refridgerator

[George the greek]

I have not been able to insert a picture. Id been reading the posts on refrigerator issues. Then one day out of the blue mine developed an issue. I could run on 110 but not gas. Being I do  a lot of boon docking in remote areas I needed the gas to operate. Tracing the issue my igniter was not getting powered, Changed the chip board and igniter started clicking and sparking but no flame  I checked all grounds again. Could not hear the coil opening the gas flow or smell any gas. More testing realized the little coil that sits on top of the gas valve assembly was at fault. The only was I could buy one was to buy the entire valve assembly for $212.  I lucky ran into someone that had a wrecked camper and gave me the coil. put it on and had gas flow and ignition.

id called a few R V repair shops all dais 3 or 4 weeks before we can look at it and leave it with us. It would require 3 or 4 hours of diagnostic time. Long story short I fixed it my self.  

the new chip board was from Dinosaur and has a control knob  on the board to adjust the temp, the old one did not have an adjustment other than the thermistor. It came factory set on #3 and seems to be a good setting.

[oldjohnt]

George CONGRATULATIONS on fixing it yourself you did good. AFTER the standard voltage and ground and connection checks if my Ignitor Tip isn't producing a spark to ignite the flame (tic tic tic spark spark spark) I use a jumper wire attached to the HV coil/transformer on the circuit board (which has small HV wire to Ignitor Tip) to see if it will throw a spark to ground ?? That way I determine if its a control board or an Ignitor Tip issue (I see more of those than bad circuit boards). Next regarding the gas valve opening, usually by placing your hand on it and/or just listening you can hear or feel if it opens and if not first check for voltage getting to the coil/solenoid and if so then second check it for continuity to see if the coil is bad/open.

 Fun story thanks for sharing

 John T

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, George the greek said:

The only was I could buy one was to buy the entire valve assembly for $212. 

That sounds like Dometic as Norcold has at least one valve on Amazon for $35. I think that Dometic is excessively high priced on most things but a good place to find such parts is Get RV Parts on the internet. You made the right choice with the Dinosaur circuit board. If you can figure out what manufacturer supplied the gas valve, Amazon has replacement coils for a lot of different 12V valves and a pretty good assortment of complete valves for a reasonable price. 

[George the greek]

3 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

That sounds like Dometic as Norcold has at least one valve on Amazon for $35. I think that Dometic is excessively high priced on most things but a good place to find such parts is Get RV Parts on the internet. You made the right choice with the Dinosaur circuit board. If you can figure out what manufacturer supplied the gas valve, Amazon has replacement coils for a lot of different 12V valves and a pretty good assortment of complete valves for a reasonable price. 

Thanks for the info on “get r v parts” I will keep that information.  I tried to buy the entire gas valve assembly before I knew it was the coil. I had both the old and new part number seemed like no one had them in stock. Of course they all blamed Covid 19 for lack of parts. Seems this is now the go to answer for everything  🥸

g t g

[oldjohnt]

16 hours ago, George the greek said:

they all blamed Covid 19 for lack of parts. Seems this is now the go to answer for everything

AMEN to that regardless of what store or what products or parts grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 John T

[Ray,IN]

To post large size pictures from my computer I use http://photoposting.is-great.net/?i=2

, for smaller size pictures on my computer I use the paper clip icon in bottom left of the reply box.