Fridge weirdness

[paulk]

We have one of the new Dometic RM2454 fridges. A few months ago our fridge stopped working on Propane. I verified that it worked on 12 volt and 120 volt at the time. We brought it in for service, and the technician replaced an electrode under Dometic warrantee. The fridge appeared to work again on propane, but I noticed something odd about the fridge after a few days. We have one of those battery monitors that allows us to view the current being consumed within the trailer. When the fridge was on propane it was consuming 15 amps, and yes, I tripled check that it wasn’t on 12 volt operation. Every 55 seconds there was a click followed 1 second later by a second click. During the click-click 1 second interval the amperage dropped down to near zero. This continued for several minutes until I turned it off and then back on again after which it operated normally without drawing much 12 volt current. It seems to go into this high current mode after being left on for an extended period of time on propane. I've seen it happen twice now after I've left it on and checked back later.

I'm planning on bringing the fridge back in for service, since it shouldn’t be consuming 15 amps on propane. Before I do though, has anyone else seen this odd behavior, or have any idea what might be causing it? My suspicion is that this high current draw issue is the underlying issue that caused the electrode to fail, but I’m not really sure.

[Vermilye]

I'd suspect an electronic board problem that is turning on the 12V heater. If it has anything to do with the replaced electrode, it still should not be drawing that much on 12V unless the electric heater is on.