Troubleshooting a Faulty RV Propane Refrigerator
Dave SolbergDescription
Does your RV propane refrigerator turn on for a brief moment before shutting off again? The problem might be a frustrating and confusing one, but we’d bet yours is a common and simple solution. In this free lesson, RV expert Dave Solberg teaches you how to troubleshoot a faulty fridge that doesn’t seem to want to keep its cool.
To help get RV refrigerators back up and running, Dave takes you outside our demo camper to show you the inside of a sample burner assembly. He walks you through a quick troubleshooting session, pointing out each of the components that could be to blame for your fridge’s cold feet. You’ll learn what happens when the assembly’s spark ignitor is cracked or the flame sensor probe is covered, and discover the best way to fix whatever issue you find!
One of our members is having problems with their refrigerator. The question came in saying, I have a fridge problem when running on propane. It fires up for about three seconds and shuts off. I replaced the thermal coupler and the same thing kept occurring. I heard about maybe the flue. I also blew all the particles out with an air can and the problem is still going. Any suggestions? Well, the first thing- I am wondering what type of thermal couple he replaced. And it didn't say whether it was a Nor-Cal or Dometic, but they're fairly similar in their activities. We have, this one happens to be a Dometic here. We have the gas valve, which is right here, an on/off situation. It will provide LP into the burner assembly coming down actually from here down into our burner assembly. There is no thermal coupler on a refrigerator. There's a variety of different, and you may be referring to a gas valve, or some people even call the burner assembly down here, a thermal coupler, but the way the system works is when you run this on LP, we're going to take this cover off here, and normally I could just open this little sight glass and take a look at it, but- I want to get access into my burner assembly in here. And what I'm going to do is, I always carry this handy little flashlight, that I can get in and take a look at it. The LP gas will come into here. We have a spark igniter, which is right here. This ceramic piece with a little probe on the backside. And underneath that is our burner assembly, where we're going to have the gas with air mixture come up through there. And it just sparks tick, tick, tick, and it lights. And what this will do is it will light for a few seconds. And if it doesn't sense a flame, it'll shut itself off. And so a lot of times, what happens is it'll tick and it won't light because this little ceramic piece here is cracked. And it does what we call carbon tracking, meaning the spark, instead of going down and lighting our assembly here, just like a grill that you would at home, it follows that crack. So it's not getting into that gas. And if it doesn't start in so many tries, it won't light. But if it's lighting, then we are getting gas going through there. We are getting a spark, but what it probably is is one of two things. The end of this thermal coupler, excuse me. I called it a thermal coupler. The end of that igniter could have some carbon on it. Could be, you know, it's not sensing a flame and there is no heat sense in this thing. What it does is when that flame goes up to two inches or whatever the height is, it actually creates a current circuit. If the flame is too small, then it's not going to let that electricity go through or that voltage go through. And sense that, you know, it is working, it'll shut itself off. So one of two things has happened. I'd go in and I clean the top of this piece off here. Take a look at your flame. It should be a nice dark blue flame with a light blue tip. If it's jumping around or it's a yellowish or orangish, then we have an issue with the actual flame. The mixture coming through, you would need to clean out your burner assembly. Take this piece out here and clean that as well. But if your probe, again, this piece right here, is just off enough or it's too high, the flame is not going to reach up and touch that. So you're not going to have that connection. So it's going to sense, uh-oh! I'm not getting a flame and it's going to go out. So if you're having a flame coming on for a few seconds, check this component right here because you are getting fuel and you are getting spark for a temporary time.
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I have a flame but the red still comes on but still burning
I would like to know how to install a propane bypass system for adding an external tank. Can you please help? Thanks, Lloyd Field
I have. A fridge it's duel propane and electric it doesn't get cold the back of the unit tho gets extremely hot any suggestions
This is the worst video. The camera never actually shows the assembly or which components need to be cleaned up.
I have a problem with defrosting, I get a lot of ice buildup inside, any hints?
I tried this and all kinds of trouble shooting. In the end, my driveway isn’t level and that was the problem. Check level first!
Electrolux 4400 fridge,blue flame lights,release the button.Flame goes out.Checked and cleaned the flue,has not fixed the issue.Any suggestions.
Have a 1200 series Norcold refrigerator. Freezer works great. Refrigerator will not cool. We have changed the thermistor and it worked for a little while now it’s stopped cooling again.
Will not come on in electric or l lp setings.
I have a 2011 Puma travel trailer. The refrigerator works on electric, but does not get as cold as it should. At the camp site, it works fine on gas. But, when we travel to and from the camp site, we put refrigerator on gas, but the refrigerator is not staying cold. On a 7 hrs travel, the freezer stuff starts thawing and the refrigerator items become warm. Any ideas? Thank you.