The non-working fridge situation turned into a bit of a saga and still hasn't been totally resolved....
I called in a local mobile caravan service guy and it was confirmed that it was the fridge's 230v heating element at fault.... To fit a new one required the fridge to be removed from it's cabinet surround...... Try as he did Mr local caravan service was unable to move the fridge an inch and after about an hour he declared defeat....
It would appear that Eriba caravans belong to the 'dark side' of the caravan world with all sorts of 'how to' secrets surrounding them that only an official Eriba dealer is privy to....
After I had handed over the £40 call out charge he left the camp site muttering that he hated to be beaten and it was the first time it had ever happened to him etc..etc... I thought that he was going to burst into tears.... He left a beaten man.........
Still at least he was slightly better off in the financial sense than I was.... I on the other hand was now £40 worse off and still had a non-working fridge....
'Dave the dog' (don't ask) who is a regular summer and winter fulltimer and is camped the other side of the hedge came round to see if things had been sorted......
Now Dave is a bit of a campsite wizard and although he couldn't offer a solution to the stuck fridge he came up with some alternative offerings.....
First he had a full propane gas cylinder in his awning that was surplus to his requirements. This is now installed in my gas locker.
The fridge works on gas ok and it is obvious that it will be useful if we ever have a power outage. It will give us an alternative for our heating and cooking as well as the fridge so it makes sense to have it as a back-up.
Because we pay for the electric hook up anyway it is not my intention to run anything on gas full time.... However, Dave had a solution for that as well.....
It turned out that as well as having a gas cylinder just sitting around in his awning he also had a domestic larder fridge that was almost unused ....
He has loaned it to me for our five month stay here and it is now installed in my awning keeping my beer nice and cold.
The fridge will be returned to Dave when we leave here in the spring and for a couple of weeks after that I will power the caravan fridge with the gas until the caravan goes into the Eriba dealer for it's annual service at the end of April......
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| Dave's spare fridge in our awning..... |
That sounds like a good solution until April. Is it a 3 way fridge ? If so it would be interesting to see if it runs off the car battery when connected for towing. It may help in narrowing down what the problem is.
ReplyDelete*Dave*
ReplyDeleteYes it is a 3 way fridge....it works ok on both gas and battery when connected to the car with the engine running. Dave ( the dog) informs me that a 3 way fridge has a separate heating element for each function and an electrical check showed that the fault was with the 230v element.
Trevor, I found an Eriba Manual at http://www.automotiveleisure.co.uk/files/Eriba.pdf I also found eribafolk dot com. That site has a good thread on Eriba fridge repair and running gear service. Finally, if all else fails, call the dealer where you originally ordered Eva and see if he won't talk your fixit guy through the process.
ReplyDelete*Steve A
ReplyDeleteThanks for that Steve...In actual fact I am a member of the Eriba Folk forum and have seen the thread on fridge repair and Automotive Leisure is the dealer who supplied Eva and where we take her for the annual service.... After chatting to the service manager at AL I am happy to leave it until the next service as at least they know what they are doing... Don't forget I have now got the borrowed small domestic fridge installed in the awning to keep my beers cool... Next service is when we leave here in early April next year......
Thanks again for checking that out though...it is appreciated....
One OTHER option: we just got a small fridge that will operate off the 12v battery power in our Subaru and will fit on the rear floor in between the front and rear seats. No freezer, but we'll be bringing some Texas Chili Bricks with us when we return to Ocean Shores early next year.
ReplyDelete@Steve A
ReplyDeleteI never knew until two minutes ago that Chili Con Carne is the officially designated dish of the state of Texas....
I wasn't certain what a chili brick was so checked it out and learned a whole lot more.... Thanks for helping to improve my education Steve. Lol
Thanks for sharing this. You have revealed the dark side of caravan world. It would help those who is looking to buy caravan fridge
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