Thanks, Al -
I did not pay much attention to the refrigerator for the two years that it faithfully cooled our food. When the refrigerator went into its partial cooling mode, I did not know what was normal when I pulled the two related van side vents off.
One of the first things I found is that when looking on the web, most of the burners were larger than the one in my refrigerator; small stuff; harder to clean. When a shop services a burner, the gas jet is inspected and cleaned along with the other things. Cleaning did not fix the cooling problem. Changing out the refrigerator propane valve assembly restored normal burner flame and cooling.
I am not good at seeing burner flames during the day. In the evening, when my burner is full on, the blue flame fills the visible burner area; even below the burner parts sticking in there. When the refrigerator was not cooling well, the flame was smaller and better defined; down to almost half of the flue diameter. Sound of the burner turned out to be a good guide, also.
Wanting a better handle on what was a “good” flame, I used a meat digital thermometer to measure the flue exhaust at the top of the flue before the exhaust is directed toward the van side vent. For my Dometic RM 8505 that was around 400 degrees F. Typical temperature during partial cooling was 350 degrees F.
As a rough check, for good gas or electric operation I lick my finger and transfer the moisture to the top side of the condenser inlet tube just before the fins start; all of the moisture is evaporated within 4 seconds. The condenser cooling fans did not run with partial burner flames.
There are a lot of different refrigerators out there so your normal may be different than mine. I now have a better idea of how hot and warm cooling system components should be during normal operation.
Chuck Sorensen
Buellton, California
2012 Excel TS
