Well, to be honest I don’t remember even looking at the static pressure. I would guess that it would be higher than 11.5”. I don’t really consider the static pressure to be significant unless you’re doing a leak check of the system. The regulator needs to have some load on it to regulate.
But, you’re in luck. I didn’t want to spend another day up on a ladder painting the house, so I gave myself the day off (I can do that since I’m the boss of just darn near everything around here, at least while SWMBO is at work). :B
It’s been almost a year since I replaced the LP regulator, and bought the digital manometer, so it was probably a good idea to check it again. As I said in the topic I linked to, the test port plug at the fridge is frozen and I can’t remove it. I twisted an Allen wrench into a pretzel last year trying to get it out and it never budged. After finding that the valve it’s part of cost $150, I quit trying to get it out.
This is the pressure with the fridge, furnace, water heater, and the generator running. I had the generator loaded about 50% using an electric heater. The pressure is about the same with the furnace off, and the AC loading the generator. The displayed pressure is actually bouncing around +/- .1 or so, but I tried to adjust the regulator so that most of the time it was above 11.5”.
And this is the pressure with nothing but the fridge running. Again, this is at the regulator. It might show slightly lower, and with less fluctuations if I could check it at the fridge. That’s less than one ounce per square inch difference between the two numbers.
Edit: Being an unapologetic OCD kind of guy, I started wondering if maybe I was checking and adjusting the LP pressure with too much load on the system. After all, the generator and furnace are both gas hogs compared to the other LP appliances. So, I rechecked things with the generator off, but all the other LP appliances running. The readings were virtually identical. In order to maintain 11.5” h2o with the furnace, WH, stove/oven and fridge going, the regulator had to be adjusted such that the pressure rose to about 12.7-12.9” h2o with just the fridge running. It is what it is, I guess.
:):)
But, you’re in luck. I didn’t want to spend another day up on a ladder painting the house, so I gave myself the day off (I can do that since I’m the boss of just darn near everything around here, at least while SWMBO is at work). :B
It’s been almost a year since I replaced the LP regulator, and bought the digital manometer, so it was probably a good idea to check it again. As I said in the topic I linked to, the test port plug at the fridge is frozen and I can’t remove it. I twisted an Allen wrench into a pretzel last year trying to get it out and it never budged. After finding that the valve it’s part of cost $150, I quit trying to get it out.
This is the pressure with the fridge, furnace, water heater, and the generator running. I had the generator loaded about 50% using an electric heater. The pressure is about the same with the furnace off, and the AC loading the generator. The displayed pressure is actually bouncing around +/- .1 or so, but I tried to adjust the regulator so that most of the time it was above 11.5”.
And this is the pressure with nothing but the fridge running. Again, this is at the regulator. It might show slightly lower, and with less fluctuations if I could check it at the fridge. That’s less than one ounce per square inch difference between the two numbers.
Edit: Being an unapologetic OCD kind of guy, I started wondering if maybe I was checking and adjusting the LP pressure with too much load on the system. After all, the generator and furnace are both gas hogs compared to the other LP appliances. So, I rechecked things with the generator off, but all the other LP appliances running. The readings were virtually identical. In order to maintain 11.5” h2o with the furnace, WH, stove/oven and fridge going, the regulator had to be adjusted such that the pressure rose to about 12.7-12.9” h2o with just the fridge running. It is what it is, I guess.
:):)
If your refer is working fine on 110 then there is nothing wrong with the cooling system. Something is wrong with the LP burner system.
Most likely, something is gunked/rusted up.
Possibly, there's something wrong with the gas supply.
Steve
Most likely, something is gunked/rusted up.
Possibly, there's something wrong with the gas supply.
Steve
ernie1 wrote:
NRALIFR My refer has two side vents and I've installed two 12v fans behind the top vent and when the fans are running I've actually noticed the refer losing ground and the inside warm up a degree or two so now I've quit running the fans totally. You're right about reading the installation manual and I will but I'm still saying if the installation was not proper, why does the unit run fine on ac and 12v BUT not propane. Also, My two friends with Dometics of the same vintage complain about the same issue. Logic is clear to me in this case that there is something not right with the propane part of these refers. I'm tired of hearing about how blameless Dometic is and when I reach out for help to their tech people they are clueless, rude and condescending. At this point I think I'm beating a dead horse in trying to find a solution and getting wound up in company loyalty issues etc rather than dealing with facts.
Your logic is correct. I know you’ve mentioned that it works fine on AC more than once but I forgot that when I made my last post. I would check the LP pressure before doing anything else.
All I can say regarding fans is that on my current unit, I have one fan in back, and it’s mounted about halfway up in an area where there’s a lot of room between the tubing. It’s pointing up, blowing through the condenser fins at the top, and the roof vent above it. It’s actually a fairly slow speed, quiet fan. You can hardly hear it. I don’t think high speed fans are necessary back there.
One thing that is different about running in LP mode versus AC mode, is the waste heat from the flame coming out of the chimney. There are more btu’s of heat to exhaust out the top vent when the fridge is running in LP mode than when it’s in AC mode. The baffle at the very top of the fridge should direct all of the heat coming off the cooling unit tubes and fins AND coming out of the chimney to the top vent, and not let any of it enter the dead air space that’s typically left on top of the fridge. If there’s even a small gap at the sides of the top baffle, heat will enter the area behind it. I’ve found that it’s best to fill that area with insulation to prevent that.
The heat produced by the flame doesn’t all go into the boiler perk tube of the cooling unit like it does when running in AC mode. The chimney should have a twisted strip of metal hanging down close to the bottom called a baffle. It’s supposed to concentrate the heat in the proper area so the solution inside the perk tube will boil. If that baffle isn’t there, the heat just flows up the chimney and the boiler doesn’t get hot enough. Even with the baffle though, there’s a lot of heat flowing out of the chimney. Enough to burn you when the flame is on. So, make sure the baffle is there, and that the end closest to the flame isn’t burnt off. Make sure there’s nothing obstructing the flow of heat coming out the chimney. Also make sure the chimney is clean of rust. A 10 gauge shotgun wire brush can be used to clean it. Of course you have to pull the baffle out for that.
Here’s an image of a cooling unit I like to refer to. You can see a representation of the baffle in the lower right. It looks like a figure eight.
:):)
