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Subject Topic: would this be easy to fix? Post Reply Post New Topic
Personcaris
12/2/2010 at 8:24am
 Location: somerset
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Hi

We've seen a caravan for sale, however they have pointed out what they call "the bad bit", they have put this in the ad:

HOWEVER SHE DOES HAVE A FEW BAD POINTS, THE FRIDGE WORKS PERFECTLY ON 240V MAINS OR GAS BUT DOSENT SEEM TO WORK WHILST ON TOW NOT SURE IF ITS MY CARS ELECTRICS???? PROB SOMETHING SIMPLE, JUST NEVER GOT ROUND TO SORTING IT

Would this be easy for us to fix ourselves, or is it a caravan specialist job.

Thank you


Personmatty2303
12/2/2010 at 8:38am
 Location: tamworth staffs
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depends on your electrical knowledge , should be an easy fix for someone with a bit of savvy , unless it is a fault with the fridge , could well be the wiring on the car , or even as simple as a fuse or relay.


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PersonOpensauce
12/2/2010 at 8:47am
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Older fridges often don't work that well on the 12v when towing. Its best to cool fridge on ehu in your drive then put cold stuff from your home fridge in before you tow.

Having said that, worst case senario could be the 12v element in fridge failed. If that is the case the new part is about £30 odd & fridge has to come out to replace. expensive at commercial labour rates, but its a diy job for the competant. It could of course just be as simple as a loose wire in the 12s plug or a disconnected wire somewhwere else.


Person_tich_
12/2/2010 at 9:05am
 Location: Near kettering Northamptonshire.
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I have had this happen with the fridge not working on 12 volts on my old caravan. I went through everything on the van & couldn't find anything wrong with it. It turned out it was the electrics on my car as the relay wasn't working. As it was a recently fitted towbar it was fixed under warranty. I'm not saying that this is the problem however just an experience I've had in the past. If you went to view it & your car has the electrics fitted you could just plug in the grey plug to try it out. That's how I ended up finding out what was wrong with mine.


Personbrianconwy
12/2/2010 at 11:53am
 Location: north wales
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Fridges don't cool the same on 12v - its just enough to keep it chilled once its already been on.

 


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Personclanjones
12/2/2010 at 12:26pm
 Location: west midlands
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as a poster stated above ..the fridge runs off a grey 12s plug when towing ..not the black 12n plug ...have you thought about that ..the caravan should have both plugs fitted and the same with your car ..


PersonJax365
12/2/2010 at 4:41pm
 Location: south cheshire
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I never bother with the 12v fridge thing - I just use freezer blocks on the day and load all food in, and use it as a coolbox. I also freeze the things I'm going to need for the next two days after as these also help to cool the fridge down.

You actually need to cool the fridge down before turning the 12v sys on anyway, so I just do the cooling down and loading. It stays cold from A to B, then I just use EHU/gas when I get where I'm going.


Personcaris
12/2/2010 at 5:02pm
 Location: somerset
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Thank you for all replies, especially about cooling the fridge, I thought you just plugged it in and that was it, didnt realise that you had to cool it down.

With much appreciation


Personsbsuk
12/2/2010 at 7:11pm
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The 12v element ranges from 95w to 125w so it should work nearly as well as the mains element.  However, the element often doesn't receive the full 13.8v from the car alternator due to losses in the cabling and connections.  Fix this and you too can have a cool fridge.

Mike

 


Personwizard9956
12/2/2010 at 7:15pm
 Location: Bristol
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This could be the cause http://www.towitall.co.uk/faq/faq1.htm 

atb

Wizard


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Persondeltaman
12/2/2010 at 7:26pm
 Location: Lincolnshire
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We have always used the 12v when travelling and it will pull down from ambient to cold within two hours of travelling, it is more often the wiring on the car that seems to go first, check that the wiring in the grey plug has not started to rust, i suppose being at the back in the sort of weather we have had recently we should expect them to get a bit tired.


Personnavver
12/2/2010 at 9:41pm
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Changing the 12V element is fairly simple. There are 4 screws holding the fridge in. Remove them and the fridge simply pulls out although its best to have someone on the outside looking in through the two removed fridge vents for various bits which might catch. The 12V element is at the back. Probably only cost £80 for a mobile engineer in total.

Incidentally if you have a multi meter, the resistance of the element should be around 1.2ohms if its OK.


Personubuntu1
25/2/2010 at 10:25am
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Check the grey plug and socket, thats my first check if I get called out for this type of fault. You can then check if there is 12 volts to the element and if there is any current flowing. You should then be able to isolate the problem.



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