Newbie here
Hi all,
I have just bought a new unicorn Pamplona last Thursday, we Stayed on the dealers site for two nights to get used to the van, no issues found during the first stay, towed home fine all 6 hours of the journey.🙈
I did notice that the atc and fridge didn’t work while hooked up so I’m assuming there’s an issue with my 13 pin tow electrics. There’s no constant live at the tow plug currently-Will investigate further this week.
Also I noticed today that my fridge and freezer aren’t cold at all, the van is plugged into the mains at home and has been since Saturday afternoon, all other electrics seems to be working fine. Firstly my caravan is parked in my steep drive so is not level, could this be the reason for lack of cooling?
Also done a bit of research and the Dometic RM8551 fridge freezer has a pretty poor reputation as far as cooling goes. Sorry for the war and peace first post but after shelling out £23,500 for a new caravan I’m a bit concerned with having a crappy fridge which doesn’t seem fit for function going by multiple posts and reviews. Any advice/help will be gratefully received.
MX Dad
Comments
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You must think we're an unfriendly lot on here.
Welcome to caravanning.
You can buy a gadget from caravan dealers to check if your 13 pin is working or not.
As for your fridge problem can I suggest you start a new thread in the Caravan section, where your problem will almost certainly elicit responses. If it's a new van I think Dometic will send an engineer out to you.
Once again, apologies for delay in replying. I think it's been fairly quiet on the forum due to Christmas and the holiday period.
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Regarding your fridge. I do think you need to use it when you are as flat as possible. In weather below 8 degrees Dometic recommend fridge vent covers are used. You might want to get a fridge thermometer so you can see what is really happening. You could try it on gas to see if that makes a difference,
My Dometic takes around 8 to 12 hours to kick in and this time of year will be cold when the dial is at about 1 o’clock.
Our first Dometic was faulty and had to be replaced.
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Most caravan fridges are susceptible to angle and, if significantly off level, will not cool down properly.
Welcome to CT btw
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Also I noticed today that my fridge and freezer aren’t cold at all, the van is plugged into the mains at home and has been since Saturday afternoon, all other electrics seems to be working fine. Firstly my caravan is parked in my steep drive so is not level, could this be the reason for lack of cooling?
I have never worried about the caravan being that level when parked by the house although your angle might be more severe. I usually switch fridge on when at home a day or so before we travel. The only time I have had any problem is in very cold weather before our December break. The fridge would not cool on occasion until I put on the heating and warmed the van up.
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First hello and welcome
Fridges seem to be suseptable to the angle of your van we stayed in a hotel some years back for a couple of days in Scotland while on a tour and the van was in their quite steep carpark when checking van the fridge was not working although the gas jet was lit it was fine when van was made more level
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On a steep drive at home the best thing to do is drop the nose down to as close to ground level as you can get it (if nose end is at top of slope) and see if that make a difference (if nose is down slope, then prop up as high as possible to level the van ) It makes a difference for me and can chill down the fridge 24 hrs. in advance.
Good luck
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These fridges work entirely on gravity and therefore need to be reasonably level. On your electrics you have a problem and I suspect the tow bar wiring. You should have a permanent live from the battery and a live that only works with the engine running for fridge and leisure battery charger. On most modern cars the tow bar fitter takes one live lead from the fuse box. This goes to a module out of which come a number of leads. Some of these go to lights etc the others to the socket. The permanent live is that and doesn’t need the ignition on. Get the fitter to show you on his trailer board that everything works.
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