RV has made its worth in the eye of hunters and travelers due to its enormous features, including a spacious living room, attached bath, and kitchen. But the thing which you need the most is a refrigerator.

You cannot store your uncooked or ready-to-eat food if your RV doesn’t have a refrigerator. Let’s suppose that you are in a desert where you have to quench your thirst with cold water; then only your RV’s refrigerator can save you from this trouble.

Moreover, if you are going on an adventure in the jungle, you need to pack enough food to eat. But you are well aware that temperature, humidity, and microbes play their role in spoiling food items.

Your RV’s refrigerator is a barrier against all these factors and keeps your food fresh and safe for your consumption. Isn’t it great? Indeed, it’s not less than any blessing that you can eat fresh food and preserve the rest for the next meal.

But there is a trouble that is noticed by most of the RV owners. The most reported issue is the misfunctioning of the refrigerator. This problem arises due to the decrease in the coolant level.

Ammonia is used as the primary coolant in refrigerators, along with sodium chromite.  Ammonia is preferred as it has no harm to the ozone layer on its leakage. Hence its presence around the coils and compressor indicates the decrease in the level of coolant.

If you are facing the same trouble, then here we are guiding you about how you can check the level of ammonia in your RV’s fridge. 

What Are the Ways to Check Ammonia Level in RV Fridge?

There are numerous reasons due to which the level of ammonia decreases in your RV’s fridge. Some of them are as follows:

  • Your refrigerator’s coils may be damaged.
  • The fridge is not functioning correctly.
  • There must be any blockage in the piping of the refrigerator.

These issues must be resolved for the proper functioning of the refrigerator. But wait! How can you check that the level is decreasing?

Following are the ways that are going to help you in How to check ammonia level in RV fridge.

Detection of Ammonia by Smell

We have five senses. The most significant sense is the sense of smell that helps us detect the odor of the item that we cannot see or feel by hand.

There are some colored gases like potassium iodide or neon. Ammonia is a colorless gas with a unique odor.

Thus, the sense of smell allows us to check whether there is any ammonia near the compressor or the coils of the fridge. 

You need to sniff around and check whether you smell something strange. 

Physical Verification of the Level of Ammonia

The second most straightforward way is to detect the physical presence of ammonia in the pipelines or compressors. As ammonia passes through the pipes, it causes the cooling effect and keeps the temperature of the compressor and coils at a specific limit.

It inhibits the over-heating of the refrigerator and keeps it at the optimum temperature. The decrease in the level of ammonia will lead to the overheating of the compressor.

You can check it by touching that the pipes will remain hot as the coolant is much less or not available to decrease the temperature.

Using the Ammonia Detector

If you have recently purchased your RV, then it will be hard for you to detect the level of ammonia in your RV. You need to take the help of technology that will result in a few minutes without any ambiguity.

Ammonia detectors are here to resolve this problem for you. You need to bring the sensor near your compressor or coils and hold it for a few seconds.

If there is any leakage or ammonia in the air, the detector may start blinking the light, or its alarming sound may turn on.

The confirmatory signal varies from the detector to detector.

Sulfur Sticks

Sulfur sticks are match sticks that are used to detect the presence of ammonia. There is no complication in using these sticks.

You can use these sticks if you don’t have ammonia detectors. It would be best if you ensure that the sticks are wet enough with the liquid. 

Then you have to light up the stick and bring it near the refrigerator. After this step, you need to observe the color of the flame. 

The flame color of sulfur stick changes in the presence of ammonia. If you see a particular color, be sure that ammonia is present in the air and leaking from the refrigerator. And that is why your refrigerator’s cooling efficiency is decreasing.

Phenolphthalein Test

If you love chemistry, then you will surely be well aware of this indicator. If not, then you should keep in mind this indicator gives pink color in the presence of ammonia.

You need to dip the litmus paper in this indicator and then bring it to your compressor. If the color of litmus paper changes to pink, then it confirms the presence of ammonia.

The sulfur stick and phenolphthalein test are almost identical. Both tests are qualitative as they only point out the detection of ammonia, not its level. It would be best if you used the ammonia detector to identify the level.

Video Tutorial

Have you found it challenging to implement the described methods? Don’t worry because we also understand that it’s hard to grab the concept without the visual guideline of the technique.

Hence, we include the video tutorial. We have included this potion just to give you a better understanding of the process. So, you can easily detect the problem.

All you need to do is watch the complete video without skipping a single second or blinking your eye. It will not consume much of your time.

So, what are you waiting for? Click on the following link:

Are You Ready to Check Ammonia Level in Your RV’s Fridge?

Have you successfully learned the ways that can help you in checking the level of ammonia in your RV’s RV Refrigerator? Well, in our opinion you are entirely aware of the techniques. 

Now all you need is to follow the technique which is best in your opinion, or you have the required material to perform the test.

 But still, if you feel that you are not competent enough to detect the ammonia level in your RV, you can seek help from any other RV owner or pay someone who is an expert.

We want to conclude here. We hope that this article has proved itself fruitful for you. Thank you for reading the post with zeal and zest.