Fridge not getting cold on Propane

[davidshourd]

The Norcold fridge in the camper is not getting cold at all while running on propane. Had it on all weekend with propane, but nothing. gets cold on AC and DC just fine. Does the power need to be on for the fridge to get cold on propane? It worked fantastic last winter, but I usualy had the power on due to hanging out in the camper more during the colder months.

yes, the fridge nob is turned to "cold" and the selector to "gas". I confirmed flame. all was in the right setting as far as I could tell.

Any ideas? What a I missing?

 

[Phil]

mine did the same

I bought my FWC used 2 years ago and it did the same thing after opening it up I found that the orifice's hole was not letting enough gas out. I replaced it for 3 bucks and now it works great. You don't need any power to run the frig on gas. Hopes this helps

 

[DirtyDog]

the orifice's hole was not letting enough gas out

My girlfriend will tell you I don't have that problem.......

 

[Ted]

My girlfriend will tell you I don't have that problem.......

TMI.

 

[davidshourd]

How big should the flame be? right now it is about a 3/4" tall blue flame. gets hot. but is sometimes a real bugger to light. I have to use one of those long skinny lighters to get in there and get it. the "clicker" never seems to get it.

I will check it out.

just confirmed it works great on 120V last night.

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

Did you have the truck & refrigerator parked on a "LEVEL" surface ?


The other thing you can do is remove the small sheet metal cover surrounding the pilot light flame area, and clean the small slits where the flame is actually coming out of the pilot light. Sometimes the slits get clogged up a little with carbon, spiderwebs, or rust. That might restrict the propane flow just enough to allow the pilot light to be too small.

But usually if the pilot light flame is too small, it won't be heating the thermocoupler enough and the pilot light will go out. Maybe the reason you are having a hard time lighting it ??

Just a thought.






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The Norcold fridge in the camper is not getting cold at all while running on propane. Had it on all weekend with propane, but nothing. gets cold on AC and DC just fine. Does the power need to be on for the fridge to get cold on propane? It worked fantastic last winter, but I usualy had the power on due to hanging out in the camper more during the colder months.

yes, the fridge nob is turned to "cold" and the selector to "gas". I confirmed flame. all was in the right setting as far as I could tell.

Any ideas? What a I missing?






.

 

[davidshourd]

I would never say the camper is perfectly level. probably one of the biggest faults of this fridge. says it can only be out by a couple degrees in any direction. somehow they should let it work up to maybe 10degrees out of level.

sitting in the driveway right now though, it is within a couple degrees.

I will try and clean the ports and see what they gets me. thanks for the input guys.

 

[HERR42]

that fridge can be off by +-3 fore and aft and +-6 side to side....thats more than you would be tolerate for sleeping.

i bought an inclinometer that was good for +-6 degrees....and i used it just enough to "figure out" how level the fridge must be.

its not that demanding.

you have some other problem. if the AC & DC power (they just run heater strips) can do it and the flame wont...then something is wrong.

those units are SUPER EFFICIENT on propane.

 

[robojeeper]

My dometic had same type problem

I found on mine the orfice was bad as mentioned in the thread above. I replaced it for few bucks and it runs great now.do not try to clean or rod the orfice out there is a fine line between just right and to hot.Before you replace it check your pressure at the regulator,it should be 11 inches.The flame may look normal but the difference is so small the eye can't tell.also check for bugs etc in the tube that feeds propane to burner,sounds strange but true!

 

[fish more]

clean your hole out

You will find that the orifice is plugged, clean it out and it should be OK

 

[robojeeper]

any fix?

Have you been able to repair or locate the problem?

 

[Jack]

The Norcold repair guy gave me one of those cheap circular bubble levels and said if the bubble was more than half out of the circle, the fridge was not level enough. I have often verified the reverse - if the bubble is half inside the circle, the fridge works.

 

[davidshourd]

cleaned the ports on the thing and ran it last weekend in 90 plus heat. took about 4 hours to go from 90 to 55. not bad at all. by the next morning it was down to mid 40's. I am happy with that given the low was probably 55 or 60 that night. thanks for the help guys. I will be sure to keep the thing clean in there.

also my first outing with the solar panels I have hooked up. parked the camper in the sun for the day while we played in a river while jaming to music plugged into the camper. battery stayed fully charge for 5-6 hours of tunes playing. works GREAT! only a trickle charge of 10watts, but apperently that is all it needed. the speakers were some 120V computer speakers plugged into a small invertor.

 

[pvstoy]

cleaned the ports on the thing and ran it last weekend in 90 plus heat. took about 4 hours to go from 90 to 55. not bad at all. by the next morning it was down to mid 40's. I am happy with that given the low was probably 55 or 60 that night. thanks for the help guys. I will be sure to keep the thing clean in there.


Used compressed air and blew out my friends unit and they have had no problems. Glad you found a cure......



The Norcold repair guy gave me one of those cheap circular bubble levels and said if the bubble was more than half out of the circle, the fridge was not level enough. I have often verified the reverse - if the bubble is half inside the circle, the fridge works.

Me too Jack