Fridge not cooling on propane - fixed!

Disclaimer: I am not a refrigerator repairman! To do this I disassembled the burner and chimney assembly. This is potentially dangerous and great care must be taken to avoid potential propane leaks or burner destruction.

OK, got that out of the way! Whew!

Prior to leaving for Acadia, I cooled the freezer and fridge as I normally do via 110v. Fridge was our usual cold @ 32-24 prior to filling freezer with frozen stuff and fridge with cold stuff. Upon leaving, I switched to propane. We usually travel with fridge in propane mode and have never had a problem. We also always carry a 32 quart cooler to take some of the load off the fridge. We were dry camping for a week in Acadia (Blackwoods Campground).

About the third day out we noticed the fridge seemed to be getting a bit warmer (I misplaced the thermo). We turned it to "four lights" and used the cooler as much as possible. By fourth day it became obvious something was wrong. Although the packed freezer was still frozen, the fridge was getting alarmingly warm. As we had block ice in the cooler and it was convenient to camp, we simply transferred to the cooler. Also, we were camping with friend who had freezer space so it wasn't a big deal...but inquiring minds wanted to know!

Inspecting the burner and chimney noted a blue flame and a "hot to the touch" chimney stack. There was some cooling going on. Just not much. A few of us examined the flame and were perplexed. The freezer was defrosting. When convenient, I fired up my Yamaha 2400 and ran the fridge on 110v. for a couple of hours. It got cold fast. Whew! That ruled out the cooling system. During the 12 hour ride home, I ran it on 12v. and it cooled down as expected. Caveat: My pod battery bank (dual 6v.) did not charge as well as normal using TV while towing.

We got home last evening. This morning I removed the burner cover and inspected the flame:

You can see the flame. Nice and blue. Hmmm. OK, having a little experience with small gas torches, I decided to disassemble the burner assembly, soak it in isopropyl alcohol and blow it good with compressed air. The burner itself is like a miniature stove burner. While I had it disassembled, I cleaned the chimney with a tube brush. BTW, I turned off the gas, unplugged the 110v. fridge plug and pulled the 12v. fuse first!

I then carefully reassembled everything, turned the gas on and used soapy water to carefully check for any leaks (both before and after starting fridge). I replaced 12v. fuse and stated fridge in propane mode. Wow! Now I know what the flame should look like - and sound like!!

When working properly, the burner has a noticeable sound and robust flame! Within one hour the freezer was down to 20. After three hours, the freezer is now at zero! Nice!

Lessons learned...

Particularly if we are going to be dry camping...

Hope that helps! We had a fabulous trip to Acadia! I will post pictures and story soon!

fred

Priorities Leo, priorities!