waeco 110 litre problems

[carwrec]

Hi all,

Wondering if it's just me, or is there others who are having continued problems with their 110 litre waeco fridges?
Mine has been fixed i think 5 times now, the last time out of warranty for the same problem! 5 error lights which is a over heating problem and each time they reckon they have fixed it! Even try to tell me they fill it with hot water and it chills it down no problem, yet as soon as i put my COLD food in to go camping it can't handle it! I'm over it, i even went to use it on xmas eve for drinks and it failed again after just being fixed

Am I the only one with a crap fridge? Lol

Carwyn

[speewa158]

Try Engel , works for me . Then demand a full refund from Waeco & threaten to take it further 

[whooshka]

Can you push them to replace it?  I have a 110 that has never missed a beat. Maybe I was just lucky?!?!?

[Patt31]

we have an 80 and love it, hope you get a resolution from Waeco, a squeaky doors gets the most attention.

[SteveandViv]

Hi Carwrec. Where about in your car or camper is the fridge located. The reason I ask as this error is a sign of over heating in the compressor, there is a sensor that monitors this and I can get mine to do this as well if I do not run a fan in the fridge area in the car. I have added an additional fan to our fridge to cope with the extra heat while in the car and am just about to test anew control circuit I have built to make the fan its self variable dependent on the compressor cavity. I have also found that the fridge will cool so much quicker by increasing the airflow over the condenser fins as well. I don;t think they use a big enough fan due to noise but up here in summer, in the back on the car with very little airflow all fridges struggle, not just the Waeco. This is a self preservation thing

Could you do a test and place another fan by the vent area o the fridge and then see if this happens again. Where are you testing it etc.

[JU5T1N]

European designed offers good quality but Australia's hot climate knocks them around. The lack of insulation around the main body has the compressor working harder to maintain the required internal temp.
The mods that that Steve has made to counter act this issue will help.
Unfortunate this is not an option or the norm considering the purchase prices.
I've seen similar to what Steve described with the addition of better insulation  for the main body (more like an esky) that worked extremely well, better then any I've seen on the market. The power draw was way lower due to the better ability to hold out the heat and retain the cool internal temp. He improved the ventilation for the motor & fan.
Unfortunately I can't recall exactly how he increased the fan efficiency. Be it bigger fan motor, bigger fan blades or more fan blades or all of these.
He was a fridge mechanic by trade and brought it of ebay cheap as it was not working...I offered to buy a few off him if he was to make more but he chose not to   

I ended up buying myself an Engel and have had no issues....(touch wood)

[Blueroo]

Ours is good, touch wood. We run it all the time though. When its at home its the beer fridge. When we camp it lives in the 4wd.
cheers
Stue

[champin]

I had a CF50 a while back and had no end of trouble with it. The thing would freeze everything even at the lowest temp setting. I had back at waeco in Blackburn Vic 6 or 7 times. Although they "fixed it" under warranty, it still cost me a days pay to drop it in and pick it up again. My advise to you would be to take the same path as me. Buy an Engel. Never looked back since. Should have bought one in the first place. Good luck dealing with Waeco.

[SteveandViv]

Can every just put a sock in it re the 'buy and Engel' We just need to work out where and how it's being used and go from there. I'm sure he can't wait to throw out 1800 bucks worth and the spend 2K on a similar fridge when it may be a simple environmental issue

For those with the freezing issue, yes, there was  Thermister issue that effected a lot of them. If you had to take it back for that many times, then I'd get a new repair agent. The Thermister were not built by Waeco and are a $12 replacement part.

[JU5T1N]

When you say you had it loaded full of drinks on Xmas eve was it used inside house? What temps was the unit sitting in? Was the fan able to draw air without restriction? Was it plugged to 240 or 12? Was the repair company reputable? Can open it up to see if there is any form of interference...be it from dust, spillage of sticky fluid or perhaps insect nesting.

Not wanting to say the repair guy was dodgy but there are plenty of them out there that will just hit it with a blower/air compressor to clean it up and hand it back so easy money and your out of their hair.

Even though I own an Engel and happy with it I am not saying I would be going down the sell it and buy an Engel route.
As Steve said its a large investment that should be fixable as plenty of others have used theirs in extreme conditions around Oz and I'm pretty sure if this was the case for many users Waeco would not still be so popular.

[jetcrew]

Sorry to hear of your issues mate..esp at x-mas time.

Sorry to say this and not be biased that for the amount of engles sold they do have a much lower failure rate than waeco...That said they do still fail and I can personally vouch for that, my 40 let me down not long after purchase due to a cooling motor blockage or something.

It went in got the pipes cleaned out and all good since. But still failed on a trip.

I guess what I am saying is that you get issues with any brand , but 5 times to fix it and I would be buying a different brand next time..I just did this with a car 4 mths =26 days in the workshop under warranty yes but a right PITA other people with same car all good ..so all things brands have problems but I will say that engle do seem to have less issues ..but they are not perfect either no brand is.

As steve said your not going to throw away a coupple grand ,hopefully they can fix it and you can get some use out of it , but they are the bottom of my list for a fridge purchase based on how they perform in tropical environments 40+degree heat.and thats where I go.

I remember that alot of gas fridges in the early days hardly worked in Aust and then they released a Tropical version which are in most vans these days that work alot better. So maybe waeco need to make some ajustments for the larger units that are used in Aust in the north.

I think the operating envir is what affects them and only guessing but would love to see stats on failures and the geograpic locations of them.

And sales figures based on location as I rekon the further north you travel the less you see, but if steve can get his going well up there you should be able to find a solution.

Right steve maybe you need to go to waeco and become the R & D guy for Tropical versions ...LOL

Good luck with it all mate 

Jet

 

[SteveandViv]

Right steve maybe you need to go to waeco and become the R & D guy for Tropical versions ...LOL 

Jeez, thanks - heaps mate...Bet I'd have a hole lot more friends though Wanting their Waeco's fixed 

Not sure I agree with the tropical statement though, plenty use them up here. My fan mod is simply to allow me to have my fridge is  space that is not suitable wit out it. As a by product of that I find the extra airflow is a big help with the general cooling but ths wuld be true for any fridge using a compressor. I wonder why they don't put a bigger fan in anyway but I suspect it is the noise.

I'd say any fridge would have issues which is where I was going above. I wonder where the fridge lives.

Anyway, back in my box 

[jetcrew]

Jeez, thanks - heaps mate...Bet I'd have a hole lot more friends though Wanting their Waeco's fixed 

Not sure I agree with the tropical statement though, plenty use them up here. My fan mod is simply to allow me to have my fridge is  space that is not suitable wit out it. As a by product of that I find the extra airflow is a big help with the general cooling but ths wuld be true for any fridge using a compressor. I wonder why they don't put a bigger fan in anyway but I suspect it is the noise.

I'd say any fridge would have issues which is where I was going above. I wonder where the fridge lives.

Anyway, back in my box 

It,s funny hey some people have such a good run with them and others nothing but drama , so many things are like that these days..heaps of people said to me about the triton that I must have got a friday arvo car ..but the thing is built by robots so you wonder weather that rings true anymore hey...

But look a car that wont run is one thing but warm beer is well ..way more important.

Happy new year mate

Jet

[SteveandViv]

It,s funny hey some people have such a good run with them and others nothing but drama , so many things are like that these days..heaps of people said to me about the triton that I must have got a friday arvo car ..but the thing is built by robots so you wonder weather that rings true anymore hey...

But look a car that wont run is one thing but warm beer is well ..way more important.

Happy new year mate

Jet

And you. Hope you get over our way at some stage.

[carwrec]

Hi, guys thanks for your replies,

Just got back from camping, and you guessed it the fridge wouldn't cool down before i left, but when i got there it did and didn't miss a beat like normal.

Ok so when i used it on xmas eve, it was outside in my entertainment area, it's normally in my camper trailer, and has a fair amount of room to breath in the front fridge box, btw i have a lifestyle camper trailer, i don't accept when the last few times it's been sitting on my garage floor when it's malfunctioned , that it's not getting enough air flow, i mean my mates with waecos have them in the back of their camper trailers with no air flow!

The other day before i left to go camping i turned fridge on at 630am and by around 7am it was down at my set temp of 1 deg, then i placed most of my once again COLD food in the fridge as quick as possible, then the fridge rose up to 5 deg as expected and was cooling ok for a couple of hrs, by this time it had got down to around 3deg next thing error light on again! Now lucky all this time it's on 240v as i always run it this way and swap to camper when i leave home, So i leave home at 1230pm and arrive at janowen around 3pm, and surprise surprise fridge still at 3 deg, then like other times suddenly within a hr it decides to work and doesn't play up for rest of trip!

My mates look at it and agree it shouldn't take from 7am in the morn to around 4pm in afternoon to cool from 5 deg down to 1 deg! It's pathetic, and yes I've told them i want my money back or a new fridge!

They will be getting a nice ph call tomorrow i can tell you lol

And yes been over different scenarios  with them as to why it's failing!
They even accused me of not having charged batteries to run it until i told them it's on 240v when at home before i leave which made them go, oh!

So yes i think i have a lemon! Lol

Cheers carwyn

[SteveandViv]

Yea could be. One last question. How many flashes of the error light were there? If it's on 240 then it won't be power but my guess is 5 flashes meaning over temp in the compressor so I reckon tell you want a new one as those controller boards are worth heaps and if it is doing that out in the open I'm with you, it's not air flow. Mine will do it in the back of the car with little air movement when its 40c outside and I've just filled it up with warm beer and it runs its guts out for 5 hours - hence my fan I've added.

The only reason I was thinking if you can place a fan and blow air into the vent and it does not do it you can tell them to fix that fault. Tell them to do exactly as you do which is to fill it up and let it run (loaded) for 3 hours.

Anyway, I hope you get it sorted. I still think they are a great fridge but stuff happens

[JU5T1N]

Yea could be. One last question. How many flashes of the error light were there? If it's on 240 then it won't be power but my guess is 5 flashes meaning over temp in the compressor so I reckon tell you want a new one as those controller boards are worth heaps and if it is doing that out in the open I'm with you, it's not air flow. Mine will do it in the back of the car with little air movement when its 40c outside and I've just filled it up with warm beer and it runs its guts out for 5 hours - hence my fan I've added.

The only reason I was thinking if you can place a fan and blow air into the vent and it does not do it you can tell them to fix that fault. Tell them to do exactly as you do which is to fill it up and let it run (loaded) for 3 hours.

Anyway, I hope you get it sorted. I still think they are a great fridge but stuff happens

Better still tell them to do same as Steve does....fill it with beer