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Old 08-24-2017, 01:42 PM   #1
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Fridge Servicing

OK, it had to happen sooner or later. Here's me reading post after post about those darn fridges not doing what they're supposed to. I've gone thousands of miles, many in hot climates like Baja and the mid-West and the fridge always performed flawlessly. Heck, I even disconnected the Texas fan last year meaning to put a switch on it but never did.

Originally I did a serious mod involving a finned, ducted aluminum baffle etc. and since then then the fridge has performed flawlessly on "3".

Last weekend that came to an end. Warm fridge on propane.

The first thing that I noticed was the accumulation of dust in the outer lower compartment. This must be the result of ash from all the forest fires as the area was clean before that. If there was ash there there must be a coating on all the parts that radiate heat on the back of the fridge and that can't be a good thing.

I removed the top vent and took an awl to slightly round an access point so a long 1/4" copper tube would fit through the screen. I then could blast with compressed air the condenser etc. and blow the dust off.

I removed the burner assembly and there was a small piece of carbon by the orifice. I cleaned everything and put it back together.

This morning the fridge was 4*C and the freezer -15C.

Of course, since I changed two variables at once I don't know what the culprit was. Probably the carbon but the dust covered plumbing wasn't helping.

While I was at it I finally installed a manual switch for the Texas fan. I wired it in parallel so the automatic feature still works independently.

With the vent cap off it reminded me of a small mod that I'd done previously. Many folks have reported that their fridge blows out when travelling. I installed a small aluminum piece at the front edge to stop air from being directly "rammed" into the cavity and maybe blowing out the flame. Don't know if that's the reason that I've never had any issue with the flame blowing out while underway.

Ron
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Old 08-24-2017, 01:44 PM   #2
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Baffle and switch.
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Old 08-24-2017, 02:09 PM   #3
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You put a wind guard on the roof vent? I put one down below.
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Old 08-24-2017, 02:40 PM   #4
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What is the row of 6 screws showing by the refer vent on top from?
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Old 08-24-2017, 03:48 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cpaharley2008 View Post
What is the row of 6 screws showing by the refer vent on top from?
The original screws were "gooped" over. That's a nuisance if you have to remove the whole assembly. So when I did my major mods I used compression washers so that I wouldn't have to remove the sealant from the screw heads before being able to use a screwdriver on them.

Ron
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Old 08-24-2017, 03:54 PM   #6
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Good tips- the long copper tube and cleaning orifice is what I'll do next, and perhaps the upper air dam as well. To see you are now at 39.2 F means our average 40-42 isn't bad- yet recently on the road it was over 50 and that hasn't happened before so am going to remove the 3" aluminum duct as it may be hindering performance in some way; it doesn't seem to be helping.
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