Consul fridge, trying to kill me!!

Question

Evening all,New to the site and trailering in general. I have a question about my propane fridge I hope someone can answer. I have a very old consul gas only fridge.  I don’t have any manual or instructions unfortunately so I don’t know if I’m following the correct procedure to get it running. What I’m looking at is 2 square knobs and a pzieoelectric igniter. The knob on the left I’m pretty sure is the thermostat, it can go for 2.5 turns. The other has 90 degrees of turn and can be depressed. If I turn this know all the way left and depress I hear gas flowing and can light the fridge, nice blue flame, no problem. The fridge gets cold, it’s all great. Except that the trailer fills with propane, like lots of propane. I’m wondering if the second know should be turned back to the right to avoid this, the prob is that the flame goes out the moment I start to turn.Wondering if this is a problem with the thermocouple, should the fridge work when I turn that knob but isn’t because the thermocouple isnt opening the valve?Many thanks for any help!

coolmom42 · Answer

Sounds to me like you have a significant propane leak in the line between your tank and the fridge.

old-biscuit · Answer

Any identifying info on/in fridge.....inside door or on backside?

WHAT year are we talking...........80's, 90s---earlier etc
Fridges of those era used 'O-rings' in fittings.
Sounds like one/more downstream of gas valve have deteriorated

chris_bryant · Answer

To be clear, you turn the one knob and gas should not flow until you push it in, and it shouldn't keep burning until the flame has heated the thermocouple.

If I were working on it, I would start by removing it so I could work outside, then soapy water to find what is leaking. Valves use grease which dries out, could be a corroded line, loose fitting...

Some of these used a "zip tube" to light- a tube from front to back with holes in it that gas came out while lighting- you basically had a small wall of flame running from front to back.

seanfromcapebre · Answer

Hi all,Thanks for the replies. Cool mom 42. There are 2 shut offs so I can isolate the propane line before the fridge and just before the valve/thermostat assembly.  There is no detectable leak until the fridge is running.Old biscuit- the fridge is a Consul 2624 I believe , I will check when closer to my wife’s phone. Made in Brazil. It’s a very old fridge , 80s at the newest.Chris. No zip tube if I understand correctly. There is a gas line in to the valve/theromostat assembly and one going out to the burner.  As for the knob, yes. In the 12 o’clock position there’s no gas, whether depressed or not. If I turn it CC to the 9 o clock position and depress the button I hear gas flowing, and the ignition will get the fire going. I’m wondering if this 9 o’clock position is a bypass for lighting the flame , and then the knob should go back to the 12 o’clock position?  Not sure.

chris_bryant · Answer

That is the safety valve, it should stay in the nine o'clock position for use- when you push it in, you are bypassing the safety, once the thermocouple heats it will hold the safety open.

There's really not many places for it to leak, they will all be downstream of the safety valve.
Don't give up, those old models run forever, as long as you keep them level. Even if you do give up, someone will buy it.

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Consul fridge, trying to kill me!!

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