I need to replace an igniter that is no longer made. UPDATE

UPDATE.

For anyone who might be doing a search in the future on this topic, the fix did work perfectly.

The new sparker even matched the bolt holds of the old one making for an easy install. The only problem was that the new sparker had a spade terminal while the old sparker was a barrel. Using a pair of needle nose pliers (and some care) the end of the high tension wire barrel connection was converted (bent)into a spade end.

FWIW, the "L" on the new sparker stands for 'light' and was not used since the old sparker/wiring did not have this feature.

Fridge fired right up the first time.

Thanks again Chris. I'm also glad to hear Dometic is better than that. I just had the same type of "out of production" item go for a .35 cent plastic E clip on my Magic Chef stove. Their response was "you need to buy a new stove" without even batting an eye. So I may have been a little harsh with Dometic.

I got power to the igniter, I also have continuity from the starts of spark line down to the tip of the sparker. I did pull the high spark line from the sparker and held it about an 1/8 inch from a solid ground and got no spark.

The neighbor can manually light the burner and it runs normal. This is what they were doing when they drove down from up north. They won't need the fridge till spring for the drive back north, so I got some time on this one.

I can guarantee it won't hurt anything- the positive lead should be hooked to the positive lead to the gas valve, and the ground simply to ground.
Do make certain the module is what is bad- a shorted electrode will cause all kinds of problems, and I run in to those all the time. To test that I just pull the electrode lead off the igntiter and hold it about 1/4" away from the terminal (with insulated pliers). If the electrode is bad, it will spark.
Dometic is normally much better at providing parts info, and replacement parts for obsolete items. Not sure why the problem with this item.

spadoctor wrote:
Did you contact Dometic for the NEW replacement part number? I can not see them not having a current part for a unit that new

Yes (both myself and the local RV shop) that's the part of the story that is so maddening to me. Fridge is only 10 years old and they gave up supporting it, not a very nice business model.

Did you contact Dometic for the NEW replacement part number? I can not see them not having a current part for a unit that new

I'll add a little more meat to the thread.

This fridge has a thermocouple with two leads, so the sparker is just a sparker. It appears that the new igniter does have some intelligence built in where it will sense the absence of a flame and start the spark process over again (the reigniter part) if there still is power to the igniter. I'm going to put a meter on the leads to see how things really work with the board and the igniter leads.

Local RV repair place had been asked to repair the unit after I found the problem for the neighbor, that's when the neighbor found out the part was out of production, and was then told to replace the whole fridge (over a thousand dollars.) I'm thinking we're better then that. For pete sake all it is, is a tiny coil.

I'm going to let the neighbor decide if he wants to just live with a 12v and 110v fridge, or give the new reigniter a try with the understanding that there is no guarantee's it will work, and not do any damage.

Personally I hope he goes for it. I'm thinking I did my due diligence on it, and would love to see if it fixes the problem. I'll update this post with the results so others might benefit from the outcome. It might be a couple of weeks though.

Call a local CG and ask who they use for their local RV mobile Repair.

These guys always have all the parts that usually go out that are no longer available right on board in their service trucks.

Reasonably priced and their rates to install it is IMHO VERY inexpensive. AND they do it right on site where your RV is.

dougrainer would probably know. go to the Nordic Rebuilt RV Fridge Cooling Units article and PM him.

I do not know enough about your fridge but I will make this comment.

Dometic (And Norcold as well) uses two diferent ignition/sense systems

Single wire and double wire.

The Single wire ignightor can be made to work on BOTH systems, but the double wire ignightor WILL NOT WORK on the single wire system.

here is way.

The Double wire job, the flame sensor is the 2nd wire, a second "rod" (Thermocouple) that is heated by the flame.

The Single wire model, the single rod does both jobs, it lights the fire, and it senses the fire,, and the control board (OEM) flakes the switch and pops a chip, so the replacement board (Dinosaur) has a neat little gas discharge tube to prevent that from happening.

This reigniter that you gave the link for is the one used in all of the other sized refrigerators- unless they use a main board with the onboard igniter, but I see no reason why it shouldn't work- it's wired the same as the other models which use the this igniter, and uses the same board.