Fridge won't stay lit

[Caveman_Charlie]

I have a Norcold Fridge model 6035 (I think that's it anyway. 5.5 CI) I had a new cooling unit installed in it. Now I can't get the fridge to stay lit up on propane. It's not the igniter everything is working like it should ( I put a new dinosaur igniter board in is some years back and a bran new igniter a few days ago)

It's like there is air in the system but, there can't be. The furnace is right below it and it works fine as does the stove and the water heater.

It just keeps popping until finally it goes out.

Pop, pop,, poof, poof, And finally it pops enough until the flame goes out. It will try and successfully relight a few times but, eventually it goes out enough times that the board shuts it down completely. It almost seems to get worse the longer it runs.

I'm completely stumped. It always worked fine before. It's such a simple system. I cant imagine what could be wrong.

[Caveman_Charlie]

wa8yxm wrote:

enblethen wrote:
No thermal couple. It uses a flame sensor.
Manual

Yup many companies call it a "Flame Sensor"

There are two or three types of Flame Sensors. I know two of them
One is a common Thermocouple
The other is photovoltic

I'm not sure there is a 3rd or but am allowing for the posibility. I'm guessing a high temp thermostat might work.

Thermocouples are the most common.

I'm familiar with standard Thermocouples. They are in a lot of furnaces and in the water heater on my camper. They have to heat up and then they hold a valve open so the gas can flow though.

I don't know anything about Photovoltic sensors but, I can kinda guess how they work from the name.

On this fridge the igniter and the sensor are the same thing. When you activate the fridge the circuit board opens the gas valve and the igniter sparks. After the gas lights the the igniter senses the flame it then shuts off the sparking at the igniter and the circuit board continues to hold the gas valve open. If it doesn't sense the flame the circuit board will shut everything down. After 3 tries it goes into lock out and you have to turn the fridge off and back on to try again.

I'm told it does this by measuring the amount of currant flowing through when the igniter is sparking. When the flame is in the way of the spark the amount of currant is different and the circuit board senses this.

So it's not a Thermocouple and it's not a Photovoltaic sensor either.

[wa8yxm]

enblethen wrote:
No thermal couple. It uses a flame sensor.
Manual

Yup many companies call it a "Flame Sensor"

There are two or three types of Flame Sensors. I know two of them
One is a common Thermocouple
The other is photovoltic

I'm not sure there is a 3rd or but am allowing for the posibility. I'm guessing a high temp thermostat might work.

Thermocouples are the most common.

[pasusan]

Thanks for the update and here's hoping it keeps working. 🙂

[Caveman_Charlie]

Gjac wrote:

Caveman Charlie wrote:
I ordered a new burner assembly which includes the orifice and the burner. Of course it is different and won't go on my propane line because the end is different.

So, I ordered a new line ; which I know it going to be different; because I can't get the original one and even if I did it would have the wrong end on it.

When the new line comes I will try and find someone that can either bend it to fit with a tubing bender or, more then likely, I will have to cut both lines and splice them in the middle with a chunk of hose and two clamps.

(Sigh)

I had this same issue when I changed mine, I had to cut one end off and reflare the tube end with a new fitting. The tube is Al and is easily bent by hand.

Thank you for pointing out that it's Aluminum.

Well, after many months I got the fridge fixed. The thing is that I am either working or camping. I don't have very much time in between. So I haven't had time to work on it. I tried ordering another tube that was sold as being the correct one and it wasn't. Now that I had 2 I decided to just throw caution to the wind and start bending it. After about a 1.5 hours of bending it this way and that I was able to find a position that would work without the tube rubbing on anything. Next problem was that you are suppose to put the burner on the tube and then install it and I couldn't do that. I had to put the burner in the hole first and then install the tube. This meant that I could not get a wrench on the fitting to get it tight. I found a cheap 5/8 wrench and cut/broke it to the right length so that I could get it to work in that spot and tightened the fitting. It's in the shed running great right now with no propane leaks.

For a over a month I was buying lots of ice and using coolers. ( that sucked) For another month I had the fridge working but, not on propane so I always had to use spots with electric. Now that it's fall I love being able to park anywhere without needing to plug in so I hope this works. Everyone cross your fingers for me and maybe it will work. Have a nice Day ,,Caveman Charlie.

[Gjac]

Caveman Charlie wrote:
I ordered a new burner assembly which includes the orifice and the burner. Of course it is different and won't go on my propane line because the end is different.

So, I ordered a new line ; which I know it going to be different; because I can't get the original one and even if I did it would have the wrong end on it.

When the new line comes I will try and find someone that can either bend it to fit with a tubing bender or, more then likely, I will have to cut both lines and splice them in the middle with a chunk of hose and two clamps.

(Sigh)

I had this same issue when I changed mine, I had to cut one end off and reflare the tube end with a new fitting. The tube is Al and is easily bent by hand.

[dedmiston]

mfinnerty wrote:
My vote is on the orifice.

Worst campaign slogan ever.

[mfinnerty]

My vote is on the orifice. They get corroded. If the flame isn't even it won't stay lit.

[Caveman_Charlie]

I ordered a new burner assembly which includes the orifice and the burner. Of course it is different and won't go on my propane line because the end is different.

So, I ordered a new line ; which I know it going to be different; because I can't get the original one and even if I did it would have the wrong end on it.

When the new line comes I will try and find someone that can either bend it to fit with a tubing bender or, more then likely, I will have to cut both lines and splice them in the middle with a chunk of hose and two clamps.

(Sigh)

[SoonDockin]

If your fridge is fine other than not cooling, maybe consider modifying to 12v/24v compressor. I did that on my norcold and have no regrets. Took it JC Refrigeration, they can rebuild it back to propane/120v or switch to compressor. It was about 2 hrs and quite reasonable for them to do the work.

[Skibane]

naturist wrote:
I am not familiar with that unit, but my experience with various propane/natural gas appliances over the years has convinced me that the two most common points of failure on all of them are crud/dead bugs in the burner assembly and the thermocouple that keeps the gas flowing after light up.

Some kinds of bugs are attracted to the smell of propane (or the odorant in it) - There is nothing in life they like better than crawling into burner orifices.

[dedmiston]

Matt_Colie wrote:
You just made a manometer to measure low pressures.

I just learned a new word. I've always loved the word "sphygmomanometer", which is a fancy name for a blood pressure cuff.

[Matt_Colie]

Charlie,

Before you start pulling hair out and definitely before you spend any real money, check the LP system pressure.
You need:
Some clear tubing that can fit over a stove burner jet
A yard stick
Rubber bands - at least 2

Use the rubber bands to hold the tubing to the yard stick. Put some water in the tubing. You just made a manometer to measure low pressures.

Push the tubing onto a burner jet and turn the burner on.

The water should shift. The difference between the two levels should be 11". You can probably adjust this at the regulator. If the regulator is more than 10 years old, consider replacing it.

Matt

[StirCrazy]

enblethen wrote:
No thermal couple. It uses a flame sensor.
Manual

but then it shows a picture of a thermal couple in the section on flame quality inspection.

but ya check the flame and see what your quality is, and make sure the tube above it is in the flame.

[Gjac]

Check the slots on the burner tube, when they rust out they get wider changing the air to propane ratio. When mine started to pop I noticed that by putting a flat blade screwdriver tip over the rusted slots the popping would cease. So, I made a slider out of sht metal like on a WH burner tube where I could adjust the air to propane volume and that solved the problem. I was in Quartzite when the problem occurred. I changed to a new burner tube when I got home and that fixed it permanently.