Atwood Refrigerator - Electric Mode Failure?

[TucsonJim]

Mine will not work at all on electric. I checked the 120VAC supply where the reefer plugs in, and it was good. I have my DVM with me, so if you want me to probe and record any AC or DC voltages, just let me know what you want measured and I'll send the results. Unfortunately, I'm in a pretty remote area right now, and can't take it in for any checks.

Jim

[GDRV Service]

Mine will not work at all on electric. I checked the 120VAC supply where the reefer plugs in, and it was good. I have my DVM with me, so if you want me to probe and record any AC or DC voltages, just let me know what you want measured and I'll send the results. Unfortunately, I'm in a pretty remote area right now, and can't take it in for any checks.

Jim

Hi Jim (@TucsonJim),

Please contact our Customer Service team when you are ready to have the refrigerator checked so we can assist with the diagnosis and repair.

Best regards,
~ Janice

[Julie n Kevin]

Picked up our camper today. Gas leak fixed and had a new refrigerator installed. The tech tried everything. Ended up replacing the entire unit. Getting ready to go to Colorado!

Kevin

[RetiredVagabond]

Thanks for all the feed back everyone. I have contacted Peter in Customer Service at Grand Design to start the warranty process. I will follow up when the problem is fixed.

[luckeyd1]

Add me to the failed Atwood refrigerator syndrome. Went out to do some stuff this morning, flashing check and flashing gas. Checked inside totally warm. Good thing nothing but some butter sticks and ice melted. Turned off, turned back on went to auto, after 1 minute flashing check again. Tried on gas only, stayed approximately 30 seconds, started flashing check. Checked my gas, stove top light just fine. Going to dealer Tuesday for some other stuff, will add this to the list. Looks like the Atwood refrigerators are a complete dud and I want my 10 year old Dometic back. Never had one issue in 10 years. Too many issues with new units already for me to trust this brand. Grand Design, it seems there is a problem here. Hope you find out just what real quick.

[TucsonJim]

So far, we are three weeks into our four month excursion, and the reefer is still working on gas. Due to frequent moves, I won't be able to get it repaired or replaced until late September. We're sure hoping that it will continue to function until our trip is over. If not, we may have to modify our trip schedule and contact GD for help in getting it fixed while we're on the road.

[Justaguy]

Jim, et al,

Sure enough...refer started acting up as we set up in the Smokey Mountains. It would not even switch over to gas...just would blink "Check". I kept playing with it and over a period of 5 minutes I got it to switch. Try this, manually cycle through to gas option and immediately turn the refer off....don't wait. And then turn on again....it flipped over to electric and has been working like a champ all night. It could mess up in the next hour but I can cycle through to gas and then to electric and it holds each one like there was never a problem. Good luck. It worked for me.

[huntr70]

Wow...

It makes me wonder if it is something in the actual install, since we have been carrying the Passport from Keystone, which has been using the Atwood Helium refer for 3 years now.

Never heard of even one with issues. They usually cool better than the Dometics and Norcolds.....

[luckeyd1]

Well, just as Justaguy said, I went out after a couple of hours with the refer being turned off, and restarted it. Came up on Auto A/C. Let it sit for a few hours, came out to check it, still OK and freezer getting cool. Checked again a few hours later and decided to investigate things. Turned to Gas mode, could hear the ignitor sparking, but nothing, Check light came on. Turned off and reset to Auto A/C. Took off outside bottom panel to see pilot/flame area, turned back to Gas mode, went outside and it was on. Went inside, no check lights, working normally. Buttoned everything back up, switched back to Auto A/C mode came on. Checked this morning, everything is still fine. Will investigate this evening after work and see what happens when I unplug the electrical connection to trailer. It should switch over to Gas mode. What may have happened is we had a storm Friday night, lost power for maybe 3 seconds and again about 20 minutes later, but just a blink off /on of lights. This may have triggered somethingand it went into blinking Check mode. I have discovered that when that happens, the refer will not work. Poor design if that is the case. I have had numerous power failures with my other trailer connected to electrical, and never had my refer go on the blink. If this occurs again or I can duplicate it that would show a poor design and I will be asking for a different refer for replacement. As I stated earlier, my 10 year old Dometic never gave me a second of trouble and it went through many home power failures just as described here. Will let everyone know how my testing and results come out.

[nguyenbio]

The Keystone I recently traded in for our GD also came with an Atwood. I love the Atwoods, and have not had a single problem (knock on wood), but I do notice that going from AC to gas is very touchy. I usually have to light the stove for about thirty seconds and then switch the fridge over to gas. This always works for me. If I don't do this, the igniter will continue to click but not light. This has worked everytime the fridge in my Keystone and GD have failed to switch to gas. It seems to me that these fridges are very sensitive to any air in the propane lines. These fridges get cold and stay cold very well from my experience.