Refrigerator Working on 110v but not on Propane -- Solved!
I had an issue with the refrigerator on our TT that it took me some months to solve, so I thought I would share my saga here in the hope that sometime perhaps it might help someone else with the same fridge problem to find the solution.
Since we bought our 2011 TT in 2014, the fridge had worked perfectly on either 110v or propane, until about 6 months ago, when suddenly it still worked fine on 110v, but would not cool when on propane, even though I still had a flame in the fridge propane burner.
I do all my own maintenance, so I did a lot of research online. The common cause of this problem seemed to be that the propane regulator at the tanks might be bad, since those do apparently wear out, or the propane burner in the fridge might need to be replaced. I replaced both of those items, but it didn't solve the problem. Finally I replaced a small propane regulator/valve inside the fridge at the base, but that didn't fix the problem either.
I was out of ideas, so I consulted two different mobile RV repair men, and neither one could figure it out! After months of no solution, I finally found the problem. The fridge is in the slide, and I found that the rubber hose that supplies the fridge was kinked in two places. The worst kink was at a propane fitting on the end of a hard supply pipe on the undercarriage that the rubber propane supply hose in the slide connected to. The fitting was pointed 180 degrees the opposite direction it should have been, forcing a tight 180 degree bend in the hose, thus the kink -- a sloppy mistake at the factory when the TT was built.
The rubber propane hose in the slide was 8' long and is attached to an accordion type mechanism, so to speak, that folds up as the slide is retracted. I had a custom hose made up at a local company that will make any type of custom hose for you. So if your fridge is in a slide, and it ever quits working on propane, the supply hose should probably be one of the first things you check.
Since we bought our 2011 TT in 2014, the fridge had worked perfectly on either 110v or propane, until about 6 months ago, when suddenly it still worked fine on 110v, but would not cool when on propane, even though I still had a flame in the fridge propane burner.
I do all my own maintenance, so I did a lot of research online. The common cause of this problem seemed to be that the propane regulator at the tanks might be bad, since those do apparently wear out, or the propane burner in the fridge might need to be replaced. I replaced both of those items, but it didn't solve the problem. Finally I replaced a small propane regulator/valve inside the fridge at the base, but that didn't fix the problem either.
I was out of ideas, so I consulted two different mobile RV repair men, and neither one could figure it out! After months of no solution, I finally found the problem. The fridge is in the slide, and I found that the rubber hose that supplies the fridge was kinked in two places. The worst kink was at a propane fitting on the end of a hard supply pipe on the undercarriage that the rubber propane supply hose in the slide connected to. The fitting was pointed 180 degrees the opposite direction it should have been, forcing a tight 180 degree bend in the hose, thus the kink -- a sloppy mistake at the factory when the TT was built.
The rubber propane hose in the slide was 8' long and is attached to an accordion type mechanism, so to speak, that folds up as the slide is retracted. I had a custom hose made up at a local company that will make any type of custom hose for you. So if your fridge is in a slide, and it ever quits working on propane, the supply hose should probably be one of the first things you check.
