Fridge catches on fire....

[Buddy]

Brought the trailer home from storage the other day. I had taken the battery out, charged it, and put it back in. AC power was plugged in, propane was off. Fridge was set to DC. I turned on the fridge, a moment later, acrid smoke billowed out of the upper vent outside and flames shot out of the lower vent. I quickly turned off the fridge, opened the lower cover and found the fuse holder had started to burn.... Any suggestions?

[Jim Bennett]

Strange that the fuse did not just blow, and open the circuit. There must be something amiss with the fuse holder, or fuse. Minimally, I would replace it, or better yet, have a certified technician check it over. There could be an even deeper issue if the fridge for some reason was trying to draw more current than normal.

[PGDriver]

I see some light coloured material on the module, if it is road salt residue that could cause arcing and problems. Just a thought.

[Jubal]

Check to be sure that the battery terminals are not reversed.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Jubal

Check to be sure that the battery terminals are not reversed.

That should result in a blown main fuse. I know someone who knew better, but still tested the theory out.

[cpaharley2008]

Why run on 12v while plugged in? Is that in itself an issue, I always thought that 120v and then propane were the preferred "Automatic" sequences.

[Brian B-P]

Certainly there was a problem in the fuse holder. The fuse will only blow if there is excessive current through the fuse, so if the problem was a short circuit around the fuse, passing current through a high resistance (causing heat) but not going through the fuse, it wouldn't blow. Even another fuse located elsewhere (such as at the main panel) would not blow unless its capacity was exceeded, and the lack of wire melting suggests that the current was not that high.

Let's say, for example, that the circuit is supplied by a 10-amp fuse - that means up to 10 amps could flow (which means an 1.2-ohm resistance), putting 120 watts of heat into that little chunk of soft plastic, melting and burning it.

Fortunately, a new fuse holder is an easy fix to a situation which must have been scary... although I think Jim's right, and a check-out of the refrigerator and its wiring might be prudent.

[Donna D.]

Scary, scary, scary. But, not an ETI build issue. Does anyone else remember Frederick Simson refrigerator horror story, exactly like this? And it was a "years old" FiberSteam.

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ire-37702.html

[Buddy]

Well, replaced the ATO fuse holder along with a new 5 amp fuse. Held my breath, turned on the fridge and..... everything seems to be fine. The fridge is cooling and doing what fridges are supposed to do. Not sure what caused the fuse to short out but I will be watching this for a while....

[Vermilye]

One possibility - bad (loose) contacts between the fuse & the fuse holder. This can cause heating even within the current ratings of the fuse, so the fuse doesn't open. As Brian noted, fuse holders are not designed to dissipate wattage - any significant voltage drop across the terminals will produce heat.

[Smitty]

You don't say what make or model fridge you have, but if it's a Norcold there have been a number of fridge fires with that brand. There are recalls out on some models, though I don't know if any are related to the fuseholder.