I have an old 3-way Dometic RM360 fridge with a cooling problem.
12v is as usual, weak... 110v works great, but propane provides little to nothing for cooling.
I have a relatively healthy looking flame at the burner. The flame reaches the bottom of the flue (about 3/4"). I've cleaned out the flue and ensured nothing is blocking it. I've cleaned the propane jet at the burner. I've ensured the RV is relatively level. The whole heater unit seems to be doing it's job at heating up, however, I noticed the fridge coils are not heating up much and thus, not cooling inside.
The freezer gets frosty at the back, but that's about it. The rest of the fridge isn't much below ambient.
If I run it on 110v AC, the coils quickly heat up, and the whole fridge gets nice and cold, quickly.
What gives?
The regulator is new, and like I said, the flame seems decent at the burner. I don't get much of a difference when I adjust the thermostat.
Is there something I'm missing?
Keep in mind the fridge is quit old, and has probably been sitting idle in the past. The coils are quite rusted. But still, why would the 110v AC work so efficiently?
The power source only heats the boiler, be it 12V DC, 120V AC or LP Gas, but its important for it to produce the correct amount of heat, to much or to little and it wont run right.
Try to get the LP Gas to heat the boiler only as hot as the 120V AC does, and it should work the same.
Its not the more heat the better.
I had one that was 30 years+ old once, and it worked fine.
Good Luck.
2001 27' Four Winds Class-C E-450 V-10.
Buick Park Ave Ultra, Ford Ranger PU, JD 500 backhoe.
1941 Farm All "A"
Did you check in the burner for any obstructions , dirt , spider webs ,etc.? Also
make sure the the gas shut off valve just behind the burner jet is fully opened.
I completely removed the burner and cleaned it with compressed air, no improvement.
I used a mirror and confirmed there is nothing in the flue at all, except the flue baffle.
I'm not sure where the shut off valve is so I can check it, but still, with a strong flame coming from the burner, I assume that should be fine?
I feel like I've tried everything to get this thing running on propane, but nothing seems to be a fix. The best I can get is a little bit of frost in the freezer, but that's it. I have an icepack in the freezer to judge to cooling performance; only one half of it is freezing (towards the back).
Can anybody offer up any other ideas? Any similar issues with other Dometic fridges working fine on electric but not propane? Like I said, I feel like I've tried everything short of replacing the whole unit.
Cost wise, replacing the whole unit just doesn't seem worth it for the trailer this is in. Any more advice?
Check your thermostats. There should be either a dual (electric and gas) or two singles to control cooling. If the gas t'stat isn't working or set properly, the fridge would work on elec but not as well on gas. On an old fridge, you can spend lots on parts, get it working and the cooling unit will die, so try to find used parts. VK
Have you removed the burner jet and soaked it? The manual says to soak it in alcohol and then blow it out. ( or carburetor cleaner but I don't know if there's anything that it would harm)
We were having a similar problem and even though the flame looked okay soaking the burner jet made a big difference in the strength of the flame-little blue flames across the entire burner and a blue main flame.
We usually find either nothing works or everything works poorly...LOL
It sounds like the flame may be too high. To much heat is as bad or worse than not enough.
Here the factory install, maintenance, and user manual for the RM series that may be of help.
User manual may give more information. Even tho you have one t'stat, it controls two different heat sources. The gas side may be bad. The old t'stats had little tubes going into the cool box. Sometimes they corrode and break. I agree with the above: nice blue flame, I'm thinking about 1/2" or less. Sounds like you've done all the right things. Let us know how it goes. VK
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