We went away last weekend for a 3 day get away and sure enough as i'm driving, the wife opens the fridge and it clicks and dies. It's a regular house fridge and I'm still waiting to find out if it's for sure dead. I called the local A/C Fridge repairman that the camp ground knew and he came out tested it and he said it was done. I ended up, once the trip was done, taking the bus to his shop. He scared me at first b/c he was talking about taking the fridge thru the window. I called my uncle later on and he said do NOT let him do that b/c for one the replacement seals are super expensive.
I feel pretty stupid now b/c I may have wasted money. After talking to my uncle, he bought the fridge from sears and just tipped the delivery guys extra for them to get it in the bus. He also told me he took the hand bar off and the board that goes over the steps when driving in order to maximize the room to get the fridge in.
Plus, I need to go back there this weekend to find out the dimensions to the fridge from the manual. I'm just kind of venting about feeling stupid. I have to constantly remind myself that normal RV repairmen will most likely not know much about the converted bus.
I think many of the windsheild rubber seals are meant to come apart easily. Although im sure they are not cheap if replacement is required, as all windsheild seals. Good topic to discuss here and one i recall several mentioned, using the windshield route. So nothing wrong with checkin with the local glass pro. Their experience in this area is, well, just say watching them makes it look real easy. They would likely save the seal easily if its not all cracked up now.
Interesting post
Floyd
Quote from: brmax on October 04, 2017, 09:25:41 AM
I think many of the windsheild rubber seals are meant to come apart easily. Although im sure they are not cheap if replacement is required, as all windsheild seals. Good topic to discuss here and one i recall several mentioned, using the windshield route. So nothing wrong with checkin with the local glass pro. Their experience in this area is, well, just say watching them makes it look real easy. They would likely save the seal easily if its not all cracked up now.
Interesting post
Floyd
Wow i'm an idiot! I didn't even think about the front windshield. I was looking at the side windows. Ugh man I'm batting a 1000 here
Its called CRS
If you have any stock windows, can't you just pop the emergency latch and lift the window out of the way?
Brian
The fridge quitting was unexpected & caught you off guard. Happens to me all the time. thank goodness for patient friends that encourage me to take the time to think it thru instead of trying to throw money at it.
If it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger -- You will gain more confidence with your coach & your abilities with each opportunity. ;D
If it will go in thru the front door, there is no reason to mess with the window seals - if the windows aren't leaking - LEAVE that potential problem alone! The glass is less likely to get broken if left alone also.
I'd remove the fridge door, the entry hand bar & step cover & much more before I put the glass at risk. . . . . But, that is just my opinion. ;)
With fridges one never knows how the PO got it in,Sonnie RIP installed his from the bottom of the floor when he had his Eagle engine out installing the Cat,Pam and Tony had hell getting it out when it died
I'm with Kyle on this one. Home-style refrigerator doors are made to be removed and they make the fridge a lot narrower without them. Windows and old window seals can trigger another nightmare you don't want to deal with if you don't have to. We had a leaky seal in a newer Ford truck that I took into a glass shop for a new seal and the window had been secretly delaminating. It crystallized right in front of my eyes. Never seen anything like that happen before. Even the tech working on it, and he didn't do anything wrong, stood back in awe. You just never know. Good luck.
Will
I have seen the RV manufactures install all the appliances and furniture then stand the walls up and never even thing about removing anything
The fridge is dead. Use a Sawsall. I guarantee it will then fit through the door.
I second the use of a sawzall. I used one earlier this week to take out some metal wall framing that had been welded together inside the bus and wouldn't go through the door. I did measure, tho, and my fridge was 23" in it's smallest dimension, and my door opening was 28". It didn't look that way, but it was. About to put in new flooring and paint the walls/ceiling.
Ahhhhh...just take a damn torch to it. You cut a freon line in the wrong place and expect to have refrigerant and or oil leaking or spraying everywhere.
You want get much Freon from a fridge most hold less than 1 lb of R134
Caution... if the fridge has cfc refrigerant, the hydrocarbons from a blow torch could combine to produce phosgene. Trust me, you don't want to breathe phosgene.
I'd use an angle grinder... its quick and easy though you'll probably use several disks.
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The freon can spray a lot of oil with it. I've removed several compressors in order to junk refergirators and some can spray a lot of oil mist if cut in wrong place. Up high on unit away from compressor. Use a hacksaw by hand till you just nick a tiny hole, cover it with a rag and let it slowly leak down. This was back in the days when there weren't regulations and their wasn't an ozone hole.Of course you should use a refrigerant recovery unit, be certified to use it and dispose of it properly, or have a ac repair service come and do it for you
The refrigerant will be at the back of the fridge so if you cut it in half vertically in the middle of the sides, it should be easy to slip out through the door and the refrigerant should not leak.
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Quote from: Zephod on October 05, 2017, 04:01:18 PM
The refrigerant will be at the back of the fridge so if you cut it in half vertically in the middle of the sides, it should be easy to slip out through the door and the refrigerant should not leak.
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That ain't necessarily so. I have seen many frigs with the tubing in the side walls ( not the back ) and the condenser at the bottom rear of the frig.
Quote from: Stormcloud on October 05, 2017, 04:51:15 PM
That ain't necessarily so. I have seen many frigs with the tubing in the side walls ( not the back ) and the condenser at the bottom rear of the frig.
All the domestic fridges I've seen, including absorption fridges, the pump has been at the bottom or the heater in the middle of the back. The back has been the tubing. The sides are pretty much just two sheets of tin and an inch or less of foam. I've cut up several dead fridges for steel for welding projects.
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Why fight with the door and handrail. Remove kitchen table, 8 screws. Remove trim ring on Penninsula window. Have forklift with pallet on forks at window. Remove window with help from strong young(er) men. Set window on the ground. Pull reefer from its hole. Lay on back. Slide it out the window hole. Slide new one in and reinstall in hole. DO NOT turn on new reefer for at least six hours to ensure the the oil has returned to the compressor. Reinstall window. Replace table. Total time less than one hour including having to wait because the forklift propane went empty in the middle of the operation.
Bill
Quote from: Bill B /bus on October 05, 2017, 05:44:14 PM
Why fight with the door and handrail. Remove kitchen table, 8 screws. Remove trim ring on Penninsula window. Have forklift with pallet on forks at window. Remove window with help from strong young(er) men. Set window on the ground. Pull reefer from its hole. Lay on back. Slide it out the window hole. Slide new one in and reinstall in hole. DO NOT turn on new reefer for at least six hours to ensure the the oil has returned to the compressor. Reinstall window. Replace table. Total time less than one hour including having to wait because the forklift propane went empty in the middle of the operation.
Bill
That may be a good plan if you have a forklift . . . . ;D
I still don't like messing with windows that don't leak.
question..how old is the frig?
If it has a computer before throwing it away unplug it to reset the computer if not real common on older frigs is the (god I hate getting old, forgot the name, It is like a transformer and boosts the power charge for the compressor, it is nec to short across the posts to drain the energy or you could get a good joit.) someone help me out on the name, all ac and ref units with compressors have this. when this goes bad the frig comp will not start......
Starting capacitors.
Like Kyle said, measure the box without the doors and see if it will fit through the door frame. Do the same for whatever you are going to put in it's place.
Just a heads up on inverter/refrigerator technology. The newer fridges with computer based controls and inverter driven compressors DON'T play well with modified sine wave inverters. The old fridges would tolerate them but barely.
So, if you don't have a full sine wave, it's something to think about as you replace the fridge.
LOL fridges are easy to remove and replace if you are up to the task try a 400 lb claw foot bath tub took 4 of us to get the thing in through the door
Quote from: luvrbus on October 07, 2017, 10:13:23 AM
LOL fridges are easy to remove and replace if you are up to the task try a 400 lb claw foot bath tub took 4 of us to get the thing in through the door
Dang - gonna be hard to top that one . . . ;D ;D ;D
I hope you don't post any pictures. I wouldn't want mu better half to get any ideas . . . :o
so happy I have a side hall down to the wheel chair door . Pick up fridge and walk it out basically :)