Well, I just tried to light the propane on the Dometic fridge in my 17' fiberglass trailer and heard a Whummph! and I thought I smelled smoke, so I turned it off. I then tried again, thought I smelled smoke again, and looked outside to see orange flames coming from the exterior grate! Holy Moly! I got it extinguished, but the plastic grate is a warped mess and the wiring is fried. The trailer luckily was not affected. Also luckily, I have a warranty extension on the fridge.Has anyone heard of this happening before? I wonder what it would take for a fiberglass tailer would catch on fire?

All I can saw is Wow, scary stuff..glad you're ok

Happens to often. Glad it didn't turn out worse.

I would say if you had flames coming out of the grate, you were very close to the whole TT going up in flames.I wouldn't want to get any closer.Fortunately, you're okay.Let us know if you figure out what caused the problem.

There is, in fact, a Recall on many models of Dometic (And Norcold) to install stuff to make that less of a happening.. Make sure your new one has that.I will also add there are two major causes of those fires.ONE is a leak in the cooling system.. One of the chemicals that makes up the stuff that makes the cold is very flammable.The other is poor maintenance.

wa8yxm wrote:There is, in fact, a Recall on many models of Dometic (And Norcold) to install stuff to make that less of a happening.. Make sure your new one has that.I will also add there are two major causes of those fires.ONE is a leak in the cooling system.. One of the chemicals that makes up the stuff that makes the cold is very flammable.The other is poor maintenance.So what should a person do to prevent this?

FIRE !! | Good Sam Community

18 Replies

John_Joey
Explorer
Aug 14, 2015
Paleo Ron wrote:
... I wonder what it would take for a fiberglass tailer would catch on fire?

Saw a fiberglass boat catch fire at a fueling dock once. It took no time at all for the boat to burn down to the waterline. Owner had burns but was alive.
Paleo_Ron
Explorer II
Aug 14, 2015
leeper wrote:
How where you lighting the propane? Does it have an electronic igniter?

Yes, it's an internal electonic igniter. It defaults to an electrically cooling option but if it can't detect a current it will try to ignite the propane. I'm wondering about the mainenance people are mentionning. Should this be done when I bring the trailer in for servicing?
Deb_and_Ed_M
Explorer II
Aug 13, 2015
Ed_Gee wrote:

In addition to frequent maintenance (cleaning), you might consider one of these: CLICK

I'm blown away that there's enough demand for an RV-refrigerator-specific fire extinguisher, for someone to make and market it.
GMandJM
Explorer
Aug 13, 2015
Ernie cleans a burner tube video.

Not an Ad(vert nor horiz)
captnjack
Explorer
Aug 13, 2015
Ed_Gee wrote:
coolmom42 wrote:
wa8yxm wrote:
There is, in fact, a Recall on many models of Dometic (And Norcold) to install stuff to make that less of a happening.. Make sure your new one has that.

I will also add there are two major causes of those fires.

ONE is a leak in the cooling system.. One of the chemicals that makes up the stuff that makes the cold is very flammable.

The other is poor maintenance.

So what should a person do to prevent this?

In addition to frequent maintenance (cleaning), you might consider one of these: CLICK

What do you clean?
Ed_Gee
Explorer II
Aug 13, 2015
coolmom42 wrote:
wa8yxm wrote:
There is, in fact, a Recall on many models of Dometic (And Norcold) to install stuff to make that less of a happening.. Make sure your new one has that.

I will also add there are two major causes of those fires.

ONE is a leak in the cooling system.. One of the chemicals that makes up the stuff that makes the cold is very flammable.

The other is poor maintenance.

So what should a person do to prevent this?

In addition to frequent maintenance (cleaning), you might consider one of these: CLICK
wing_zealot
Explorer
Aug 13, 2015
Seeing as it was already mentioned twice, I'd be really interested in knowing just what maintenance is expected on the propane side of a fridge.
newman_fulltime
Explorer II
Aug 13, 2015
guidry wrote:
Glad you're ok. It'd be interesting to see if your extended warranty denies your claim and why. Post back please once you hear back and why it happened. We can all learn from your unfortunate incident.

I see more often now the term lack of maintance used in the denial letters
dodge_guy
Explorer II
Aug 13, 2015
It's possible there could be a spider neat in the tube going to the burner.
guidry
Explorer II
Aug 13, 2015
Glad you're ok. It'd be interesting to see if your extended warranty denies your claim and why. Post back please once you hear back and why it happened. We can all learn from your unfortunate incident.

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FIRE !!

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