available in the living area, than it is with a caravan. Who knows what goes on in the van under tow? I don't, and I doubt it would be safe to try and find out, unless the van was towed at speed on private land such as a disused airfield.
The problem is slightly more understandable with a car, such as my CRV, because the car has many duties other than towing.
HG, can you give us more info, or at least point us in the right direction for further information about the alternator problems mentioned in the first sentence of your posting?
Thanks.
0 -
Are you certain that the fridge is being powered from the tow car? (the alternator question above kinda touches on this) Most of the time here in Blighty I doubt that most of us would be aware of a fridge not being powered when towing from home to site or site to site
0 -
M & D, although you state that the dealer checked that the drain wasn't blocked, is it actually blocked but with ice? This would probably have melted by the time the dealer looked at it but could then block up again when the fridge had been on for some time. Just a thought.
Defrosting as suggested by Navigateur is a good idea.
0 -
Had a similar problem on our Unicorn 3... sorted when a fellow caravanner advised to re route the drain tube from the evaporator seen in your fifth photo and place the end in the clip on the lower edge of the vent frame also seen in your photo! This will allow the fridge /freezer to defrost to the outside of the van, this is especially relevant when travelling and operating the fridge via the 12 volt feed. Smart alternators sometimes do not supply the amperage required to maintain temperatures. This will allow any frozen liquid trapped to escape to the outside of the van. I have observed the liquid running when the fridge unit goes into auto defrost mode.
Hope this helps.
0 -
Is that well into the 30s when running on battery?
0 -
A good point. it is something I will check should the problem happen again even after re-piping the drain.
Defrosting the fridge before travelling isn't really an option when the fridge is full and leaving stuff out in the heat while defrosting wouldn't be good.
0 -
Thank you. You are the second person to post that they have re-routed the drain in this way, so it gives me even more confidence that this will be a good fix.
You suggest that the alternator may not supply the amperage required, but in a caravan under tow, wouldn't the fridge draw current from the caravan battery if it wasn't getting enough from the car? (ie the voltage would drop from the car supply, so that the higher battery voltage would dominate?)
0 -
M&D I believe your fridge is the same model as ours.
My understanding is that when you switch the fridge to the battery symbol on the rotary control then the fridge is then wired to take power via the 13 pin plug (pin 10) therefore it would be isolated from any power provided from the van battery.
If the towing vehicle has a ‘variable voltage alternator’ then both the power provided to both van battery and the fridge would be reduced. I have yet to check out my own vehicle to see what type of alternator I have😜 Shuckford
0
