Fridge on gas or electric

[jterr]

Well I replaced my cooling unit on fridge and went to check a week later and had run out of propane.
It was set to electric, is it supposed to use gas also?

[centerline]

jterr wrote:
it has been plugged into power the whole time. do the batteries have anything to do with fridge as they had to be charged up with a manual charger

every RV fridge ive ever had the misfortune to work on had to see good 12volt power source before it would operate on 120v shore power...

some of the older 2 way units were 12v/propane, then came the 3way units 12v/propane/120v....
most modern units are a 2-way fridge that is only equipped with propane and a 120v element and NOT a 12v element, this is to reduce the load on the battery, but the circuitry to the temp control boards and interior lighting still operates by 12volt battery power....

there may be some that have a parallel 120v control circuit alongside the 12v control circuit, but they would be on the very high end of the price range for rv units

but could it be possible that the propane tank was on its last few ounces when it was connected?....
a tank of propane will last a long time running just a fridge, but also needs 12v power to operate the circuitry and keep the gas valve on..

[kerrlakeRoo]

Between this and your other qx, you likely have a low battery problem.
Check voltage at batteries, should be 14 or higher.
If so, unplug from shore power, should drop to 13.6 or so.
If voltage while on shore power wasn't near 14, or if you are not getting good voltage with shore power off, you likely have a bad electrical connection.
Clean all connections on the batteries and reconnect. If you were totally dead you will have to plug shore back in for a while to see if batteries start coming up.

If disconnecting shore power kills all 12 volt then you know the converter is working but the batteries aren't.

[Old-Biscuit]

What BRAND/MODEL is fridge?

Normally you can only set to GAS manually.
In AUTO electric is priority source and gas is backup if AC Power is lost

12V DC is REQUIRED for fridge to function on EITHER heat source (120V AC or Propane)

IF fridge is in AUTO running on 120V AC it swaps to 'GAS' if AC power is lost then will swap back to electric when AC Power is restored

IF 12V DC Power is LOST....fridge shuts down

[donn0128]

Batteries had to be charged with a manual charger? Something is wrong there. IF you have 120VAC at the RV and IF the salesman switch is turned on, then you have other problems. All dual fuel absorbition refers require 12VDC for control voltage and either 120VAC or propane for cooling power. You apparently are missing 120VAC at the refer.

[jterr]

it has been plugged into power the whole time. do the batteries have anything to do with fridge as they had to be charged up with a manual charger

[Lwiddis]

With a full tank of propane and "a week later," lots of propane should be in the tank.

[bdpreece]

If this is an automatic fridge it would only use gas if it did not sense available power, Either the power dropped or something in your electrical portion is not working correctly such as a blown fuse or defective circuit board.