Fridge quit yesterday !!@#$%^&*I have never messed w/ a fridge, probably BC I have never had trouble w/ one.Found a "repair Guy" here in Quartzsite,....first thing he asked is if I'd done any maintenance on it. I replied, "whats that?"Long story short, he came out, cleaned the burner/flue assy, but replaced the burner itself because it was rusted badly. When he removed the cover over the burner, I didn't believe all the black charcoal looking junk that came falling out. He chewed on me for not cleaning it once a year. Then he told me to pay attention,.....watch what he was doing, so I could do it myself from now on. This guy was a real straight shooter let me tell you ! Anyhow, point to my story,if ya ain't ever cleaned your fridge burner, ya better do it at least every 5 yrs or s so, or it will "getcha" when ya least suspect it.I ended up a "happy camper", mainly because he got it going,....I didn't even have to buy a whole new fridge.:)2 hrs after it quit, and $167 (including service call and new burner) we was back to making ice !

Thanks for the heads-up. I have 9 years on mine and have never done any maintenance. Come spring I'll take it apart.

Yes, I do maintenance on the refrigerator. It is also an excellent idea to use a manometer and check the LP pressure annually. If you read the manual it recommends annual maintenance of cleaning the burner and chimney and checking LP pressure.

Going on season 11, never have done more than look at the fridge components. This spring I'll look deeper, but I would imagine with just weekend camping during the limited summer season it wouldn't be too dirty?

I do not plan on checking mine. However I run my frige on elec except when traveling on the road.Good tip though.

Good reminder. Was a thread about that a couple years ago. Happened to me too as mentioned in that thread.Recently it happened again with the Fs so I knew where to look. Big flakes of soot had fallen across the burner distorting the flame. Fixed that (easy job) and all fixed. ( Burner slots were still ok.) Banged on the outside of the chimney till no more flakes fell out.http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25113302/gotomsg/25115159.cfm#25115159

(Update) Fridge Maintenence ? Who ever Does That ?

39 Replies

KJINTF
Explorer
Mar 01, 2014
RJ

Get your air compressor out
Completely blow clean the burner area and exhaust tube
Rusty crud falls down the exhaust tube right into the burner

I assume all is well on AC power
RJsfishin
Explorer
Mar 01, 2014
Original Poster here......
Here I am about 2 months, an 1100 miles away from where I had the fridge cleaned (repaired), and its not cooling again.!@#$%^&*!!!
When its burning, the flame is not near as high as it should be, and keeps popping inside the (new) burner, and blowing itself out, instantly relighting, then blowing out again, all in 2 second cycles, sometimes ending in fault mode.

While I believe the cleaning job was done right, I suspect some debris may have gotten blown into the gas line when the burner was removed, and now is lodged in the burner orfice. I plan to attack the problem in the next couple days......if not raining too hard.
I'll report back later.

In the meantime, if anyone has other ideas, I'm all ears !
C_Schomer
Explorer
Jan 02, 2014
I do that maint. to the frig, WH and the furnace. They are all susceptible to dirt, rust and bugs. Craig
Canadian_Rainbi
Explorer
Jan 01, 2014
Canadian Rainbirds wrote:
I knew all that but somehow when the fridge started being fussy about staying lit it didn't really connect in the cranium. :h

Then next day I had an AH! moment, went outside, took the metal cover off and blew hard a couple of times. Worked fine. Then it quit again. :(

Switched to AC. A few days later (you can see how driven I am) I had a good look with a flashlight. A large piece of fluffy black soot lay across half the burner. Funny how hard it is to see black on black in a dark space without enough light. :S

Now I just need to fix something to the end of our small vacuum cleaner that will fit into the burner area. Another AH moment: DUCT TAPE! :B

I'll let you know how that works out. Maybe. New Year's Resolution? Nah.

I'm starting the year badly by setting a bad precedent: Vacuumed out about a 1/4 cup of carbon and rust, gave it a good shot of compressed gas, vac'ed again, turned it back on. If I'm not careful, DW may begin to expect an end of my mañana syndrome. :S
ryanallie1
Explorer
Jan 01, 2014
Hi All.

Smart man you ran across on that important day of your life. After more than 46 years as RV's, and most of it as BoonDocking. We have never had a problem.

Mostly becasue I'm always doing some kind of "Proventive Mainatenace" on our Motorhome, to keep it running all of the time. We really enjoy working on our Motorhome. To us, its not work, but keeps our life style in perfect harmey.

You can get yourself really good at fixing any kind of an RV, after being RV'ers for over 46+ years and still going strong.

We do all of our own work on everything that we own. No So Called RV Techs for this RVing couple. Good Luck. Happy Travels. Dan & Jill & our two Small "Yorkie Kids, who love to travel as much as we do.
Pangaea_Ron
Explorer
Jan 01, 2014
I had lunch with a friend today, and yesterday he took his 5th wheel to an RV shop to have his propane water heater and refrigerator looked at due to black streaks appearing on the exterior of the RV and poor performance. The repair guy used a compressor to blow air into each compartment and clean the orifices. It took about 5 minutes and everything works fine now. I'm not sure if they actually charged him? JR RV Repair in Sedro Woolley, WA is like that.
RJsfishin
Explorer
Jan 01, 2014
OP here,.......

I dint read all the replys, so this mite have been posted B4.
But this is exactly the maintence that was done, and on the same fridge as mine. Very simple really, except mine needed the burner replaced, probably from burning badly for a long time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwJ8Mmu_oLY
dougrainer
Nomad
Jan 01, 2014
jolooote wrote:
Got my 1st RV with a fridge in 1971. Now on our 6th RV. Never done ANY fridge work. Never had a problem, BUT, if ya got nothin ta doooo...see if ya kin break the fridge. lol

I suggest you do a forum search on refer inadequate operation. NUMBER one cause of cooling problems. Also, my best money maker as a service technician, takes so little time, but the customer has to pay ME for his lack of maintenance. Doug
mena661
Explorer
Jan 01, 2014
Perfect! Thanks OB, PT and BFL.
Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Dec 31, 2013
My first RV was propane/electric and I did do the maintenance you describe. It was surprising how quickly ash and rust piled up around the burner so I usually brushed and banged (gently) to keep the burner slots clear.
I solved all of those issues when my replacement RV had a household fridge!

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(Update) Fridge Maintenence ? Who ever Does That ?

39 Replies

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