Fridge stopped working.. Any Thoughts? - Page 10

Brian B-P · 02-08-2018, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReagentGrade

Although it's very small, there is a flame. If you enlarge the photo, you can just see three tiny peaks of flame, two on one side of the igniter wire, one on the other. There is probably a fourth behind the igniter wire...

I suspect that there is a similar flame at every burner slot, and you just can't see the others due to lighting and background brightness.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReagentGrade

Each peak is about 1/16" tall. How big is the flame supposed to be?

I agree with the others that this is too low; it is about the level of the "pilot" flame in an old refrigerator (like the one in my Boler), but as far as I know a direct spark ignition appliance should never have a low flame. A DSI refrigerator switches between full-on and completely-off. The control valve is only open or closed, so this can't be a control issue - there must be some impediment to propane flow (as Tin suggested), or (unlikely) a faulty control valve.

If it is a regulator issue, other appliances will be similarly affected. If they get normal flow, the problem is in the refrigerator or (very unlikely) the bit of propane piping which feeds only the refrigerator.

drjenk · 02-08-2018, 02:38 PM

Is this one a valid spare? I want to get one for mine hearing about this:
https://www.amazon.com/NTE-Electroni...s=thermal+fuse

cpaharley2008 · 02-08-2018, 02:57 PM

I think next to football, most rv'ers compare their flame sizes....

Ron in BC · 02-08-2018, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReagentGrade

Ron from BC, if you see this, I'm near the "entrance". I have a 5.0 TA with an "electric blue" F150 TV.
Rich
Seven won tree six too ate five ohh won fore

I'll be heading back from town soon and I'll drop by.

Ron

rubicon327 · 02-08-2018, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drjenk

Is this one a valid spare? I want to get one for mine hearing about this:
https://www.amazon.com/NTE-Electroni...s=thermal+fuse

I don't think so. The one you linked has a different cutoff temperature (117 C) than the one Tin showed (152 C) in post #43 of this thread. Also this is what one owner in post #96 ordered which is Dometic part #3851409015:

https://pdxrvwholesale.com/products/...bly-3851409015

Tin · 02-08-2018, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drjenk

Is this one a valid spare? I want to get one for mine hearing about this:
https://www.amazon.com/NTE-Electroni...s=thermal+fuse

Hi Drjenk,
I would not consider anything but the original Dometic part #3851409015. Yes it is expensive, but understand this component is part of Dometics fire life safty solution in the event of boiler failure and fire. If you alter it you own it. The bypassing of the thermal fuse should only be for diagnostic purposes only.

Tin.

KirkB · 02-08-2018, 09:43 PM

I don't have the same fridge model as you, but if you take it apart to clean the orifice, don't lose the orifice jet (part with small pin hole where the propane goes through). I thought it was part of the burner tube assembly, but it comes out. Luckily, I found mine on the garage floor, could be harder to find at Dome Rock campsite.

Sounds like there are some handy escape owners there to help you out.

Good Luck,

ReagentGrade · 02-09-2018, 09:59 AM

Hi All,

Thanks for the help, especially to Jon V and Ron from BC. Reace took one look at the photo and said it was way too small. He thought it could be from low had gas pressure (gas regulator malfunction) or some type of blockage in the orifice (dust or carbon as Ron suspected) or burner (maybe a spider web or some such).

Jon V had already quantitatively confirmed the low flame with IR temperature readings on the chimney. It read 150F on his fridge and only 90F on mine. (A great use of his IR gun.)

With Ron's supervision and advice, I shut off the fridge and gas tanks and proceeded to remove the orifice and burner. The orifice came off easily with a metric box wrench (I forget the size). The burner came by removing one screw. I couldn't see any problems in either, but I blew them out just in case (with my "mighty" lungs [emoji3]). BTW the actual orifice in this model is plastic and does not appear to easily come out of the screw on "cap". So no fear of loosing it.

I reassembled everything, turned on the gas, and fridge. Voila! The flame was MUCH larger than before. I stood there and admired it for a few minutes with great hope.

I set the flame guard in place but didn't secure it. Within 15 minutes, the SensorPush in the freezer reported declining temperatures. Huzzah!

I waited another 30 minutes or so and put everything back together. At this moment the fridge is set to 4 and everything is great: freezer 0.8F, fridge top 37.7F, fridge bottom 46.4F. And this is after opening the fridge several times. Baja here I come!

You can see the cooling history and current cycling cycle in this image.

My three SensorPushs in total, cost twice what I paid for the remote temperature system I had in my Bigfoot. But they are much more reliable and with the app they provide ten times the value. I highly recommend SensorPush!

rubicon327 · 02-09-2018, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReagentGrade

Hi All,
Thanks for the help, especially to Jon V and Ron from BC. Reace took one look at the photo and said it was way too small. He thought it could be from low had gas pressure (gas regulator malfunction) or some type of blockage in the orifice (dust or carbon as Ron suspected) or burner (maybe a spider web or some such).

Jon V had already quantitatively confirmed the low flame with IR temperature readings on the chimney. It read 150F on his fridge and only 90F on mine. (A great use of his IR gun.)

With Ron's supervision and advice, I shut off the fridge and gas tanks and proceeded to remove the orifice and burner. The orifice came off easily with a metric box wrench (I forget the size). The burner came by removing one screw. I couldn't see any problems in either, but I blew them out just in case (with my "mighty" lungs [emoji3]). BTW the actual orifice in this model is plastic and does not appear to easily come out of the screw on "cap". So no fear of loosing it.

I reassembled everything, turned on the gas, and fridge. Voila! The flame was MUCH larger than before. I stood there and admired it for a few minutes with great hope.

I set the flame guard in place but didn't secure it. Within 15 minutes, the SensorPush in the freezer reported declining temperatures. Huzzah!

Nice work! Nothing like having some experts at your disposal and instant data to qualify your work as a success.

Ron in BC · 02-09-2018, 12:19 PM

That was a learning experience. I was surprised by the differences between the old style fridges. The orifice is so much easier to access and clean.

We did two other things, very low tech so we'll never know what did the trick.

One, we gently rapped on the gas valve with the handle of a screwdriver. The flame turned yellow from the dislodged dust but didn't increase in size permanently. Two, I rotated the small knurled knob. It seemed to be spring loaded and snapped back. Maybe that dislodged something.

As I said, it was a learning experience but we can't argue with success.

Ron

JPSpins · 02-09-2018, 02:41 PM

Itsy Bitsy Spider....perhaps. Happy to hear all is well.

KirkB · 02-10-2018, 12:00 AM

Glad to hear the repair was successful!

ReagentGrade · 02-10-2018, 12:53 PM

Yes, everything is great right now. It's so great to be headed into Baja with a working fridge.

This morning I charged the fridge setting from 4 to 3. This is how it affected the freezer temps

And the fridge (upper sensor) temps

jennykatz · 08-02-2018, 10:45 PM

We are on our second year .we have a new style 21 with the 6 cf fridge . We came into our ACE site in land between lakes .The fridge was working on12 volt and we plugged in and it went to 110 AC .We came back and fridge was loosing its cool . Then after supper it was getting warmer .Freezer section meat is getting mushy .So we will be eating meat Friday .The Texas fan has never been turned on .i did not reset switch yet .Waiting For morning to reset and see if that will help it .I hope it will work we are 3days from home Any thoughts. Thanks
BTW we do have a small cooler buy ice and put perishables in there ?

tractors1 · 08-02-2018, 11:24 PM

Tried running it on propane? Should have switched over to that automatically if you lost AC power. If not, select it manually.

cpaharley2008 · 08-03-2018, 05:43 AM

When you say the texas fan has not been on, is the switch set to "off"? The issue in the past was it came on and the thermocouple blew. When you turned the fan on, could you hear it running?

jennykatz · 08-03-2018, 07:26 AM

No. Texas fan not on i pressed the reset button .The big canister and assorted pipes are hot so is thermostat thing the propane is on but can’t see if it was blue flame or yellow it looks more yellow? The fridge lite comes on .ive unplugged the 110 plug out so it will run on propane only .So far no cigar ?

padlin · 08-03-2018, 09:38 AM

I take it your 12vdc is okay? Need 12v for the control panel, at least mine does.

steve dunham · 08-03-2018, 10:30 AM

You need 11 WC” of gas pressure at the refrigerator for it to cool properly
I had a problem with our refrigerator , flue and piping was warm but the refrigerator would only go to 45 to 50 deg and freezer would not freeze.
The gas pressure at the refrigerator was a little under 10 WC “
We jacked the pressure up to 11 WC” and it worked fine
The stove , water heater and furnace will work at the lower pressure , the refrigerator will not .

rubicon327 · 08-03-2018, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve dunham

You need 11 WC” of gas pressure at the refrigerator for it to cool properly
I had a problem with our refrigerator , flue and piping was warm but the refrigerator would only go to 45 to 50 deg and freezer would not freeze.
The gas pressure at the refrigerator was a little under 10 WC “
We jacked the pressure up to 11 WC” and it worked fine
The stove , water heater and furnace will work at the lower pressure , the refrigerator will not .

We were just discussing this in another thread. When measured at the refrigerator test port with manometer you should not drop below 11" WC with 50% of the trailer BTU's operating. This may put the reading at the refrigerator closer to 12" WC with no other loads. The propane regulator is easily adjusted by unscrewing the black cap and turning the assembly clockwise (increases pressure). Our older RM2510 refrigerator has been working fantastic after a new Marshall Excelsior MEGR-253 regulator and these adjustments mentioned above.

www.escapeforum.org/forums/f9/refrigerator-test-11296-8.html#post256080

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