Hello forum folks. I’ll try to be as brief and organized as I can. Thanks for your help in advance.
I have a Dometic RM2351 refrigerator made in 2013 in my Gulfstream Kingsport travel trailer, which I purchased used (the trailer). The fridge has had intermittent cooling problems since I bought it.
Initially, a couple seasons ago, I noted the venting was very poor, so I installed baffles to improve efficiency. I also noted a moderate kink in the copper gas line, just before the burner/jet assembly, so I replaced the line with gentler bends. This seemed to improve the efficiency. On my last camping trip, however, it seemed to cool well in the days prior to the trip, then fail to cool during the trip. We were operating on gas during this latest trip, as we had no hookups. I am pretty obsessive about leveling whenever we run the fridge, so I don’t suspect that. I did the ‘pre-cool' before the trip on 120v at my house. All the food that went into it before the trip was pre-cooled in our home fridge. The two previous trips this year, we had hookups, so ran the fridge on 120v, with no cooling issues. I have never had a cooling issue while running on 120v, so I’m assuming it’s a gas issue, unless someone believes otherwise.
The propane tank was lower, but all other gas appliances (stove, heater, water heater) worked properly during the entire weekend trip. The burner flame ignites quickly and stays lit either when 120v power is lost in auto mode, or when gas is selected manually with the button. The flame is blue and is centered below the flue. I cleaned the burner and flue in place with compressed air, about 25-30 psi, when I got home from the trip. It did not really appear to be very dirty. I have checked for propane leaks with soapy water between the tanks and the fridge, but given that the other appliances are working and the fridge flame appears right (does it?) I don’t suspect a leak to be the cause. There is no evidence of a cooling system leak (no yellow residue).
The frustrating part is that it has been running on propane now for about 48 hours, and the temps are fantastic (the only things in the fridge now are thermometers and a rock hard bottle of water in the freezer. Fridge is in the mid 30s, freezer at about 0. I’m wondering about the propane regulator and the rubber pigtail between the tank and regulator. Also the rubber line between the regulator and the rigid pipe that is plumbed under the trailer. Is the regulator going bad? Has one of the rubber lines delaminated inside causing an intermittent constriction? I have not done a pressure test on the propane, as I don’t have the equipment to do so, and I wonder if there might be other troubleshooting steps I can take before I invest in a test kit. Could the gas pressure have been low enough, given the tank was getting a bit lower, that the fridge wasn’t working but the other appliances were? Are fridges that sensitive to the gas pressure? What else am I missing? Where should I be looking that I haven’t looked? Am I barking up the wrong tree while focusing on the gas?
I tried brevity...clearly I’m not very good at it, but I wanted to make sure I covered all the troubleshooting I’ve done. I’m going to try to include a photo of the flame if the forum allows.
Thanks for any help,
Jason
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