Trying to light the gas on my fridge-Help

[ROIDON L]

I have a 1980 Dometic fridge in my Bigfoot trailer and I have been laying on the floor holding down the pilot button and pressing tthe ignitor for some time, days I think, and the little reflector view port is showing nothing though I am wondering if I should trust that. I do occassionally see flickers but I do not know for sure if it has lit. And to add to the fun I am new at this so my knowledge is limited.

If I asssume it is lit and move the knob from "pilot" to "On" and it is not, could I blow the whole trailer up by filling it with gas????

Also is there some back up way to light this by using a match???

Any help would be appreciated before I turn the whole thing into a boat anchor in frustration-thanks

[Radar1]

Unless you get just the right angle it's hard to see if it's lit in the daytime. One way you can confirm if it's lit is to see if the chimney gets hot. If the chimney (accessible outside through the vent door) is hot, then it's lit.

John

[Terry G]

Most of the problems I've had lighting my fridge can be traced back to driving down dirt roads and getting stuff dusty. My suggestion is to use a can of compressed air or just a hard blow at the gas mechanism.

[Frederick L. Simson]

If I asssume it is lit and move the knob from "pilot" to "On" and it is not, could I blow the whole trailer up by filling it with gas????

I nearly did just that with my propane oven once.

[Roy in TO]

I do occassionally see flickers but I do not know for sure if it has lit.

My Dometic has a little gauge on the front that moves into the green when the fridge pilot is lit.

[Cam A]

On my old trailer, it always helped to light the stove first, and draw the propane fully into the lines......not sure if it's scientific, but it seemed to work.

[DonDeutsch]

Ditto what Cam said.

[Joe MacDonald]

there should be an outside access hatch which opens into the burner area.

This would let you see if the chimney is hot.
Once that main hatch is open, look for a small pivoting door where the burner resides.
open this little hatch to check the flame

[MyronL]

Timely post -- Need Help!

My RM2200A (1987) has been hooked up to shore power while I been working elsewhere on the Scampsker the last few weeks and it made me nice ice cubes. I mean really nice ice cubes. So now I am finishing off the propane lines. Turned on the propane to see if the fridge will continue its good work. Get big time leak blasting out of top screw of the gas valve. This is the valve that interlocks with the voltage change switch. I call up Dometic to buy another valve. Bad news. They stopped making it, have no inventory, even threw out their paperwork on this item! I asked about a workaround solution. (Can I get some O-rings??) So Sorry. Best advice Dometic gave me was to plug up the propane line and stick with electricity.

This is not what I was wanting to hear.

Any suggestions ? So far my best plan is to hunt down some compression fittings that allow me to bypass the old valve and put in a generic compression shut-off valve somewhere under the countertop. Seems that old valve does nothing but prevent from using propane and electricity simultaneously.

Or, is there an O-ring solution I could try?? The manufacturer could not help, and the few independent suppliers I found did not stock this valve.

[Michael Pupeza]

Myron;
I don't know your exact fridge but I did have a similar problem in an old Trillium a bunch of years ago. As I recall, I was able to disassemble the valve and find some generic non-dometic parts and 'rebuild' it. I think I found a neoprene O-ring in the plumbing section of the store and replaced a rusted screw with a SS one. If that isn't possible, I would bypass it but probably install a switch, like a bat handled toggle switch, right with the shut-off valve so that when the valve is open, the switch has to be closed because of the lever blocking the handle. This was the way my Starcraft Pop-up fridge was wired - non electrical solution to prevent both on at the same time.
Good luck.
Mike .....>

Timely post -- Need Help!

My RM2200A (1987) has been hooked up to shore power while I been working elsewhere on the Scampsker the last few weeks and it made me nice ice cubes. I mean really nice ice cubes. So now I am finishing off the propane lines. Turned on the propane to see if the fridge will continue its good work. Get big time leak blasting out of top screw of the gas valve. This is the valve that interlocks with the voltage change switch. I call up Dometic to buy another valve. Bad news. They stopped making it, have no inventory, even threw out their paperwork on this item! I asked about a workaround solution. (Can I get some O-rings??) So Sorry. Best advice Dometic gave me was to plug up the propane line and stick with electricity.

This is not what I was wanting to hear.

Any suggestions ? So far my best plan is to hunt down some compression fittings that allow me to bypass the old valve and put in a generic compression shut-off valve somewhere under the countertop. Seems that old valve does nothing but prevent from using propane and electricity simultaneously.

Or, is there an O-ring solution I could try?? The manufacturer could not help, and the few independent suppliers I found did not stock this valve.