Propane in the A**

markcee · 07-11-2020, 04:08 PM

We are on day 2 of our first extended trip - Arizona to Ohio - in our Cougar 1/2 ton, 29RLKWE travel trailer. I am having an issue running the Dometic refrigerator on propane while traveling. The fridge seems to run on propane fine when parked, (ran fine in front of the house) but when I arrive at the day's site, the fridge is dead in the water and I must press the reset button located behind the flame shield within the outside access panel in order to get it to power up. At that point it will again run on either propane or shore power.

Is there a proper sequence for switching over/from electric to propane that perhaps I'm not following? I've also Googled and found that this issue may be related to the flame blowing out during travel. Would this condition require me to reset once parked and hooked to shore power, like I have to do now?

I have two push button controls on my Dometic they are: 'On/Off' and 'Auto'/'Gas'. There is also a check light LED.

If this is a flame blowout, is there some remedy I can do on the road to remedy this? I went from 105 in Arizona to 107 in Amarillo and its rough having a tepid beer at the end of the day!

**chuckster57** · 07-11-2020, 04:15 PM

In AUTO mode it should light the flame while on the road. If it’s tripping the thermoswitch on the chimney, then the flame must be “moving” and overheating the stack. Has it been windy on the road?

markcee · 07-11-2020, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckster57

In AUTO mode it should light the flame while on the road. If it’s tripping the thermoswitch on the chimney, then the flame must be “moving” and overheating the stack. Has it been windy on the road?

It hasn't been dead calm....breezy would best describe it. Did feel a couple of decent shoves while on the road today.

Could the 100+ heat/sun play into that as well?

**chuckster57** · 07-11-2020, 04:27 PM

The flame should be behind 2 separate shields so I wouldn’t think that’s a factor. If the refer is on the “sun” side while traveling that may cause the thermoswitch to pop.

Air movement is critical, maybe adding a fan at the bottom might help keep the refer cabinet cool enough. There are lots of kits available.

**sourdough** · 07-11-2020, 04:29 PM

Now this is trying to dig in the "back files" of the memory banks but I believe I've read of putting a deflector in front of the vent to prevent the wind from blowing out the burner on the fridge? You might research that.

**JRTJH** · 07-11-2020, 05:26 PM

Danny's right. There are a couple posts (several years ago) describing how a member solved his "burner blows out and won't restart" problem. He installed a "slightly raised deflector on the front vertical edge of the lower vent. If you think "plastic truck window deflector" you'll have the right image. Taping them onto the front edge of the vent with some aluminum tape should hold them in place during the adjustment/experiment phase...

B-O-B'03 · 07-11-2020, 06:16 PM

My atwood fridge used to blow out a lot while traveling and I noticed the shield only covered about half of burner section and was open on the back edge.

I marked up a cardboard template and after fitting it I was planning on using it to cut a piece of sheet-metal.

I figured I would try the cardboard to see if it helped and I have never bothered to take it out and cut the metal.

It really helped and blow outs are much less frequent.

On the atwood, after a blow out, all you have to do is turn it off and back on again and it cycles through and automatically picks gas and re-lights.

-Brian

markcee · 07-12-2020, 02:47 AM

Thanks, all. I'll try out these suggestions and see what happens.

markcee · 07-13-2020, 11:37 AM

I wanted to post a follow up to my issue of the fridge not continuing to run on propane while on the road.

I fashioned a shield of sorts out of cardboard yesterday to enclose the burner area further but when we arrived in Tulsa the fridge was completely out and I needed to hit the reset button to get it restarted.

This morning I disconnected the electric and the fridge kicked on propane right away as usual. However today, it actually continued to run. 6 hours on the road an no issues. Purring like a kitten upon arrival at camp.

I think the problem may be too much heat. Our first two days the temps were in the mid 90's to mid 100's outside. Today when we started out it was only 72 degrees and it's only 86 now.

Do you think that could be it and if so, any suggestions on this for someone in a hot climate?

**chuckster57** · 07-13-2020, 05:45 PM

The reset on the chimney will trip due to heat. I would add a fan at the bottom to help move some of the heat.

B-O-B'03 · 07-13-2020, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckster57

The reset on the chimney will trip due to heat. I would add a fan at the bottom to help move some of the heat.

I looked and saw your fridge is in the slide, so the fan might be a good idea, even if it does have one already.

-Brian

Blackrock · 07-23-2020, 07:50 AM

Is your 12volt system charged up and working while going down the road? You must have a fully charged battery to run the refrigerator on propane.

barterry46 · 07-23-2020, 09:37 AM

If your fridge is on your slide check to see if the gas line crimps when you put the slide in. Ours on our cougar 24 had same problem and the gas line would crimp. The camper is now at dealer getting the gas line fixed.

markcee · 07-24-2020, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barterry46

If your fridge is on your slide check to see if the gas line crimps when you put the slide in. Ours on our cougar 24 had same problem and the gas line would crimp. The camper is now at dealer getting the gas line fixed.

Thanks for the tip....line looks good coming into the compartment.

markcee · 07-24-2020, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackrock

Is your 12volt system charged up and working while going down the road? You must have a fully charged battery to run the refrigerator on propane.

Yep, arrived at camp today at 13.8v. It was still running on propane after 3.5 hours on the road but was out a couple hours later when we pulled into camp. I’m betting on the heat tripping the switch. It got really steamy as the day wore on and was 93 when we got here.

I am going to install a fan or two in a couple of weeks and see how that goes

ChuckS · 07-24-2020, 02:14 PM

I’d also take a few minutes and clean the flue assy and check the thermo couple gap... should be 3/16 gap

bobbecky · 07-24-2020, 06:55 PM

If this is a heat issue, you might want to consider installing a Fridge Defend by ARP. This device can also control additional fans, but will turn the fridge off if it gets too hot, but will turn it back on when it cools off. We have had excellent success with the device on our fridge. www.arprv.com

Roscommon48 · 07-25-2020, 07:03 AM

probably flame issue, but could be battery too.

just try to drive an hour or two and see what happens--does it flame out?

note ... just leave on auto, it will auto matically switch. keep it simple:-)

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