The Caravan Owners Club

[hobby635]

hi
can any body tell me how to remove the fridge from a 2004 hobby 635 its the thetford model?

[Roy Armstrong]

On each side, inside the fridge, you should find a small plastic cap.
Removing these exposes screw heads.
Remove these screws.

Ensure the the gas and electricity are off.

Remove the fridge vent panel on the outside van wall.

Undo the gas connection that can be seen on top of the fridge.

Check that the electrical cables are free as these may be clipped down.
The fridge should now slide out inside the van.

You may have to take the control knobs and trim panel off the fridge to allow it to clear the underside of the work surface.

After re-installation, check the gas connection using soapy water.

BTW why do you need to remove the fridge?

[hobby635]

sometime over the winter months my vent behind the fridge blew off and it is only now the caravan season has started that i noticed. everytime i try to start it on electric it trips the electric both inside and on the main box outside and neither will it stay lit on gas.

[Roy Armstrong]

You could try drying it out using a hairdryer via the vents.

The element is at the bottom right rear.

The rest of the electrics (connector block, thermostat etc) are on top of the fridge at the front and would best be dried out with the hairdryer after removing the control knobs and trim.

It's worth a try, rather than taking the fridge out.

[hobby635]

thanks for the advice how long do you think it would take to dry aproxand the other thing does the control knobs have to put in any position to remove because the seem tight aswell?
thanks again jon

[Roy Armstrong]

My apologies Jon.

The instructions that I gave above are for the Dometic fridge, I'm afraid that I am not familiar with the Thetford.

I am assuming that the problem has been caused by water getting to the fridge via the missing vent.

If you have a multimeter you could do the following checks.
Can you access the fridge mains plug?

If you can, check the continuity between live and earth, this should be open circuit.
If you get a reading, use the hairdryer until the an open circuit is obtained.
Check the reading between live and neutral, this should read but not zero.

It would probably assist the drying process if you heat the caravan using the space heater or a fan heater.

[hobby635]

have had the heating on but only for weekends will try a few more first before i try getting it out the screws points seem to be in the same place as describded but the thing did not wont to move wot sort of reading am i looking at ?
jon

[Roy Armstrong]

If you have removed the screws from inside the fridge, it is probably being held by the gas connection.
Initially I had to push mine forward from the vent access.

The problem with water/damp is that it may not break down with the small voltage give by a multimeter but will with 230 AC.

An AC megger is what you need, if you can get hold of one on loan.

There are other ways of testing using mains and neon lamps but they could be considered as being dangerous in the wrong hands.

[hobby635]

thanks will try and get 1 and let you know my result over the week end thanks again

[hobby635]

sorted got the fridge out there was a 5th screw going from the fire side so cut that then it came out nice took itto a dealer new heat exchanger £22 labour £20 back in working fine before that phoned for a new 1 and the quote for fridge alone was £1148
thanks again jon