I am currently in the desert southwest on my way to the grand canyon. I have noticed that the refrigerator is not cooling like it used to. The other night I decided to pop the back cover to see what I could see. It was dark so the propane flame was easy to see. What was strange was that there was a flame at the orifice and the burner. I turned off the fridge and both flames went out. When I turned the fridge back on the burner lit but then a few seconds later the flame jumped to the orifice again. The fire at the orrifice is small, barely the size of a match flame. I guessed this was the issue. The small flame was siphoning some of the heat from the actual element where it should be. I shut it down and removed the burner. There was a considerable amount of soot/ crud inside of it so I cleaned it out and tried as best as I could to clean the orrifice also. After I reassembled it it seemed like it helped. The next morning the fridge was noticeably colder and the burner was the only thing burning. as we made our stopes I checked what was burning and a few times I found the orrifice fire. When I did I shut it down and restarted it. All in all it cooling better but this obviously not right. My best guess now is that the orrifice is dirty and blowing a little gas outside the burnet and then the flame jumps. I am parked for two days so my next thought is to remove the orrifice and attempt a better cleaning Any one ever run into this and or anyone have any suggestions?
What brand/model of fridge?
Manuals are available with service/troubleshooting guides.
In general:
Carefully remove orifice and clean with isophyl alcohol. Do NOT stick anything metal thru orifice......you will damage it.
Clean burner tube with bottle brush (or you can push a rag thru it)
When reassembling make sure burner inlet/orifice are aligned straight with burner tube
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I would try adjusting the amount of air to fuel mixture at the orrifice. Increasing the amount of air should keep it from jumping back.
"There was a considerable amount of soot/ crud inside of it" tells me you need more air. You want a blue flame, not a yellow one.
Adding a $10 12V computer fan blowing up helps in increasing the cooling when it's hot out.
This post is my opinion (free advice). It is not intended to influence anyone's judgment nor do I advocate anyone do what I propose.
While you have it open, suggest you try to clean the burner flue as well as the burner area. In "The Day" the roof vent came off giving access. There was a "Baffle" hanging in the flue (at least on Dometic models) and you could hook it with a coat hanger, pull it out, and that action alone would dislodge rust scale. Nowadays about all you can do is try to reach up from the access door and rap on it with a screwdriver handle. But rust WILL shower down, so the burner area will need cleaning after that.
God Bless, jd
2003 Jayco Escapade 31A on 2002 Ford E450 V10 4R100
My unit is a dometic but not sure of the model number. My Internet connection is slow and all I have to view things on is a phone so downloading the manual isn't an option on the road. I'll certainly do some maintainance when I return home. This morning I was able to remove the orrifice and clean it with my sonic toothbrush. It looks clean and the orrifice looks unobstructed. It loosened up pretty easily so I am wondering if there was some leakage around the threads causing the flame to jump. For now we are on shore power but tomorrow I go back on gas so well see if I solve the issue. Thanks for the help.
Old-Biscuit wrote: ....
In general:
Carefully remove orifice and clean with isophyl alcohol. Do NOT stick anything metal thru orifice......you will damage it.
Clean burner tube with bottle brush (or you can push a rag thru it)
When reassembling make sure burner inlet/orifice are aligned straight with burner tube
Right on the mark.
I never had the double flame but I once did have lack of cooling. I cleaned the burner just as Old-Biscuit posted - end of problem.
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