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12v Refrigerator warming issue in 2022 40v13

12v Refrigerator issue. (2022 40v13)

Woke up this morning to a warm (54 degrees) refrigerator. Unit has power (we hear it and lights work) and Freezer is still showing -1 degree. Fuses/breakers in main panel checked and seem fine (couldn't find one labeled "refrigerator").

We turned off all 12v power in the outside bay to see if a restart would fix the issue. No luck.

So we speculate that the issue is possibly internal ice buildup blocking the cold air flow from the freezer to the upper compartment. (we once experienced this issue in an old residential refrigerator). If this IS the issue, we think that turning it all off and allowing it to defrost for a while should "fix" the problem. But we don't know how long this will take. Half hour? 2/4/12/?? hours?

Is there a drip tray we can check for water that may be coming from the heat exchanger?

@Bill Martin(you seem to be the one everyone tags??)
Are we on the right track? Do you have any info/suggestions for us?
(We posted this in the Facebook group as well)
 
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Update: After 2.5 hours we restored power to the 12v and closed the doors. The interior of the refrigerator dropped 6 degrees (64 to 58 degrees) in just a few minutes. At this update, temp in fridge has been returned to 35 degrees after about an hour of cooling. We appear to be in good order. We assume that the issue arose due to recent rapid changes in local humidity, and that the refrigerator will continue to work towards optimizing itself.
 
Another update: Just used the fridge and the temperature was up to 52 degrees again. Shut it down again.

It worked! Restarted the fridge a couple of hours later and it continued to work overnight.
 
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UPDATE: We had a tech come and check out the fridge today. He decided it was probably a dead fan. We're going to have the part shipped to us, and we'll see...
 
What was the final fix? Was it in fact a dead fan? Thanks
Well, it was quite the saga.

TL;DR 10 weeks later we have a working refrigerator!

Throughout this situation Alliance was very responsive, "my guy" Kevin always responded to calls and texts very quickly, usually immediately or within minutes. WAY International, the Everchill manufacturer was slightly less responsive but ultimately motivated to "make things right" for us.
WAY sent us a new fan. The WRONG FAN. :cautious: (wrong size, wrong shape, completely wrong/reversed connections)
When we were able to clarify the correct fan we needed, the manufacturer informed us that they do not stock that part and the only solution was to send us a NEW REFRIGERATOR. Um. Okay.
Kevin was always trying to get them to overnight/one-day ship things to us but it still took a couple of weeks for anything to make it's way to us, so choosing a shipping destination was always an issue.
At any rate, WAY shipped a brand new refrigerator to the service department of our purchasing dealership. We drove 70 miles to pick it up and bring it back to our RV, opened up the giant cardboard box and discovered they had shipped us the WRONG REFRIGERATOR!!!! :eek::mad::cry: They sent us a 10cu.ft. 12v refrigerator instead of the 17 cu.ft. 12v refrigerator we were expecting. Totally "our bad" for not verifying the refrigerator model number either before it shipped OR before we picked it up from the dealership. *sigh* I think Kevin nearly lost his mind when I texted him that they had sent the wrong fridge. He again tried for an overnight fix, this time shipping directly to us at an RV park and unfortunately it still took weeks to enact and because of that we again ended up driving 70 miles to pick up the refrigerator from the 3rd party shipping company rather than risk it arriving on a moving day.
So. 10 weeks later, we have a brand new Everchill 17 cu.ft. 12v working refrigerator!
Throughout the 10 weeks, our freezer continued to limp along and we were able to use the outdoor mini fridge for milk and meat.
 

dhcolesj

Well-known member
WOW. Scares me. I too have just gotten a 40v13, and now I'm concerned. hehe. I'm hoping its the newer model that works . . .
 
I have seen other RV'rs have problems with lack of airflow behind the refrigerator. Just thought I would share this. They had to vent the back to get proper airflow.
I think the ventilation behind the refrigerator is probably sufficient in our rig and not likely the root cause of our issue. The fan in question is inside the freezer compartment and circulates the freezer air up into the refrigerator compartment.
@dhcolesj We love our 40v13. I think that our particular refrigerator just had a bad fan from the beginning. On our short list of "let's find any worrisome problems with our new RV" was the fact that the refrigerator seemed to periodically have a weird growling sound. We just lived with that one as there didn't seem to be really anything wrong, it was annoying but not worth taking the rig in for warranty work. We were obviously wrong.
The "bad" parts of this situation for us were more related to supply chain issues with the Everchill manufacturer.
 

dhcolesj

Well-known member
Yay for that. So, I take it you have it fixed or a solid id on what's needed for the fix?
Bottom line is: if we hear a growling from the fridge, get the fan replaced. :D
 

Oregon_Camper

Forum Moderator
Staff member
Lucky you have a Valor....that might have been a HUGE problem getting that frig in/out of a non toy hauler RV.
 

johnda98

Well-known member
Well, it was quite the saga.

TL;DR 10 weeks later we have a working refrigerator!

Throughout this situation Alliance was very responsive, "my guy" Kevin always responded to calls and texts very quickly, usually immediately or within minutes. WAY International, the Everchill manufacturer was slightly less responsive but ultimately motivated to "make things right" for us.
WAY sent us a new fan. The WRONG FAN. :cautious: (wrong size, wrong shape, completely wrong/reversed connections)
When we were able to clarify the correct fan we needed, the manufacturer informed us that they do not stock that part and the only solution was to send us a NEW REFRIGERATOR. Um. Okay.
Kevin was always trying to get them to overnight/one-day ship things to us but it still took a couple of weeks for anything to make it's way to us, so choosing a shipping destination was always an issue.
At any rate, WAY shipped a brand new refrigerator to the service department of our purchasing dealership. We drove 70 miles to pick it up and bring it back to our RV, opened up the giant cardboard box and discovered they had shipped us the WRONG REFRIGERATOR!!!! :eek::mad::cry: They sent us a 10cu.ft. 12v refrigerator instead of the 17 cu.ft. 12v refrigerator we were expecting. Totally "our bad" for not verifying the refrigerator model number either before it shipped OR before we picked it up from the dealership. *sigh* I think Kevin nearly lost his mind when I texted him that they had sent the wrong fridge. He again tried for an overnight fix, this time shipping directly to us at an RV park and unfortunately it still took weeks to enact and because of that we again ended up driving 70 miles to pick up the refrigerator from the 3rd party shipping company rather than risk it arriving on a moving day.
So. 10 weeks later, we have a brand new Everchill 17 cu.ft. 12v working refrigerator!
Throughout the 10 weeks, our freezer continued to limp along and we were able to use the outdoor mini fridge for milk and meat.
Interesting.. I have a similar issue with a 2021 valor 41-15 .. freezer fine but fridge space not cooling... fan ... most possibly

I wonder is one can use a similar spec fan and jury-rig .. investigating this today
UPDATE 8/9 well. shut it all down and pulled upper polystyrene channel out and then the back panel in freezer.. and it seems last trip MAY have shaken the fan plug out of its female socket

Which has a spring clip.. so either the OEM - everchill/lipper WAY whomever now.. did NOT clip the fan into its connector securely and a road trip shook it out .. or it may have pulled out when I unclipped the back panel.. but I doubt the latter.. as I was gentle and was plenty of wire slack behind the panel
well.. clipped back in.. and started up .. can feel a very slight breeze in the freezer.. 3 hours and upper area is still 82 put freezer is still pulling down - now at 27.. so I PRESUME that the upper 'flap' or lower 'flap' gate does not send cold air into the upper fridge area UNTIL the freezer is down to temp set 5F.

will report.. later today
 
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johnda98

Well-known member
@AjaxTreehouse - sorry it took so long to get this sorted. Kevin is a great team member with a lot of service experience. In this case, sounds like we were at the mercy of the distributor. Happy to hear it's finally sorted.
Jim.. those Valor 41-15 Everchill french door units have a drip tray/ condensate tube ? I dont think so.. Zero tech documentation on the internet for these.
looks like one has to remove doors in order to get 1 inch clearance to pull it out of slide before it hits center island.. in order to hopefully twist it 45deg to be able to inspect the rear
 

johnda98

Well-known member
update .. ordered a new evap fan from vietnam OEM .. 19.95$ ebay.. same spec.

IF main Everchill primary control board - a chip fried - say from water on the 12v fan 2 wire.. then back up if OEM fan does not function, is to use 2 12v fans with a 1025 3 pin connector to a 9$ digital thermister board.. set that pup to 45F and fix it to inside of freezer top.. so fan circulated cold to upper area - as cold channel door flap does open ok (so upper unit thermister is ok)

Assumption is compressor is fine - seems so and the freezer area naturally is the primary temp control source.. so if that falls below 45F(after new fans move cold to top, then compressor kicks in and holds freezer at 45.
 

dhcolesj

Well-known member
My Everchil 12v died in my 40v13, had to have the whole control board replaced because the very NON replaceable fuse (which protected the board I guess) blew for some reason. Thanks to A&L RV for getting that done and more.
 
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