Fridge tip when red button fails

07-21-2011, 03:58 PM

On our last trip, I was unable to light the fridge on propane, no matter how long I waited or how many times I pushed the "red" button.

I had my wife hold the button in to keep the propane flowing and I went to the back side and lit the pilot with a long nose butane lighter. I removed the small shield around the pilot, but I am not sure it was necessary.

I was not able to see the flame but my wife said the needle was moving up towards the green zone.

Passing this along just in case someone else encounters the same situation, and feels helpless about what to do about it.

Because we almost exclusively boon dock, running the fridge on propane is critical for us.

07-21-2011, 06:32 PM

I had a similar problem. What I did was turn the fridge on power, then lit the burner via the red button, the turned the knob to propane. That kept the burner lit.

**ShrimpBurrito** · 07-21-2011, 07:30 PM

Wayne - Did you find out what the problem was? Do you think maybe your piezo-electric ignition is not working? Since I presume were able to light it manually, that means there was gas flow, the thermocouple was working, etc. If so, that should be an inexpensive fix.

Dave

Harry Womack · 07-21-2011, 09:11 PM

I had problem keeping the pilot lite. The flame would light but the needle would not move up. It was caused by a dirty flame. I took a brass rifle cleaning brush and cleaned the slots on top of the pipe where the flame burns.

07-23-2011, 11:33 PM

While the TM was still under warranty I had the Norcold service bulliten wire fix installed. That solved the problem of the needle would not stay in the green zone.

This was clearly a failure to ignite the flowing propane. So it is the piezo electric that is failing.

I have not looked at it yet.

I started the thread because it took me a few minutes to figure out what the problem was. Someone else may have a similar problem int he future and it would be sad to cancel a trip when there is a simple circumvention.

I never did smell any propane, but my nose does not work very well. I can not smell a natural gas leak, cologne in the department store or pine trees in the forest.

There were only two possible problems:

1. no propane flow

2. Propane with no ignition.

I took a guess that is was lack of ignition, because that was easy to verify with the butane lighter.

TexasCamper · 08-07-2011, 09:08 AM

Wayne,

Maybe removing the guard helped. I didn't remove the guard and had a different result.....but it helped determine my root problem (technique error).

Here's what happened....

First I lit the stove and hot water heater to make sure propane was in the lines.
Then I turned the fridge power to propane mode, and held the propane flow button while pressing the red ignitor button every 5 seconds. After 30 seconds I finally heard a "whoosh" sound. I continued to press the red ignitor button every 3 seconds and every now and then I'd hear the "whoosh" sound but no ignition (dial didn't budge to the green at all).

So I tried your method but didn't remove the guard. So I'm not sure my propane lighter was in perfect position. While my wife held the propane flow button and I held the propane lighter outside, every 10 seconds there would be a "micro-explosion" that would blow out my propane lighter.

That proved that I had propane flowing and my red ignitor button was working (since it was causing a "micro-explosion" too). I was just missing the right propane/oxygen mixture, igniting too late and causing an ignition that would blow out the flame.

I went back into the camper, held in the propane flow button and this time pressed the red ignitor button 2-3 times a second (i.e., as frequent as I could). The propane ignited and the dial immediately moved to the green.

08-08-2011, 10:22 AM

I had been using 3 clicks, waiting 10 seconds, then 3 more clicks etc. and it would not light.

I first light all stove burners, then turn them off. Then I light the water heater.

After I hear the water heater light then I light the fridge.

Usually the fridge lights by the 3rd try.

This was the first failure I have had in 5 years.

IF I remember, I will check out the problem before I store the TM for the winter.

scrubjaysnest · 12-02-2011, 04:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PopBeavers

On our last trip, I was unable to light the fridge on propane, no matter how long I waited or how many times I pushed the "red" button.

I had my wife hold the button in to keep the propane flowing and I went to the back side and lit the pilot with a long nose butane lighter. I removed the small shield around the pilot, but I am not sure it was necessary.

I was not able to see the flame but my wife said the needle was moving up towards the green zone.

Passing this along just in case someone else encounters the same situation, and feels helpless about what to do about it.

Because we almost exclusively boon dock, running the fridge on propane is critical for us.

We have always had the same issue with ours, the only time the refrig lit with the red button was at the dealer.
As was stated by another member all we get is a little short puff of flame and then it goes out. We just use your procedure which works every time.
I have to remove the cover because going through the little inspection hole puts the lighter at the wrong angle.
Or refrig is the Norcold N300.3
Maybe some day one of us will come up with a fix.

**Bill** · 12-02-2011, 10:19 AM

Wait a minute. I just noticed that you have a problem with the oven staying lit, and with the refrigerator staying lit. Hmmm. Might they be related? The furnace and the water heater will relight themselves automatically, but the refrig and oven will not.

After you have done the cleaning, etc, the next step is probably to have a propane tech do a pressure check to ensure that the pressure regulator is properly adjusted. This is a test you can't do yourself - it takes special equipment and knowledge. But if the pressure is low, the pilot flames will be quirky.

Bill

scrubjaysnest · 12-02-2011, 02:53 PM

Bill,
The refrig lights fine if I use popbeavers method, and it will stay lit.

But that said you could be right propane devices like 10.5 to 11 inches of water column for pressure. As for setting the regulator all that takes is a u tube manometer.....worked with them things for close to 20 years.

The refrig flame looks correct, the pilot flame on the oven doesn't when compared to the other camper.

Cleaning is a good idea, the heater on the other camper would not light and that was due to a spider carcass inside the burner at the orifice.