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.

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Happy RVing

RVing Al