Fridge question / help - Page 2

**Bill** · 05-15-2016, 06:45 PM

Sounds like one of the infamous loose connections.

You should not expect to hear anything. This is not a compressor refrig, so there are no moving parts.

Bill

Bowfreak · 05-15-2016, 07:20 PM

Next question. How long should I expect to be able to run the water heater and fridge off propane? I have 2 of the standard horizontal tanks on the TM. Assuming I would turn the water heater off at night etc to conserve propane when not using hot water for long periods.

And thanks for all the help. I am letting it run for a few hours on propane to make sure it starts to cool down before I cross this one off.

Bowfreak · 05-15-2016, 07:44 PM

So I let the fridge run on propane for about and hour. Getting cold already so shut it down and calling it good to go.

One thing I noticed when I was looking through the outside back in behind the fridge is a dryer vent going from a hole in the bottom up to a piece of paneling and is just kind of attached to the paneling and not really to anything in particular on the top. Has anyone got a photo of how this should look?

Thanks again for all the great help.

LoveToCamp · 05-15-2016, 08:18 PM

Freak, the dryer hose is just to force air into the back area, to help cool the area. Does not connect to anything in particular.

I have camped 9 nights in a row, and not emptied one propane tank. I dry camp, so it was fridge, water heater, and lots of cooking on my (outdoor, 3-burner) stove. In the summer, two tanks could easily last two weeks, per my experience. In the winter, or very cool summer campouts (9,000' +), if I am running the furnace, I can do two tanks in a week.

Glad you got your fridge working!

**Kidkraz** · 05-15-2016, 08:19 PM

That hose is to pull heat from the top of the compartment out to the bottom. If you follow it to the bottom, you'll see it goes to a fan. There's a switch inside that runs this fan. There's not a huge gap front the top but it does work.

Bowfreak · 05-15-2016, 08:41 PM

Awesome guys. Will flip the switch on the fan tomorrow and make sure it is working correctly as well.

flipflop · 12-23-2016, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gonzo628

Regarding the issue with your propane. I've had the same problem and found the following:

1) To prime the system, I need to open the propane tank(s), and then light the appliance furthest from the source (the tanks). For me, lighting my stove seems to be the best option. I light all three burners and make sure the flame is strong and consistent. Once the burners pass that test:

2) Light the fridge. I had issues with this (even after priming the system. I could press the igniter (took a number of presses) and get it to light, but once I let go, it would go out (much in the way you describe). i repeated the process (repeatedly pressing the igniter) then holding it, and after 20 seconds or so, letting go caused the gauge to move back to white. After trying again, I held it a bit longer (probably almost a minute) and then it stayed lit.

Step 1 just worked for me. The fridge would NOT ignite (wouldn't even get into the green) even though it had been doing fine earlier this AM on LP. Furnace worked fine.

I had switched it to AC when I fired up the generator, went to go back to LP, no go for several cycles over about 30 minutes of trying. Figured I'd read about it here, turned on one stove burner, the fridge lit right up.

**Bill** · 12-30-2016, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bowfreak

Next question. How long should I expect to be able to run the water heater and fridge off propane? I have 2 of the standard horizontal tanks on the TM. Assuming I would turn the water heater off at night etc to conserve propane when not using hot water for long periods.

The stove, water heater, and refrig use very little propane*, and my guess is that they could run for weeks off two tanks of propane. If you use the automatic switchover regulator, you will have plenty of warning when the first tank runs dry.

The big user of propane is the furnace. Although I have not measured the running time, we can do a quick and very rough estimate.

WARNING: Geeky tech stuff follows. If you prefer to skip to the back of the book, the answer is 3.

The specs for the furnace say it consumes 19,000 BTUs per hour when it is running. A pound of propane contains 21,600 BTUs, so the furnace burns a bit less than 1 pound of propane per hour when it is running. Each tank contains about 16 pounds of propane, so one propane tank would support about 16-20 hours of continuous running.

However, the furnace doesn't run continuously. On a really cold night, it might run half the time, so you might expect 30-40 hours of cold-night heating. And since days are warmer than nights, and the furnace doesn't run as much during the day, you might expect a tank to last 60-80 hours (about 3 days). Remember, of course, that you have two tanks, so your total duration ought to be 5 or 6 days.

Again, let me emphasize that this is a rough calculation. It depends heavily on outdoor temperature, thermostat setting, wind speed, available sunshine, leakiness of your TM, how often you open the door, and so forth. But it gives you an idea. I will gladly defer to anyone with real-life experience.

Bill

* The same kind of quick analysis suggests that the refrig and water heater together burn about 600 BTUs per hour, or about 3% of the furnace use.