Can someone help with these questions?

[Homeless]

I just "accidentally" bought a used Pop up Coleman Mesa 1999. A couple of issues I am chasing are below

It has a three way power refrigerator That I just started looking at last night. I can get the pilot light to start but it never got hot enough to do anything. I tried the 12 V but this morning the battery was dead and no evidence of the refrigerator having been cool overnight. I have a thermometer in it and it still read 80 degrees. I will plug it in later to 110 to see if that makes it work.

It appears that someone has been messing with it because there is a pipe strapped to the tank that gets hot and I dont think it belongs there. I will post a picture later when I get home. I may be better off just replacing it.

When I went to fill the potable water tank, I found the hose from the filler tube to the tank was broken. I bought two replacement hoses but one is too big and the other is too small on the tank end but the input pipe on the side of the camper fits well. I am assuming that there is a special hose that has two different ends but I have yet to locate an OEM hose.

I did get the tank filled and tried to pump water to the sink. it has the faucet that only has a pull lever back and forth (not the one that pulls up and down) The force it had when the hose was broken was very easy but once I had water in the system, the pump only moved about a 1/4 as it did before. I do hear some slight noise from the spout but no water even when pumping for about 30 seconds.

So far everything looks and functions great. both the inside and outside stoves work well, all the AC plugs work, DC lights work and the exterior lighting works well.

OH, what is the hose attachment (garden hose) on the side with a screen. Does that keep the on board tank full if you have access to water?

Thanks to anyone that can point me forward with these issues. Once that is complete, I am seriously considering adding a roof top AC unit but have more research to do on that. It does not have AC or a roof vent.

Dan

 

[PeterS]

The fridge pilot light is the full sized flame and it takes 6-24 to fully cool the fridge box, so you might try that one again.
Not sure on the water tank.

 

[Fred1diver]

how do you accidentally buy a pop up?
for the fridge there should be switches outside that let you choose which power source you want. One switch for 12v, one for 120v...don't remember how there propane works (never used it).
on the side you should have 3 water outlet, one big one to fill it, one to add city water and a drain, which also accepts a water hose.

hope this helps, good luck with your N2U pup, have fun and enjoy it, the season is almost over but still time to enjoy it

 

[tombiasi]

The three way frig doesn't have a pilot light. The flame is the main burner. On DC the battery won't last very long. It take a long time to cool. Can't help with pipe unless I see it.
The hose fitting is city water hookup. It connects your water supply to a city water faucet.

 

[Sjm9911]

And if using city water, use a water pressure reducer.

 

[Econ]

Heads up on running a refrig on 12 volts. Mine eats 14.6 amps per hour @12 volt DC. Dometic RM 2354. In 3 hours you are down to about 50%.

Here's a little lite studying. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_refrigerator

All your power sources do is create heat and heat the ammonia.

 

[GreyFox]

for the fridge there should be switches outside that let you choose which power source you want. One switch for 12v, one for 120v...

Only if it's a Dometic RM2193. With this fridge it's important to just use one mode at a time.

If it's a Norcold 323 there will be just one 3 position rotary switch so it's impossible to run it in more than one mode at at time.

 

[Homeless]

Thanks to all for the replies. I received a single email letting me know of the first reply but none since. I just found all these.

First, I did find the part number and ordered a filler hose so that issue hopefully will be resolved on Tuesday

Second, I have now tried the refrigerator on all three power sources but although it heats, the inside temp does not change.
The padded portion on the left side does get hot, the temp I measured with a laser thermometer shows a bout 115 degrees on the outside wrapping. I do not know the actual internal temp or if it is hot enough to work. BTW all three power sources did heat the unit so that part works.

I am disappointed that the refrigerator looks so bad as shown in the photos. It appears someone (not professional) has fooled with it. It is a Norcold refrigerator. I am pretty handy but not a refrigeration guy but will have no problem removing the refrigerator , cleaning it up and doing some testing if I can find information on how it works.

BTW the pipe I mentioned earlier seems to belong there, it just looked like to me it was someone adding an additional heat-sink

Heading outside to see what else I can find

Thanks again to all

 

[Homeless]

The fridge pilot light is the full sized flame and it takes 6-24 to fully cool the fridge box, so you might try that one again.
Not sure on the water tank.

Thanks, the flame looked like a pilot light....maybe it is too low to get it to temperature

 

[Homeless]

how do you accidentally buy a pop up?
for the fridge there should be switches outside that let you choose which power source you want. One switch for 12v, one for 120v...don't remember how there propane works (never used it).
on the side you should have 3 water outlet, one big one to fill it, one to add city water and a drain, which also accepts a water hose.

hope this helps, good luck with your N2U pup, have fun and enjoy it, the season is almost over but still time to enjoy it

Accidentally bought it by making a low ball offer to the lady that owned it. She wanted nothing to do with it because mice got in it. No damage other than a screen hole and a couple of tent fabric holes on the rear bed section. No other damage or smell but mouse poop was everywhere. I think they had just gotten in it. I checked all the wiring and no damage there either, all electrical works fine.

She didnt want it anymore and was moving out of state anyway she took it. I have the title in my name and the camper is mostly in great shape.....That is how I accidentally bought it. I was not looking for a camper but glad I bought it.

I jokingly offered $200.00 for it and she accepted! She took the insurance money and I got a hell of a deal

 

[WVhillbilly]

how do you accidentally buy a pop up?

Drinking at an auction?

 

[Homeless]

LOL, I run a mini stor-it and the pup was stored outside for ab out a y, the rest of the story is in an earlier reply ear

 

[FARfetched]

Accidentally bought it by making a low ball offer to the lady that owned it. … I jokingly offered $200.00 for it and she accepted!

Looks like one heck of a deal for $200! Shoot, even if you put $1500 into repairs, you're still going to have a great camper for the money.

 

[Homeless]

Looks like one heck of a deal for $200! Shoot, even if you put $1500 into repairs, you're still going to have a great camper for the money.

Thanks, the refrigerator is the only thing that doesn't work. I may replace it instead of trying to fix it but trying to find an upgraded unit that matches the dimensions is proving to be a challenge. I believe mine is a Norcold 323

 

[Homeless]

It is a Norcold 323GB. I removed it tonight from the camper, cleaned it up and it is plugged directly into an outlet in my garage. I also have a fan with lots of air movement blowing on it.

It got pretty hot so it appears to be working but I wont know until the unit has ran a while. I may leave it run overnight and check it in the morning. The green strap is just holding the door closed

If it doesn't get cold, I guess I will just replace it

 

[mpking]

I'm mostly commenting so I can see the resolution.

I will point out that Ammonia Absorption fridges, if they are run off level for an extended period get damaged, and no longer cool. There is no indication other than it won't cool. So I just wanted you to know that it's entirely possible for it to be junk, yet look perfectly fine.

For the sake of clarification, off level is like 10deg or more, so what you've got on your floor is fine.

 

[lksdrinker]

If the heating element works/gets hot then its working and the interior will eventually get cold.

 

[mpking]

If the heating element works/gets hot then its working and the interior will eventually get cold.

Unfortunately, that's not true.

The heating element is just to bring the ammonia up to 95F. If the ammonia is crystallized, no amount of heating is going to make it cool.

 

[Halford]

20 year old camper... plastics mostly do not last long. I replaced the tube for water tank as well and other plastic tube for sink as well. That is expected of owning an old camper but once replaced, the camper is good as new!

 

[Homeless]

It is 4:15 pm and I just plugged it in on my garage floor, I will check on it before I go to bed to see if it cools at all.
I just received the new water inlet hose today and will make that repair and check out the sink pump. I believe I will also replace all the other small tubing from the tank to the sink and the drain as a preventative measure.

If this refrigerator is bad, can someone recommend a replacement brand and source of any deals? I am finding that Norcold and Dometic are the two brands I see the most.

Also, if I must replace it, I do not mind having an AC/DC unit without propane. Is there a small refrigerator that uses a compressor that would fit my 21x22x22 opening (approx size)