An absorption fridge fails for reasons a compressor fridge never has to deal with, starting with whether the rig is level.
Most RV owners' first frame of reference for a fridge is the one at home, and that frame of reference is the wrong one. A residential fridge cools with a compressor and works the same regardless of orientation. Many RV fridges cool through an entirely different process, and that process has its own failure points.
An absorption fridge moves refrigerant through a sealed loop using heat rather than a compressor, and gravity is part of how the fluid circulates through that loop. It is a genuinely different technology, not a smaller version of a kitchen fridge, and it needs to be diagnosed as one.
Because gravity is doing part of the work, a rig parked even a little out of level can stall the cooling process without any component actually failing. This is the first thing worth checking, and it is also the thing most often overlooked because it seems too simple to be the answer.
The cooling unit vents heat out the back, usually through an exterior vent, and anything blocking that airflow — debris, a poorly sealed vent, gear stored too close — can prevent proper cooling even with everything else working correctly.
A fridge that will not light or will not stay lit, versus one that lights fine but never gets cold, are different problems. The first points toward controls or ignition. The second points toward the cooling unit itself or one of the basics above. Either way, this is diagnostic and repair work for a qualified technician rather than something to work through yourself, especially where gas is involved.
A cooling unit that has genuinely failed is a significant repair relative to the appliance's value, and a straight shop will tell you that rather than repairing it anyway. Controls, ignition components and gaskets are usually worth fixing. The sealed cooling unit itself is the part where the conversation changes.
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