Norcold Fridge Won't Ignite - Help Please

Hello All,

Fifth week with the brand new Hawk and now the fridge won't light. Originally took 20 presses of the ignitor, then about 70. Thursday night, I gave up after about 2000 presses (not all in one session). Propane not the issue; stove and furnace work just fine. Not thrilled to kick off a three day weekend with a $1000 ice box and no ice.

I've never been keen on those ignitor switches on gas barbecues for this very reason; seems that I always have to resort to using a match or a butane lighter. But on the Norcold, the burner box is so confined, and the access hole so tiny, that I hate to try inserting a flame in there. Anyway I don't think it would be humanly possible to attempt that while simultaneously pressing the safety valve.

My friends warned me plenty about the frustrations of RV ownership but I have to admit, between this and other breakdowns that I have discussed with Stan, I didn't expect so many problems in the first month. Guess I was naive. I could really use some guidance from you folks out there. How can I light this thing when the ignitor is useless?? I've got a fridge full of spoiled eggs, ruined marinaded chicken breasts, and warm German beer (well maybe that last item is at least appropriate).

Thanks,

As I've said in previous post if the Hawk didn't come with one it wouldn't have broken my heart. Having said that this one is working knock on wood.

Those igniter switches don't last forever, either. The first Norcold in our Eagle lasted two years (absorption chamber). Fortunately, there is a 3yr warranty. But as others have noted, the equipment available to FWC and ATC often leaves a lot to be desired. If the Japanese ever get into RV refrigerators, it's history for Norcold/Dometic.

Enough complaining - I have a practical suggestion. We use one of those butane gas lighters (there's a picture of the back end of one in my post on ShurFlo faucets). The end fits nicely into the burner hole. We leave the lighter in the burner compartment, making it easy to get to for lighting campfires.

Makes you wonder about Saabs and Volvos.

Lighter In Burner Hole?

So it's OK to insert a flame into the covered hole on the burner box? But how do you do that and press the safety valve button on the front of the unit at the same time? Is it a team effort, or do you not need to do that when lighting this way?

My routine for lighting the refrigerator

OMG,

My camper and fridge are five years old so may not be the same as FWC is using now. That said, the igniter has never worked well for me. The routine I use to start the fridge is as follows:

Open propane tank valve. Turn fridge setting to gas, turn gas setting to high. Get in camper and open stove gas until I smell gas (essentially I'm priming the gas line) then turn off stove gas. Strike a wooden match. Hold gas button down while inserting match through window into the area where you see the flame when fridge is running.

This usually takes about three matches to ignite the fridge. Sometimes the igniter button works after a couple of matches. Is this frustrating? Yes. Is it efficient? No. But I have always been successful in getting the fridge to light. Best of luck to you.

Ted

Old Man Grumpus<

When you took the propane tank to get filled for the first time did you have the people there "Purge" the tank??

Purging a new tank will get all the bad crap out of the tank.. If you don't, then any crap that is in there will plug the tiny orfice in the burner on the ref... You will be able to use the stove fine and the heater should work too.

If this is the case for you, then you have to have the tank purged and take the orfice out of the ref and clean and blow out the line.

I say this from my adventure when I was in too much in a hurry to fill the tank and try everything out.

For lighting you can get one of those long BBQ butane matches and use that in the burner area if it will fit in the small hole. Or look up my post on the Auto-Relighter.

pvstoy -- do I need to be pressing the red safety valve button while lighting the burner area?

Ted -- thank you, but, as far as I can tell, the flame area for the fridge is only accessible from the outside of the camper, in the burner box behind the side panel.

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3325&stc=1&d=1214799597

You should be able to move the selector to Propane. Move the knob on the right to high and hold it down. You will need to release it every 10 to 15 seconds and try it again because if the burner is not lite then the gas valve will close. when it is pressed then either press the red button for the piezzo striker or use a match or some other flame to light the burner.

The panel box on mine does not look like this -- except for the burner box and flue tube which are identical but on the opposite end of the box. It has a brass cutoff valve for the gas, but not the power source selector or ignitor button like in this photo. On mine, those are on the front of the fridge itself, inside the camper.

You must have the Nor-Cold refrigerator freezer combo. If you want to use a match or the like then you would need a second person outside to light it.

Take the cover on the burner off and have somebody push the red peizo button and see if you have spark.

Here is my post on the auto re-lighter. http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1251

Great information! So, it does need to be a team effort if using the butane lighter solution. The relighter also looks like a reasonably simple mod. Sorry that I did not make the connection in my prior searches.

I also wondered about the idea discussed in the thread, of driving with the propane running. So even at 70mph on the freeway, the flame is sufficiently shrouded?

I lit the burnner Saturday morning and I turned it off Sunday night. That was with driving 160 miles and up to 75 mph. It was always on when I parked.

Looks like those freezer models are very well shrouded.

If I was to stop and get gas my tank filler is on the other side of the truck. If it was closer than I would consider shutting it off when filling.

makes me remember the B.E.days!

I feel sorry for the frig problems it is a shame they can,t make them bullet proof.
O yes B.E. stands for Before Engle,takes care of all frig problems!
This seems to be one of the main complaints of all campers.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Drive slow and enjoy "its the journey"
Les Lqhikers

I drove from Apache Sitegraves NP to Tucson with the burner going.

Refrigerator Lighting Tips & Tricks

Hey Matt


You are probably doing this already, but here is a quick over-view of the easy way to get the refrigerator started on propane if everything is working correctly.

Maybe the first thing to check is to make sure you are getting a spark outside ? Tonight when it is dark outside, have your wife or a friend hop inside the camper and you stay outside the camper. You, open the lower refrigerator vent cover outside and slide the pilot light port hole cover open. Then have someone inside start slowly pushing the the red "sparker" button on the front of the refrigerator. You should be able to see the spark jumping in there if the ignitor is working properly.

Next make sure your propane tank has propane in it, and that the propane tank valve is open.

Next hop inside the camper and light your 2 burner stove for maybe 5 or 10 seconds.

Next turn your furnace on for a minute or two.

By doing these 2 things you will insure that most any air that could be in the propane lines is blead out.

If you are getting a spark in the refrigerator area and propane is flowing, the propane should light (the gas will fill up outside and create a very small explosion – not a big bang, just a small “poof” noise in pilot light area when it lights).

NEXT STEPS:

Go inside the camper and turn the refrigerator control knob over to the “Flame” picture.

Set the temperature dial to approx. 4 or 4 ½ for the temp. setting.

Push the middle red button in and hold it in. DO NOT release this button – keep holding it in. It should have a smooth feeling to it as you push it in, it should not click. Once you have this button depressed, at the same time you are holding this button in, reach over with your other hand and give 2 quick clicks to the red button on the left. This button should “CLICK” – creating the spark in the outside / back of the refrigerator. Remember, when you are “clicking” the left button, keep the middle pushed in or it will not light. Again, just keep your finger depressed on the middle button, not letting up, and occasionally “click” the other button 2 times ever 10 or 15 seconds..

Keep repeating this process until you can see the little red line / gauge in the small square site window move from the left (white) – over to the right (green). This can some times take anywhere from one to two minutes. So just keep the middle button depressed and keep sparking with the other button.

Once it lights, you will usually here a “POOF” in the back of the refrigerator area. Almost immediately you will see the red line move from the white over to the green.

Please give this a try tonight and let me know what you find.

Talk to you soon.



.

Stan -- appreciate the response and as you guessed, I have been doing all of the above (except verifying the spark). The propane flow to the furnace and stove is fine. In my e-mail to you I mentioned that the number of required clicks on the ignitor was steadily increasing, and during each attempt I was also steadily holding down the middle red button (safety valve). Worked great in the beginning but gradually was getting to where it took 100+ clicks to get the needle to move. Then this weekend, no luck. So at the moment the likeliest cause seems to be lack of spark in the burner box for whatever reason.

You never said if you had the tank "Purged" or not. Please let me know.

If you do have spark and a match will not light it then either the propane orvice is pluged or the controlers are not working.

It takes propane and a spark to get a flame.

Hi Pat - I did not have the propane tank purged when it was initially filled. So if it contained clogging gunk, it apparently took several weeks to emerge. But I believe you did mention that could happen.

If you have good spark and a flame won't make it go (could have a very small flame) then take the tube off and clean the orfice. Propane is cheap for your time. Head off and have the tank emptyed and purged and refilled.

Then run new gas through the line to purge out any remaining crap before re connecting the tube. then you should be good to go...If that is the problem......