Procedures for burner/orifice cleaning Dometic RM 2201

[natjwest]

It took me a few days to be sure, but I need to clean the orifice and burner on my Dometic RM 2201. I came to this conclusion by the following:

1. Fridge always lights and cools rapidly and well enough on propane.
2. After about four days of continuous propane use, it fails to continue cooling and there appears to be a large increase in "hot" material through the viewport. (Bad picture below).
3. AC works fine
4. DC works fine

I have had this "Day-4 propane failure" occur every time I've used the camper for the past year or more, so about 10 times.

I am supposed to leave for a few-day trip tomorrow, and would have preferred to have this sorted out before I left. It isn't immediately obvious how to remove the burner or even where the orifice is. I have the service manual but it doesn't show pictures of these parts.

I am tempted to just use DC power when on the road (it draws 8 amps! WTF!) and switch to propane at the campsite. It is so weird that it works for a while, then fails. I thought that by giving it a chance to cool down, I might stretch out that 4-day problem. We'll be gone for about 4 days.

But if somebody here gives me a strong indication that I can get the thing disassembled, cleaned and put back together in a few hours, then I'll try that.

So what say ye?

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

Can you maybe get a small pipe cleaner in there to clean off the burner without taking it apart ?

(turn it off and let it cool down first)


Or maybe spray it gently with some compressed air to see if the carbon build up will break free ?


You could try this link our our website for some basic details ...

http://www.fourwheelcampers.com/DometicRefrigerator.pdf


Or maybe this link ...

http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://direct.bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/domser.pdf


Or maybe this link ...

http://www.popupportal.com/index.php?action=media;sa=item;in=3190



hope this helps.

 

[natjwest]

Indeed helpful thank you Stan. I'm going to tackle this after the trip. But I think that's what I said during my last trip.

 

[EdoHart]

I had a similar problem. I was able to disassemble mine, clean the orifice with a blast of compressed air, and re-assemble it within about 1 hour. If you're unsure about the time required, remove the cover and take a close look, but I think you will find it's not too complicated.

 

[natjwest]

Orifice didn't get cleaned before the trip. DC power did not hold temp below about 50 F, even when on full max. Except when it did, which was unpredictable. LP and DC both appear to be freaky. The main door fell off real good again, but it does that once per trip at least. The icebox door cracked completely off. The shelf on the main door cracked a bit more too. And most importantly, my wife thought it okay to replace the 20 year old fridge, so I think an Edgestar is in my future.