Fridge Bavaria 30

[Krill]

hi all, the fridge on my Bavaria 30 doesn't want to cool anything down, there is a bit of cold coming out of the exchange but the knob is seized, if anyone can point me to spares for the fridge that would be great!

[artemis]

Hi There

Have you tried clipper marine they would be worth a call as they are the bavaria agent's

Mike
Artemis

[Noelio Abrunhosa]

hi

i replaced the thermostat with this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NXNGORY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

also replaced the fans, cleaned the evaporator
and best of all i fitted a eco cube . this reduces cycling of the fridge. now cold beers

regards

Abby

[patprice]

Hi Noelio

eco cube?

Please explain. Love cold beer!

[Sootydog]

Noelio,
         Do you wire in the control box to replace the electro-mechanical thermostat connections on the compressor?  How does the box cope with the drop in battery volts as the compressor gets switched on?

[Noelio Abrunhosa]

hi.
to connect it i picked up the power supply from the fridge unit and used the contacts to simulate the original thermostat. i have had no problems yet with the varying voltages of battery discharging. if voltage gets too low the compressor unit has a low voltage protection which switches off the unit.
eco cube is a product sold to industrial refrigeration units (As used in shops) the normal sensor measures the air temperature so everytime you open the fridge the compressor starts up. by placing the ecocube over the sensor it simulates the temperture of the produce in the fridge. so what it does initially the compressor runs longer but once at temperature it cycles less often. overall less start ups which saves on battery life as well as equipment.
i have seen on ebay for 25 pounds but from the supplier is around £80  unless you buy a box of them.
very happy with the current set up now. only thing left to do is put a decent seal on th fridge hatch
if required i can take pics of connections done when next on the boat
regards

Abby

[Lyra]

Can you provide a link to an "eco cube" ? Searching did not give anything which gets even close.
by the way, I believe a "thermo well"  that acts as a temperature buffer can be made by any metal cube with a hole drilled in it to insert the sensor.

[Noelio Abrunhosa]

http://www.endocubeuk.com/

[Krill]

ok, so dug a little deeper into the fridge issues and I found a drawing...



but what I don't understand is there is a small fan inside the fridge which doesn't go round, but it is connected to "C" and negative, after the thermostat, should this not be connected to the same as the fan on the compressor side?

the heat exchange works and it gets cool in the fridge but there is nothing to blow the cool air from the fridge side of things to circulate the air, so the compressors switches off again as it thinks its cool enough.

aside from that the box fan bearing on the compressor bearing is not the best and I will change that along with the thermostat, but I cant figure out how / when the fan in the fridge should come on, if I knew when it should come on then I could either wire it correctly, feeding 12v to it makes it work, so any enlightenment as to when it should run is much appreciated.

connected to + & F is the fan on the compressor side of the fridge the 120cmx25 box fan, not the inside fridge one

[geoff]

The internal fan should come on with the compressor fan. However when mine was wired in this way the unit clogged up with ice and was very inefficient . Talked to a man at danfoss and he recommended that I wire the internal fan to run continuously by just moving the positive to the main fridge supply. I was sceptical at first about power use and whether or not it would last very long in continuous use , after 16years wired in that way I have ceased to worry [it only uses 0.1amp] . I have just been away for 2 1/2 months and 1500miles and it was on from day 1 till we got back. Geoff 

[Krill]

Thanks a lot Geoff very helpful

[Sootydog]

Noelio,
             I have just bought the controller you used.  Out of interest where did you fit it and how did you get the sensor into the fridge and the wires back out?
                                       Thanks.

[Noelio Abrunhosa]

hi.
i fitted in the door where the compressor sits. i routed the wires next to the entry for the cooling pipes. dont fit the sensor directly under the cooling coil. you want it to measure the ambient temp.
regards

Noelio

[MarkTheBike]

Hi Sootydog

I've fitted the same controller as NoelioA. I pushed an empty biro tube through the sealant (where all the piping comes in) and used that tube to feed the sensor wires through from inside the fridge. Once the wires are through then just pull out the tube, leaving the wires in place. The sealant springs back together. I have a different fridge from you but I think they're all installed roughly the same way. I pushed the sensor into a big lump of blu-tac (stuck to the inside wall) to slow down the heat loss. Not very realistic but it's better than waving around in the air and works better than the original dial.

Cheers

[Krill]

just for completeness I have fixed the fridge so thought I would share solutions for others

I replaced the thermostat which indeed was faulty & replaced the internal fan and re-wired to come on when the compressor is on ( + & F) , unfortunately the part number on the thermostat relates to a modern version which don't switch at the right temperatures, it was only £5.99 but note to others the direct danfoss replacement does not work! unless you want a freezer, as on its maximum temp setting it only just switches off but there was ice forming and condensation galore! lowest setting fridge just runs and runs...

so I fitted a Chinese equivalent basic programmable temp controller, fed 12v to that and combined with the internal fan running the fridge is lovely and cold now

[Secret World]

I've had my '07 Bavaria 30 for two months, only managed to get out once before winter, but on that 3 day trip the fridge was not particularly cool. I decided to tackle it this week, expecting the worst. The fridge would turn on when I rotated the thermostat control, but only for a short time, and then it wouldn't work at all until I came back to the boat the next day, and the cycle repeats. I pulled off the cover of the Dometic model and noticed the coiled temperature probe was elongated--like someone had stretched a slinky and couldn't get it recoiled. Then I noticed the end of the probe was not visible... previous owner had jammed it down behind the cooling radiator. And the probe was touching the radiator. So as soon as the unit was turned on, the radiator would chill, and with the probe touching the freezing metal, would shut off the unit. I repositioned the probe and it works like new! Sometimes it's great to be lucky! (But how many years had the previous owner not used the unit because it wouldn't chill?!!)

[IslandAlchemy]

My guess would be voltage too low.  Check the connections on the board behind the switch panel.

[catlotion]

just for completeness I have fixed the fridge so thought I would share solutions for others

I replaced the thermostat which indeed was faulty & replaced the internal fan and re-wired to come on when the compressor is on ( + & F) , unfortunately the part number on the thermostat relates to a modern version which don't switch at the right temperatures, it was only £5.99 but note to others the direct danfoss replacement does not work! unless you want a freezer, as on its maximum temp setting it only just switches off but there was ice forming and condensation galore! lowest setting fridge just runs and runs...

so I fitted a Chinese equivalent basic programmable temp controller, fed 12v to that and combined with the internal fan running the fridge is lovely and cold now

sounds good - mine over-cools and the existing control switch is seized.   I've bought one of those electronic controllers as mentioned but interested in the wiring.  Don't suppose you have a diagram (including the fan wiring modification) please?