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Old 05-08-2022, 11:55 AM   #41
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It's to the right of the red button under the rectangular sheet metal cover. A couple of sheet metal screws and it's accessible.

Ron
It failed again overnight. I got into it this morning and removed the propane line that runs from the solenoid valve to the brass fitting at the burner that turns out to have the orifice right in the end of it. Everything looked clear, but I blew through the orifice with brake cleaner and blew compressed air through the fuel line. I also rapped on the side of the chimney a few more times and blew out the burner again. Re-assembled and it's currently working okay. If it fails again, I'm into looking for circuit board issues I guess.
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Old 05-08-2022, 11:59 AM   #42
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I also rapped on the side of the chimney a few more times and blew out the burner again. Re-assembled and it's currently working okay. If it fails again, I'm into looking for circuit board issues I guess.
I don't know, I did that multiple times with mine. I also found that rapping on the gas valve got it working again. I wondered if it was a sticking valve. Sometimes it would work fine for a year or more.

My current fridge, touch wood, has never had a problem.

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Old 05-08-2022, 01:16 PM   #43
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I don't know, I did that multiple times with mine. I also found that rapping on the gas valve got it working again. I wondered if it was a sticking valve. Sometimes it would work fine for a year or more.

My current fridge, touch wood, has never had a problem.

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What's weird about this one is that it will run for several hours while parked, and then have some kind of fault that shuts it down. Maybe it's a control issue that causes it fail when cycling on and off after reaching the temperature set point.
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Old 05-08-2022, 11:34 PM   #44
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mine has a dead controller, but afaik the gas was working fine until it died. its in a cardboard box in my driveway, has been for a couple months. anyone wants it for parts, come get it
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Old 05-09-2022, 06:30 AM   #45
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my RMD8555 won't light on propane, but works fine on 120VAC. Got plenty of propane in the system, the furnace runs fine, as does the water heater, and stove/oven. When I push the gas button on the fridge, it pauses a second or two, I hear a faint click, then it beeps/alerts. push the reset button, a second later, a click and immediately beep beep. I can see it spark once each time my wife pushes the reset button, and the burner looks clean

I did note that the stove seemed to be burning with a bit of yellow 'tips' on the flame, IIRC, that means the gas pressure is a little too high so the stove is running rich ? I guess I should rig a manometer up and check the systtem pressure. Does the RMD8555 have pressure-stats that detect gas pressure too low or too high and refuse to run?
Hi: John in Santa Cruise... Our fridge wouldn't light on propane while on a trip to Florida. Local big RV dealer there said we needed a whole new igniter unit. Ran it on 110V and battery till we got home. My RV Tech here fixed it so the spark is now over the flame jet by recovering the spark wire!!! The insulation had rubbed through during traveling. So simple when you know how!!! Alf
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Old 05-09-2022, 06:58 AM   #46
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Ours has been running about 20 hours now, so I'm starting to believe it will be okay for a while. It's not a very satisfying fix though, rapping on it with a block of wood and blowing things out that already look clean. Maybe there was one little piece of something in there. I think I may replace the pigtails on the regulator. They're original since 2013, and I wonder if the inner lining might be shedding some particles.
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Old 05-09-2022, 10:22 AM   #47
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Hi: John in Santa Cruise... Our fridge wouldn't light on propane while on a trip to Florida. Local big RV dealer there said we needed a whole new igniter unit. Ran it on 110V and battery till we got home. My RV Tech here fixed it so the spark is now over the flame jet by recovering the spark wire!!! The insulation had rubbed through during traveling. So simple when you know how!!! Alf
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no, mine was a fried controller. it wasn't even trying to turn the gas on.
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Old 05-09-2022, 08:40 PM   #48
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Update....the fridge has been running for 30+ hours with no shutdowns, so I think it's worth trying another trip with it. I talked with a major propane supplier today about particles in the propane and perhaps changing the pigtails at the regulator. He said propane invariably has particles in the mix, and that if the pigtails appeared to be in good physical condition, there is no reason to change them. It's almost reassuring to hear there is a logical possibility of some little piece of crud getting into the orifice at the burner. I guess I won't think too hard about it. The fridge works, for now.
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Old 05-22-2022, 06:30 AM   #49
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Well, after many hopeful hours of propane operation at home and a few miles to fetch the Escape from storage, the propane failed shortly after departing on our last trip. We limped home yesterday running on 12V, which, despite running very heavy wires from the tow vehicle to the Escape, let the temp get up into the 50s in the fridge. I'm going to explore what I can in terms of control board connections and maybe take it to an RV shop, but I don't see spending more than a couple hundred bucks on this thing. Maybe the new Dometic absorption fridge is the way to go. I don't know how much longer we'll be doing this and don't think I want to go to the trouble and expense of a compressor fridge installation.
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Old 05-22-2022, 08:28 AM   #50
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before you go to too much expense, trying removing the orifice again and soaking it in alcohol. I had cleaned my orifice two or three times by blowing it out, but the fridge would not work well after a few weeks. but I cleaned it with alcohol a couple of years ago, and double checked my propane pressure with a manometer. Haven't had a problem since.
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Old 05-22-2022, 10:45 AM   #51
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before you go to too much expense, trying removing the orifice again and soaking it in alcohol. I had cleaned my orifice two or three times by blowing it out, but the fridge would not work well after a few weeks. but I cleaned it with alcohol a couple of years ago, and double checked my propane pressure with a manometer. Haven't had a problem since.
I blew through it with an aerosol brake cleaner using the little plastic tube to be sure it got into orifice, so I'm not real hopeful that soaking it will do anything at this point. It worked for several hours, but it seems that once it fails, it will not recover. It moves to a fault signal immediately, which to me sound like an electrical issue. Or if mechanical, it's a solenoid valve not sending a signal back to the control board that it's opened and that there is propane flowing. I don't hear any sparking when it's in this failure cycle. As to why it worked for a while after blowing out the burner and squirting a solvent through the orifice.....that's where my logic falls apart.
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Old 05-22-2022, 11:50 AM   #52
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I agreed with Leon W until I saw your reply indicating fault codes. Ours had a wimpy flame starting about 2-3 years ago that soaking in alcohol fixed. It was on our trip last February - on the first day out as well that all power went out. It had done that once a year previously and re & re the 30 amp fuse at the back of the fridge lit it up again. Not this time however. Reading on SOB forum it was suggested I shake the wires in the back & voila 12V power returned and the fridge worked for the rest of the two week trip.

At this point I didn't trust it anymore- and let's face it- even home refrigerators sometimes fail after 7 years like my LG did.

So I called Dyer's and ordered the RMD 10.5 XT and thanks to Vin & Jan it was a piece of cake to wire up. Just read the instructions for selecting different modes- you have to confirm the setting with the back arrow or it doesn't switch.

Have had it out on two 3 week trips and it performs better, doors lock better and open in either direction. Haven't tried it on DC yet, however Vin says it works way better than the RMD8555 and as long as it is cold to begin with will hold temp for a long time; 4-5 hours.
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Old 05-22-2022, 01:18 PM   #53
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I agreed with Leon W until I saw your reply indicating fault codes.
This thing is really flaky. After several attempts at starting it and trying to clear the fault, I went out and rustled around in the back. I tried blowing it out again; nothing. Then I tapped the solenoid valve, moved some wires around, including the ignitor wires, and it started working again. I've now cycled it several times successfully. I'd really like to know the ignition sequence. When it lights, I can hear the sparking and then the flame. When it's not working, I don't hear the spark. So does it know it's not sparking and the logic goes straight to failure mode? Or is there some control issue that indicated failure before even trying to spark? Or maybe the propane comes on, spark is failing to light it, temperature doesn't increase, so it goes to failure mode. I'm really reluctant to hand it over to an RV tech for an intermittent problem. That's a great way to pay for a new control board I probably don't need.

Rossue, I understand how you could get to the point of just replacing the thing and starting over.
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Old 05-22-2022, 01:27 PM   #54
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Then I tapped the solenoid valve, moved some wires around, including the ignitor wires, and it started working again.
Well, there's the old joke, if it doesn't work hit it with a hammer. If that doesn't work, hit it with a bigger hammer.

On my old 19 I found that if the orifice was clean tapping the gas valve often worked. If it didn't releasing the gas pressure to the valve seemed to get it going again.

Ron
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Old 05-22-2022, 02:00 PM   #55
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Well, there's the old joke, if it doesn't work hit it with a hammer. If that doesn't work, hit it with a bigger hammer.

On my old 19 I found that if the orifice was clean tapping the gas valve often worked. If it didn't releasing the gas pressure to the valve seemed to get it going again.

Ron
Not very satisfying solution, unfortunately. I have no way of knowing when to go bash on it again while driving along.
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Old 05-22-2022, 02:01 PM   #56
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a dual golf cart battery + stock 160-190 watt solar system would probably suffice to run a compressor fridge for at least a couple days of dry camping, and given sufficient sunshine, possibly indefinitely. you can get 10-15% more out of hte stock solar panel by swapping the PWM for a MPPT controller.

flooded golf cart batteries are true deep discharge, and quality ones like Trojan T105 can be discharged to like 80% each time and still last 400 or more cycles, which is over a year of continuous camping... The commonly quoted 50% 'safe discharge' applies to marine/rv batteries. so 80% of 225AH (Trojan T105) at 12V, thats 2100 watt*hours. I'm finding I'm using about 300-500 watt*hours per day when fridge is on max, fans get used a fair bit (including furnace), and typical lighting and USB recharging. My 360W solar panel can produce 1800-2000 watt*hours per very sunny day when parked in the wide open, so a 180W should do about half that, enough to keep up under 50% optimal conditions.

so, the expense of a compressor fridge can be reduced to JUST the price of the fridge, my Norcold N2175 exactly fit in place of the RMD8555 and cost me $2200 delivered. you can cap the roof vent, and cover the side vent, it doesn't use them, and it just requires +12V connections, so you cap off the propane feed and leave the 120V outlet empty.
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Old 05-22-2022, 02:27 PM   #57
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You forgot to mention your total cost of around $6K. Then with all that lithium now need voltage regulators on 12V things like Maxxfan. Thought about it for maybe 30 minutes then decided I just wanna go camping- and need more than 2 days on boondocking.

In 8 years we've never need more 12V amp hours than what our dual 6V/ 160W solar panel setup provides.
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Old 05-22-2022, 02:45 PM   #58
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You forgot to mention your total cost of around $6K. Then with all that lithium now need voltage regulators on 12V things like Maxxfan. Thought about it for maybe 30 minutes then decided I just wanna go camping- and need more than 2 days on boondocking.

In 8 years we've never need more 12V amp hours than what our dual 6V/ 160W solar panel setup provides.
by my numbers above, with 2 good flooded lead acids, you should be able to go at least 4 days with a compressor fridge without any charging solar or otherwise, and if you're getting at least 50% sun on that stock system, it will probably keep up.

I went way overboard in my upgrade, happy now that its done, but yeah, it was some money. I treat it as a good investment on being able to enjoy. the extra power proved more than sufficient to handle a 2000W inverter and use it as much as we want, short of trying to run air conditioning, or a 120V space heater on high for more than a few hours. My maxxfan, circa 2014, has not had any issues with the 14V. I've actually been leaving my power converter switched OFF, and running purely on lithium+solar even when I have hookups.
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Old 05-22-2022, 03:15 PM   #59
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a dual golf cart battery + stock 160-190 watt solar system would probably suffice to run a compressor fridge for at least a couple days of dry camping, and given sufficient sunshine, possibly indefinitely. you can get 10-15% more out of hte stock solar panel by swapping the PWM for a MPPT controller.

flooded golf cart batteries are true deep discharge, and quality ones like Trojan T105 can be discharged to like 80% each time and still last 400 or more cycles, which is over a year of continuous camping... The commonly quoted 50% 'safe discharge' applies to marine/rv batteries. so 80% of 225AH (Trojan T105) at 12V, thats 2100 watt*hours.
John, you're making a convincing argument for someone who doesn't want to get in so deep on such a conversion as you did, but don't the discharge characteristics of the batteries play in here as well? I think your lithium batteries maintain something close to full voltage during much of their discharge cycle. Can we really discharge flooded batteries that deeply and have sufficient voltage out of them to safely operate the compressor? You have a great setup now, but I think I'm still with Rossue on this one.
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Old 05-22-2022, 04:35 PM   #60
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80% discharge on flooded deep cycle lead acid is around 11.5V, I believe the Norcold is rated to run down to 10.5V or so. But per my calculations, that level of discharge is what you'd see after 4 days of zero sun.
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