High Altitude LP Refrigerator Performance

Nope........

As evidenced by your own experience one fridge worked OK and another one didn't

Problem is fuel/air ratio.

Air flow to yours is sufficient in higher elevations to be OK with the less dense air
Air flow to your friends is lacking just enough to be fuel rich (imbalance in fuel/air ratio)
Very small fan to enhance air to burner or smaller gas orifice to limit propane flow or adjust propane system pressure down from 11" to 10" 10.5"---one would have to PLAY with system pressure but then other propane appliances might NOT fire properly.

So NOPE>>>>>>>

gregdennis53 wrote:
Greetings.

Just returned from a month in the Colorado Rockies camping with friends. My friend has a new Coach House Platinum II which cost more than my house, and I have a 2003 Lance 1010. We were camping for a few days in NW Colorado at a fantastic campground with a 10,000 foot elevation. My camper was fine, but his refrigerator quit working and made odd "burping" sounds as it tried to light. We did some checking and it seems that his owner's manual said that his refrigerator should not be used on LP above 5500 feet. When we got to lower elevation his refrigerator started working again. Meanwhile, my refrigerator worked perfectly the whole time.
Is there a modification or upgrade to his LP regulator or other systems that I can help him install so this will not happen again?

Happy Camping!

Its likely the regulator is set a bit high. Is it a Dometic? Are the propane lines all rubber?

You might see if they have a high altitude kit for the fridge. I know I had that problem with a water heater on a previous unit years ago and they made a high altitude kit for it. IIRC it was just a smaller orifice assembly. Though it still didn't work great at 10k but before the kit it worked poorly above about 7k(would go out very easily) after the kit it worked well up to about 9k.

BarryG20 wrote:
You might see if they have a high altitude kit for the fridge. I know I had that problem with a water heater on a previous unit years ago and they made a high altitude kit for it. IIRC it was just a smaller orifice assembly. Though it still didn't work great at 10k but before the kit it worked poorly above about 7k(would go out very easily) after the kit it worked well up to about 9k.

None of the fridge mfg. offer 'high altitude kit'

Suburban used to for their water heater (may still) but it was for their 3 gallon model due to the smaller size orifice and derating of btu


Try removing lower vent cover.

RVs that cost as much as an entire working class neighborhood are not expected to stray more than 1,000 meters from a 36-hole golf course.

If the flame (you need to go eyeball to burner on this) tries to light but the base of the flame lifts off the burner then goes out repeatedly, then there is too much air

If the flame tip contains more than a smattering of yellow specks in blue flame then the burn is too rich. I've seen burners that emitted a yellow cone, with backfiring, popping out of the burner.

Very few residences and very few business at that altitude have piped natural gas. They rely on LPG. The bulk trucks belong to a distributor. The distributor hires knowledgeable LPG mechanics who work with heaters, boilers, hot water heaters, LPG motor fuel carburation and everything else. It is they the mechanic that can swiftly diagnose a problem and then call a judgement as to going about the best way to fix the problem. These guys are professionals. If they need a smaller orifice they won't snivel and say. Sorry No got smaller orifices. They will pien around the hole with a micro drift then use a pocket reamer to arrive at the correct size. At the same time, you learn how to change this pill for lower altitude operation. Get another pill or two just in case. Everyone tries to outguess professionals, and they lose 100 to 0