refrigerator

[dastout]

Gettin ready for a trip to Fl. Any body have any idea why I have such a difficult time getting my fridge to operate on gas. I can hear it "light" but 1 minute later it is off & says 'Check" after going through this cycle 10 to 15 times it finally takes off. I thought it was because it has not been used all winter but I got it going a week ago , then could not get on yesterday until about 10 cycles. Then it ran fine. Turned it off last night and this morning had the same problem, would not stay on after 10 cycles so I turned it on with electric and after 15 minutes swithched to gas & it stayed on first try. Perplexing , I need to make sure I can run on gas only as I will have no electrical power except from my generator.

Any comments or ideas would be appreciated!

 

[Triple E]

Re: refrigerator

Have you checked the orifice in the gas line. Kind of sounds like it could use a cleaning. I am sure someone will comeback with more help but this would be the first place that I would check. JMHO. Good luck. Have a safe trip to Florida.

:8ball:

 

[LEN]

Re: refrigerator

Do you turn the gas off at the tank each time or leave it on? If off you may have a small gas leak that drains off over a period of time and when you turn it back on you must bleed the air from the lines each time. I don't know of a reason to correlate elec to gas and have it light right off.

LEN

 

[TexasClodhopper]

Re: refrigerator

dastout, I had the same thing happen to mine. It worked fine when I checked it out for a trip, but stopped later during the trip.

Then I got it lit when we got back, but only for a minute or two.

I ended up doing just what Steve suggested. Pulled it apart and cleaned out the orifice. It must have been partially clogged and then the heat 'melted' the gunk and clogged it completely. That is going to be routine maintenance for me now. I'm going to make a 'gadget' like a pipe cleaner to reach around the corners to keep that orifice clean.

Most propane is refined from crude oil in a fairly complicated process of distilling. There still are some leftover tars in there somewhere that get caked up when burned. (My propane fireplace always gets a big pile of the stuff around the pilot.)

Good luck and don't forget to turn the gas valve off when you go working on that.

 

[dastout]

Re: refrigerator

Thanks Folks for the idea (checking the orfice for dirt) It makes sense & I will check it out today

 

[Kirk]

Re: refrigerator

Before I went to that point, I would first make use of a good shop vacuum to the area of the burner to remove all dirt, bug nests and foreign matter. There is a cover to the burner area that is easy to remove. If you do clean the orifice, do not use anything of metal on the opening as you can easily make it larger or misshapen and cause it to have to be replaced. The most common cause of propane problems in RV refrigerators is simply the lack of cleaning.