What should be above the fridge condenser?

[J_Norris]

The 3-way refrigerator in our 2003 3124KS suddenly started to cool very weakly when running on propane, and we have several things to chase down (flame looks good, burner looks good, cleaning flue, checking propane pressure, a few other things).

Upon opening the upper fridge vent from the outside of the trailer, I found a completely loose piece of lightweight paneling lying askew over the top pipe (condenser?), with some kind of paper loosely attached to the panel surface. The edges of the panel had torn heat tape along them. See pictures of panel and view into the top vent area.

I know from the previous owner that this fridge is at least the second one installed in this trailer, the first one caught fire in some way. I suspect that the original panel may have been damaged, and this panel was installed when a new fridge was installed.

From searching this site, it sounds like there originally may have been a heavier weight masonite panel with insulation above it somewhere in this space.

I can make a replacement panel, but if someone has easy access to their upper fridge vent, I’m trying to figure out from someone who has a working setup:

1. What/where should the panel rest on or attach to on the refrigerator side? Same question for where it attaches on the side of the trailer-wall? It appears that maybe a screw was screwed in upwards through the panel into a wooden strip that runs along the top surface of the upper vent, just inside the vent frame plastic.
2. Should there be high temperature tape along the edges of the panel to form a seal to the wooden walls of the cabinet that holds the refrigerator?
3. Any guesstimate of distance of clearance between the panel and the top condenser pipe and/or the top of the dryer vent piece? The Dometic manual has minimum specs, but would be nice to know what Trailmanors commonly have.

FWIW, we have no stereo in the adjacent space above the refrigerator itself, and the ‘new’ fridge is one that I think is commonly used in Trailmanors (Dometic 2353).

Lesson learned: I am chagrined that I let this happen! I don’t know much about repair, but I should have been opening and looking at all the accessible parts of the trailer on a regular basis. A simple visual inspection would have shown me that this was likely to become a problem.

Photo note: there is a 2-liter pop bottle in the panel picture, it's just to give a sense of scale.

[commodor47]

My refrigerator does have a somewhat flexible board with typical fiberglass insulation on top. The board is resting on a modeled piece of heavy cardboard and the upper section is screwed into a piece of wood along the top edge of the board.

Dick

[Bill]

There is a fan at the bottom of that white slinky. Make sure that the fan is blowing downward (exhausts out through the floor), and that it actually operates when switched on. Make sure also that the other hole in the floor next to the fan is unobstructed.

As I recall, the vertical heating tube is wrapped in fiberglass insulation.

Bill

[Kidkraz]

My compartment has a flexible sheet of aluminum Covering that area. I used a plastic container to keep the top opening open, so that’s what your seeing in top of the vent duct. There should be two openings in the bottom of the compartment with a computer fan in one of those openings. There should also be a switch for fan inside, you run that to help cool the compartment which helps the fridge work better.

[J_Norris]

Thank you all so much for taking the time to get pictures and reply. I think I can have a fix in place before the end of the weekend!

Both sets of pictures and the description tell me everything I need to know, and the description of the cardboard in the back is very helpful since that part was less understandable in the picture.

Bill, thanks for the note about the direction of flow from the fan. I read through your borrowed-and-improved description of refrigerator troubleshooting, and it cleared up many things in my head for how this stuff all goes together.

Jodi