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Edzzed's avatar
Edzzed
Explorer
May 11, 2013

fridge works on 110 but not propane

Went camping a couple weeks ago. I always turn the fridge on 2 days before leaving and it was set to auto so it turned on with electricity. So we get to the campsite and have drinks with ice. Next night we have drinks without ice as it never froze. Ran the genny and I could feel it freezing again. I moved the trailer to a more level setting thinking that was the problem. It didn't fix anything. We get home and I run 110 and it freezes well. I then turned on the gas and the fridge warmed up. Not good. I can see a nice blue flame so I know the gas is working. What I don't know is how big that flame should be. I'd guess it's about 3/4 to 1 inch at most. Is that normal. I have an appt. to get it fixed. we have a 5 year warranty on it. Fridge is 4 years old. Anyone care to take an educated guess on what the problem is. If I thought I could tweak it, it'd save me a 50 mile round trip to the dealer and the 50.00 deductible. When I get it fixed in two weeks I'll post up what they said the problem was.

3 Replies

  • I had a similar problem a few years ago. Cooled good on AC but fridge got warmer on LP. I thought the flame was good but after I cleaned the burned tube and jet the flame looked better and the fridge cooled very good on LP.

    Here are before and after pictures. Notice the thermocouple tube in the second picture glows red and it doesn't glow in the first picture.

    Low flame -



    and after cleaning a better flame -


    .
  • 5 possibles

    Low millivolt signal to lower circuit board due to dirty thermocouple or bad thermocouple
    Lower circuit board
    Low gas pressure or dirty orifice
    Flue baffle out of position
    Flue tube needs cleaning

    Do a good cleaning....
    orifice (remove/soak in alcohol)
    Remove vent cap/pull baffle/clean tube with brush (cover burner)
    Clean up electrode with some emery cloth

    The other items you would need manometer, voltmeter.......know how to use them and the test parameters
  • I just had the same problem. If your fridge works on AC then the refrigeration part is working. Are you sure the flame is staying lit the whole time?

    My issue was that the gas would ignite, but shut off before the fridge cooled sufficiently. Then when it would try to re-light, it wouldn't light, and the check light would come on, and it wouldn't try again.

    Turned out the control board wasn't working properly. A new $100 Dinosaur board fixed it. Not only does it work a lot better, the new board is smart enough to wait 30 minutes and try to relight if it doesn't work the first time.

    My fridge was a lot older than 4 years, but it might be the problem.

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