Refrigerator Works On LP

KH

khhorton

Advanced Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2011
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46
Location
Canton, Georgia
Spent today working on the refrigerator. This is a Dometic RM2554 with 3-way DC, ac electric, and LP. It worked on electric. LP circuit would not. I took the vent cover off, protective burner sheet metal off to have a better look.

The electric lighter was clicking and trying to light. I could hear the burner trying to light multiple times, but it wouldn't stay lit. I took a can of compresses air to blow out the burner and bottom of the flue. I did not blow into the gas regulator. It took several tries, but I finally got it to light and stay lit. The freezer area was starting to get cold after an hour. I did have to switch LP tanks, so either the gauge is faulty, or a problem with the regulator.

I'll put it back together, fill the tanks, and try again.
 
Most times if you have had the gas shut off you need to light a stove burner to get gas back in the lines and then the refer and the water heater will light immediately.
 
RichR said:
Most times if you have had the gas shut off you need to light a stove burner to get gas back in the lines and then the refer and the water heater will light immediately.
Click to expand...
This is good advice, I have found that doing this is quite necessary.
Glad to hear you got it working.
 
I was glad to see those little blue flames stay lit today. Someone mentioned last week that they wouldn't be big, and they were right. They might be a 1/4" high. We did have the stove/oven and water heater on the first trip, so I suspect primary issue was some creature built a home inside the burner tube.
 
Ref. staying lit

Glad you got your problem solved. It would be good if you changed out your hoses at the LP tank and purchased a new regular. The regulator is not exactly cheap. However, good insurance that you will not be caught without your propane on a freezing cold day. One member of our HiLo club had his regulator freeze up. Just a suggestion.
 
It's not a bad idea to purge the tanks now and then to rid them of moisture and whatever else builds up in there. When you get an empty tank filled ask them to purge it.
 
RichR said:
Most times if you have had the gas shut off you need to light a stove burner to get gas back in the lines and then the refer and the water heater will light immediately.
Click to expand...

+1. When I've had the gas cut off for several weeks, I will always light a burner 1st. The other day I wanted to test some of the systems again. (During the summer due to work, I hadn't been able to go out with the trailer). Now, Im getting ready for football tailgating weekends, (8 straight weekends).

Before lighting the water heater, I lit the burners. A lot of air needed to be purged before the burners lit, and stayed lit.

But the water heater started right up.
 
LP tanks will be refilled tomorrow. I'll have the fridge running Thursday so it's cool by our trip this weekend. I've got the battery operated fan for inside the fridge that I can run, along with putting some frozen water bottles inside to help with the cool down process. Do I need to keep the outside fridge fan running too? I won't have shore power until we get to the campsite, and concerned about running my battery down.
 
I have found that the hotter it is outside the more you need to run the fan. If the sun is hitting the refer side of the trailer that is even more important. When it cools off at night turn the fan off to make things quieter. The fan will also help speed the initial cool down period when you first turn the refer on. If it is in the 70's or cooler and the sun is not hitting the trailer you can get away without the fan with no problem. We boondock most of the time in a shaded woods and rarely run the fan. While traveling down the road we have never used the fan.
 
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There is always a difference of opinion, I run the small interior fan all the time. I always run the exterior fan when towing, or if I have shore power and I run the fridge on 12 volt DC while towing. All I can say about this is, if your tow vehicle is properly wired the trailer battery will not run down. When boon docking I try to park the trailer so that the sun is not on the fridge side as RichR said.
 
Ref fan

We only have the cheap blue cube fan that runs on batteries. DH found it necessary to rig up wires with connecting bends on all sides of the cube and a rubber band(thick). This ensures the cube has contact with the batteries and stays square. Cheap made in China.
 
The fridge side of the camper gets hit with a good bit of sun during the day. Even though temps have cooled down compared to where they were a few weeks ago we're still hitting mid 80's. I've got the gray Camco battery operated fan to help out.
 
Just an added comment:

If the fridge doesn't seem to be keeping up like it should you could have a dirty orifice or you could have low gas pressure. I had a problem last your, as I reported, when the fridge just wasn't getting cold enough in LP mode. There was a flame there but it wasn't keeping up. At the time I blamed it on the hot weather. I took out the orifice and soaked it in rubbing alcohol and it didn't help. I finally took the trailer to my dealer friend who diagnosed that the LP pressure was way too low. The gas regulator at the tanks was bad and had to be replaced. After that the flame was much stronger and the fridge was back to normal. When the flame is at its proper level you can hear it burning. We also noticed that the stove flame was much better. The pressure had gradually decreased and we hadn't noticed it.
 
The same as the original, the one with the automatic changeover.
 
I took the LP tanks off this morning. One was quite full, the other with the stick-on level indicator was near empty. Filled the empty one, reinstalled both and fired up the fridge on with refilled tank. Within about 6 clicks the fridge fired right up and stayed lit. Tried the other tank and same thing.

Now to source some batteries for my internal fridge fan, and see how low this thing will go.
 
When you are checking out the fridge you may fine some big temperature swings if it is empty. Once you load it with cold things that should smooth out. If you really want to keep good track of the temps get a wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer and put the outdoor unit in the fridge. That way you can check the temp without opening the door and letting all the warm air in.
 
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They make wireless temperature gauges for fridges, 2 sensors, one for the freezer and one for the fridge area. I put one in my fridge that has wires , wish I had spent a couple bucks more and got a wireless one, was a lot of work to put the wires thru with out going in the door. My 2209 runs from about 34 to 40 in the fridge and the freezer runs from a couple degrees below zero to about 10 above, there is no control over the freezer just the fridge, which I set on 3, this is a push button control. The freezer will continue to get colder as long as the fridge is running. I get the same results on all 3 power sources. If you open the door a couple time close together, the temp will go above 40 but returns after awhile.
 
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