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My RV's Fridge Will Not Work On Electric, What Is Wrong With It?

by Chris Wenzl
(Bellingham, WA)

I was on an extended stay and after about two months of continued use my fridge stopped working on electricity, it works just fine on gas. I can’t find any shorts or blown fuses.

ANSWER: Greetings Chris thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

Since you have not told me what year RV you have or the make of the refridgerator you have; I am going to have assume a couple of things here. I assume that your fridge is a two way fridge; it either works off of propane or off of 120 volt electricity. Some older RVs had three way fridges that worked off of propane, 12 volt electricity and 120 volt electricity.

You state that you do not have any blown fuses. You state that you do not have any blown fuses. When a fridge is running off of 120 volt electricity it is wired through a circuit breaker just like you have in your house. You need to check for tripped circuit breakers in your RV's electrical compartment. If you find a tripped circuit breaker, reset it and try running the fridge on electric again. If the circuit breaker trips again when running on electric there is a very good chance that you have a shorted Electrical Refrigerator Heating Element.

If you have no tripped circuit breakers then my first guess is still that the Electrical Refrigerator Heating Element has gone bad. My second guess is that the Refrigerator Control Board has gone bad.

Unless you are comfortable replacing these items yourself, you may still have to take your RV in and have it checked out and repaired by a qualified RV Technician.

Do you have any suggestions or comments on this topic? You can add them to this page by clicking on the "Click Here To Post Comments" link located near the bottom of this page.

Happy RVing

RVing Al

Comments for My RV's Fridge Will Not Work On Electric, What Is Wrong With It?

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Rating
starstarstarstar 		My norcold fridge won't work on auto.
by: Nick

I want to switch my norcold from gas to auto. How do I do that? The auto and gas have been flashing on and off. For awhile now.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		AES. Not MOVING TO electric
by: Anonymous

New electric element, new board and new power board.

Still goes to gas won’t move to electric . Electric for 5 seconds then trips and goes onto gas.

So everything new just can’t understand why it’s not working on electric. Is there something I am missing ??
Rating
starstarstarstar 		Easy way to check RV fridge electric heating element
by: Handymanwannabee

Just wondering why you didnt explain the easy way to check just about any RV frige electric heating element in your reply to the OP's question? All that is needed is a multimeter and access to the two wires that come off the heating element. Disconnect the heating element wires from the electrical board(very easy, just gently pull them off), touch a multimeter probe to the end of each of those two wires and check the ohms. If you get an infinite reading, your element is bad. If you dont get an infinite reading, it doesnt mean your element is good though. You'll need to look up what the reading should be for your particular model of frige/element. Some sources I've read say around 30 to 35 ohms is right BUT then I've read(for my model) that about 80 to 90 is correct. So know the specs for your model frige before testing. If your model is supposed to test at 60ohms but tests out at only 30 then your element probably has a problem. I'm no expert here so feel free to double check the accuracy of my advice. This is such an easy check though, that I think it bongs in the original reply to the OP's question. Thanks and stay cool.
Rating
starstarstarstar 		RM 1350, WONT WORK ON ELECTRICITY
by: Black Hills Ron

I read many posts and the fine print solved the problem. I got so desperate I even made an appointment with a Camping World, that is desperate. Started by putting a voltmeter to the heating units, 34.2 ohms, looked at the fuses in the control box, checked the circuit breakers. Came back to the fuses in the control module, although both looked OK, no continuity across the glass one. Popped in a new fuse, fired it up, cools with electricity again. Moral. Don't judge a book by its cover.
Rating
starstarstar 		Dm2652 fridge
by: Dm2652

I recently had to change the converter on a 2019 heartland north trail and now neither of my refrigerators will work on electricity. It swaps to propane to run but the lights and everything works. I also have power coming to the control board and fuse and also the heating element wires. No tripped breakers or anything.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Dometic frig 2008 fun finder
by: Anonymous

My Rv DOMETIC FRIG WILL NOT COME ON AT ALL
WHAT NOW?
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Fridge won’t work on power propane works fine
by: Anonymous

Have a Domatic dm2652 RV fridge when on auto always stays on propane all breakers and fuses are good heating element is good put new circuit board in and still only runs on propane there is power going into circuit board but nothing going to heating element does anyone know what could be wrong
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Dometic RM3862
by: Jess Poling

Seems as if I had 2 problems, the thermal sensor in the back of the refrigerator was bad as well as my converter. Original problem was when turned on, it would not switch to AC when hooked up. Other problem as with my 2 6 volt batteries not charging as they should. Changing inverter cured that problem and both are working as they should now. Thanks for all the help you provide to help us NEWBIES out..........lol
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Domestic ref rig will not work in electric or gas
by: Anonymous

I have no lites on fridge up top auto gas electric all power is good I found bad high limit switch the reset able one I jumped it out lites came one pilot lit started cooling but put it to electric mode not cooling disconnected gas silenoid to valve
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		2008 Dometic small 3 way Fridge
by: 2008 pop up camper

My 2008 Dometic small 3 way Fridge in pop up camper doesn't work on AC electric. I plug the main cord into wall outlet and flip the 120 volt switch on & it doesn't work. I flip the 12 volt switch on and it works, but the converter unit constantly runs and draws the battery power. Why will 12 volt DC work but not 120 volt AC?
Thanks.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Maybe no power to the plug
by: Anonymous

Just turned my fridge on for the first time. It kept looking for gas even on auto with the gas off and the 120 plugged in. No fuses blown. If Gas was on the fridge would use it whether you wanted it to or not. All the forums say check the GFI or that the control board or the element is bad. I unplugged the AC power in the control compartment and tested it and the plug was dead as was an undercounter plug beside the fridge. I ran an extension cord to the exterior plug which tested good and found that the fridge worked properly. I will go for warranty for this issue myself but if you are off warranty it is easier to replace some wiring than to have a dealership replace a bunch of expensive parts before finding bad wiring and claiming that the element or board they just charged you for had fixed the problem.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Stuck heating element rv fridge
by: Anonymous

How to get a heating element out of an RV refrigerator
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		fuse
by: kurt

Check the 30 amp fuse in the converter.It may be blown . that's what happened to mine.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Dometic fridge won't work
by: Anonymous

My Dometic fridge will cool with propane but will not cool on electric only. Why? The auto is set for both. We didn't know we had a problem until it ran out of propane and every thing went bad.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Norcold model 1210 will not work on electricty
by: Mary

My Norcold 4 door stopped working on electricity.
The converter blew a fuse and we replaced it.
We still can't get it to run on electric,
Help Please.

we have to leave tonight and I'm afraid to go as it stops at times even on gas,

Thanks in advance,
Mary
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		1985 5th wheel camper
by: Anonymous

My refrigerator in my 1985 5th wheel holiday gambler camper works two ways with gas or electric. I want my refrigerator to work on electric only and when I turn on my refrigerator it clicks like it is trying to fire the gas up. It will cool a few minutes but not stay on. How do I get my electric to work only.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Dometic dual fridge
by: Anonymous

We have four-year-old tango trailer with a dometic duel refrigerator. The check light always came on when the propane was turned off but I never thought much about it because we always had the propane on. We were at a campsite with electricity and we ran out of propane and I couldn't get the check light to go off . Luckily I found this website , I took the cover off the back of the trailer on the outside where the refrigerator is and what do I find but a plug not plugged in. By the looks of it it had never been plugged in, probably that way from the factory. I will probably not have to fill my propane tanks as often now
Thanks a lot guys!!!
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		T.v. refrigerator
by: Anonymous

I have a 2015 Atwood he-0601 Works on gas but not on electric. I did unplug it and plugged in an electric drill and it worked fine. Any suggestions
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		fridge wont switch to electric
by: Anonymous

if your fridge is not switching to electric could be because there is no cuurent going to your fridge so it automatically switchs to propane ,the reason there could be no current is the reset switch on one of your electrical outlets has tripped shutting off current to the fridge ,so press the reset button and all should work
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Fridge quit working
by: Eric

I cannot get it to even come on to see whether or not it will even operate on the propane side. It is a Norcold my unit is a 2004 Fleetwood Excursion lm pretty sure it's a 2 way since it runs off the generator but then it could be 3way because on the panel it has LP, AUX, and AC.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		refridgerator on elec.
by: Margaret

I meant to add that I did check the breakers and I didnt see any tripped. It is a Dometic..Thanks in advance
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Refridgerator on elec.
by: Margaret

Mine is a 2013.butane/250 I believe.Yes im a female, but mechanically inclined. My power cord got water in it and shorted everything.Replaced among other things, the converter now all is back to nomal but the fridge wont work on elec. I did look at the manual but it says call a technician.Fuses arent blown.I thought maybe the board is out. Does a fridge have a seperate heating element? I did have to replace the one on the water heater.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		camper fridge
by: Terry Moran

I have the same problem the camper fridge will not work on electric. I have a 2014 Keystone Hideout not sure what fridge it is. Runs on electric and then will go to gas while driving on the road. This will turn over by itself can you help.


Thank you
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Where to start
by: Anonymous

First you need to locate the repair manual for your fridge. It will detail what each wire and component is and give you the electrical tests you can do to find the problem.

For example my 3 way has a 12v and a 120v heating element, each has their own electrical resistance tests and a propane burner with its own troubleshooting chapter.

There are also thermostats, fuses on the circuit board, and a bunch of other things that can fail.

Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		refig not working on electric
by: Anonymous

how do you test the electric heating element for the frig??

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