domatic refrigerator

phillip · April 15, 2017

hi i have a 3way domatic refrigerator and i am asking for help. i plugged it in to get ready for campering and got nothing.i have it pluged into a 110

right now iv tested all wiers and fueses inside and out in will cool down with propane the auto light dont come on unless i have the battery hooked up or my truck hooked up to it.

i also have to hand light it but when it goes out it tries to kick back on and cant wile its on propane. iv tested the 110 going in reads good but get nothing coming out

Barbaraok · April 15, 2017

How are your batteries? Frig needs good 12 volt as well as 110

Ray,IN · April 16, 2017

5 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

How are your batteries? Frig needs good 12 volt as well as 110

That is correct as stated by Barbaroaok. To elaborate this; only the 120V heating element and if you have one, the ice maker run off 120VAC, everything else is powered by your 12V battery. Since the frig cools when on propane we know the frig is cooling correctly.

What is the model number of your frig? You will find a service manual for your frig, HERE: http://bryantrv.com/docs.html

Kirk W · April 16, 2017

11 hours ago, phillip said:

right now iv tested all wiers and fueses inside and out in will cool down with propane the auto light dont come on unless i have the battery hooked up or my truck hooked up to it

An RV refrigerator requires 12V0dc power to supply the control circuitry, whether it is operating on propane or on 120v-ac electric power. The reason is that since they have the ability to automatically select between propane and 120V-ac the controls must operate from a power supply that is always available and that means the house battery. That same thing is true for your furnace, water heater, and even your lights.

While I'm sorry that it took difficulties to bring you here, we are still happy to have you on the Escapee forums. Welcome!

Barbaraok · April 16, 2017

Did you flip the 120v circuit breaker for the frig? Sometimes they look like they haven't tripped, but they have. On ours there is also an inline fuse in the 120v line on the backside of the frig that went out, hard to see, I'd replace that just to make sure.

Dutch&Di · April 17, 2017

Good timing for me with the Dometic fridge issue. I can't offer any suggestions to Phillip but I have the opposite issue. My 2 door fridge 2 way is doing just the opposite. It works great when we're plugged in but when on Propane, I can't get it to stay cool while we get to our next destination. We have checked before we head out and at every break and the flame is on. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Hugs, Di

Ray,IN · April 21, 2017

I have some thoughts, might not be the solution but can't harm anything to try. First have your propane gas pressure checked, should be 11" water column per the manual. Next disassemble the burner, clean everything-including the chimney. A tiny fleck of rust falling out of the chimney can cause burner problems. A diagram of the chimney and the spiral "thing" inside is in the service manual.

The gas orifice is very small and can clog easily, but do not use anything hard like a drill bit or tip cleaner, they can damage or enlarge the opening, the wire out of a cheap twist-tie is what I use. Once you have everything back together, check, and adjust if necessary, the burner flame as explained in the service manual.

Dutch&Di · April 21, 2017

Thanks Ray, Dutch did clean everything out several times and we'll do it one more time when we're able to finally leave Casa Grande so that should be a good indication of if we got it. The burner flame was check by a "propane guy" at an RV park and he said it did not need to be adjusted. Dometic is sending us a foil insulator kit just in case somehow the flame is blowing out and restarting when we stop. Thanks again for the info. Will keep you posted. Hugs, Di

Kirk W · April 21, 2017

8 hours ago, Dutch&Di said:

The burner flame was check by a "propane guy" at an RV park and he said it did not need to be adjusted. Dometic is sending us a foil insulator kit just in case somehow the flame is blowing out and restarting when we stop.

Ray gave some good suggestions, so I'll not repeat them but if that "propane guy" didn't check the propane supply pressure with a manometer, I'd have grave doubts about his information. Low pressure is a very common issue for appliances in an RV because the 11" is very low pressure at only .397 pounds per square inch. It really doesn't take a lot under for the flame to become unstable and it could either blow out or it may just be so low as to not supply enough heat to get the job done. As a test, you might want to try running it for a time on propane while you are sitting still since the movement on the road probably is causing more air to move through the refrigerator and may lower the effect of the burner heat supply if the gas pressure is low.

As a side note, Phillip has not come back to see what sort of responses he received from his first post............

rockintom · April 21, 2017

Kirk, you gave some good info. I found that when setting propane pressure regulator you should look at pressure with other propane items running (stove burners, furnace, refer, etc.). Some appliances are more sensitive than others. I've found my 43K BTU Suburban furnace does some goofy intermittent things when running (anything lower 11") Suburban tech shared with me that to operate properly, it must have a MINIMUM of 11" while all other propane stuff is operating. I adjusted my regulator to do that and all is well, which makes my water column setting at 13" statically and 11" with everything running. I changed out the regulator with a fresh one and get the same readings. Just something to think about.

Dutch&Di · April 22, 2017

Thanks for the post. I used "propane Guy" as I couldn't remember his or his companies name--not sure I even know mine right now :unsure:

Anyway, he did use a meter and checked things thoroughly. Dutch cleaned out everything thoroughly. It had bin working fine for 2-1/2 years so this just popped up. We'll just have to wait for that foil insulator kit Dometic is sending then try it while sitting still and hopefully we'll be traveling in the next 5 weeks and see if it works while going down the road. It's odd because we didn't have this issue in our Norcold and that lasted for almost 18 years of constant use.

Our furnace and hot water on propane runs and heats just fine. Hugs, Di