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Fridge not getting cold on Propane


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#1 davidshourd

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Posted 10 July 2009 - 03:22 AM

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?
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#2 Phil

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Posted 10 July 2009 - 03:56 AM

I bought my FWC used 2 years ago and it did the same thing :mad: 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 :thumb:
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#3 DirtyDog

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Posted 10 July 2009 - 04:16 AM

the orifice's hole was not letting enough gas out


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

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Posted 10 July 2009 - 03:17 PM

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


TMI.:rolleyes:
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#5 davidshourd

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Posted 10 July 2009 - 04:23 PM

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.
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#6 Stan@FourWheel

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Posted 10 July 2009 - 06:11 PM

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.


:confused:



======================================================

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?







.
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Stan Kennedy --- Four Wheel Pop-up Campers
1400 Churchill Downs Avenue, Suite A

Woodland, CA 95776
(800) 242-1442 or (530) 666-1442
www.fourwh.com  ---  e-mail = stan@fourwh.com


#7 davidshourd

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Posted 10 July 2009 - 10:18 PM

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.
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#8 HERR42

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Posted 10 July 2009 - 11:39 PM

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.
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#9 robojeeper

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Posted 11 July 2009 - 04:29 PM

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!
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#10 fish more

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Posted 12 July 2009 - 04:36 AM

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