Any solutions for high altitude refrigerator issues?

[soos]

We have recently been using our Lance camper at some higher altitudes- 7500 ft and above (to escape summer heat) and many nights are woken up by the beeping of the fridge because it can't re-ignite on propane at the higher altitudes. Its a Norcold, and apparently their solution is to have electric hookup at elevations above 5000 feet, but that is not what we are interested in doing.

I checked the Lance forum but no one there seems to have come up with a solution.
Other than shutting it off and re-igniting it in the morning, has anyone found a solution?

thanks,
Sue

[soos]

mkirsch wrote:
If anything it should be EASIER to light at night because the air is cooler and denser.

Try this: Shut the fridge off in the middle of the day, then turn it back on and see if it will relight itself. My guess is it won't be able to relight itself then either.

The only reason it lights off in the morning is because your husband lights it with a lighter. Things have also warmed up overnight; the fridge has some catch-up to do so it runs all day.

It is probably the location of the igniter. If it's not where the air-fuel mixture is good for ignition, it can spark until the cows come home. It's not going to light.

Right now the igniter is buried in a cloud of propane without enough air to light.


Moving the spark farther from the orifice should do the trick. There's less air, but the same amount of fuel, so logic would dictate that the fuel has to dissipate into a larger area to get a good air-fuel mixture.

You bring up some good points. DH has said that we have no trouble during the say because it never shuts off, and we DO have trouble at night because thats the first time it has reached temperature and shut itself down.

[sleepy]

soos wrote:
We have recently been using our Lance camper at some higher altitudes- 7500 ft and above (to escape summer heat) and many nights are woken up by the beeping of the fridge because it can't re-ignite on propane at the higher altitudes. Its a Norcold, and apparently their solution is to have electric hookup at elevations above 5000 feet, but that is not what we are interested in doing.

I checked the Lance forum but no one there seems to have come up with a solution.
Other than shutting it off and re-igniting it in the morning, has anyone found a solution?

thanks,
Sue

Hello Sue...

My wife and I have stayed for several days at a time above 12,000 feet (Monarrch Pass on US-50)... we didn't have any trouble with the Norcold 6CuFt fridge in our camper. We didn't have any problems with running the built-in generac generator or hotwater tank.

We have stayed much longer at altiitudes above 8000/9000 feet with the same good results.

You know that there is a difference in propane and butane... where you have your bottles refilled and what season determines what you get,,,, or what percentage of each.

Are your batteries fully charged? To activate the igniter...

And... is there any soot build up in the igniter area?

In 2009 we had a starter motor problem with the generac... we were traveling and didn't have the tools or facilities to do a repair.

I contacted Jim Allen at Lance (former generac rep) and asked him what to do... he sent me to Johnnie Walker RV | RV Sales, Service, Parts in Las Vegas... he said that they had the best service department in the country.

After they replaced the starter motor they used a manometer and adjusted the regulator on the propane system (I was terrified that they'd screw up our propane systems)

Everything worked fine.... the fridges igniter stays clean....

If you are anywhere close to a reputable dealer have your regulator checked.... someone you trust.

I think it will make a difference

BTW.... now it's my wife that gets altitude sickness! go figure...


Sleepy

[d-mac1]

Did you try a new regulator or test the propane pressure? I bought a new regulator yesterday but havent installed it yet. The problem for me is I wont be back to 9500' till probably next year, so I wont know if it fixes it for me.

[ryoung]

Other people with this issue with a Norcold (NOT Dometic) have contacted Norcold and been told, as it says in the user's manual, to run the fridge on electric at altitudes over 5000 feet.

If this is true, you may not solve the problem. Norcold knows something that you don't know, and isn't telling.

ryoung

[mkirsch]

If anything it should be EASIER to light at night because the air is cooler and denser.

Try this: Shut the fridge off in the middle of the day, then turn it back on and see if it will relight itself. My guess is it won't be able to relight itself then either.

The only reason it lights off in the morning is because your husband lights it with a lighter. Things have also warmed up overnight; the fridge has some catch-up to do so it runs all day.

It is probably the location of the igniter. If it's not where the air-fuel mixture is good for ignition, it can spark until the cows come home. It's not going to light.

Right now the igniter is buried in a cloud of propane without enough air to light.

Moving the spark farther from the orifice should do the trick. There's less air, but the same amount of fuel, so logic would dictate that the fuel has to dissipate into a larger area to get a good air-fuel mixture.

[soos]

d-mac1 wrote:
Soos.....any solution? I have similar issue on a Dometic fridge. Works fine at low altitude and on the road. At 9500', it didn't want to light.

Thanks.

No solution yet. It is still happening at higher altitutes.
Last time we were at 8000 feet it went out at 10 pm. Its much easier to light if we wait til morning, start the genny, turn the fridge on AC then switch it to propane.

there is plenty of spark, so it isn't that. we tried leaving the panel open to let air circulate but that didn't seem to help much. I think we might buy a small fan to keep the air circulating. Either that or try to get a larger orifice.


i have searched high and low on the web and haven't seen a solutiion that works for us....yet.

[tony_lee]

d-mac1 wrote:
Soos.....any solution? I have similar issue on a Dometic fridge. Works fine at low altitude and on the road. At 9500', it didn't want to light.

Thanks.

Can you hear the ignitor clicking away. If so, it may be just a problem with the position of the electrode relative to the gas flow.

Our Dometic in the BigFoot works perfectly at up to 14,200 feet but gets progressively more unreliable as the altitude goes up above that.

[d-mac1]

Soos.....any solution? I have similar issue on a Dometic fridge. Works fine at low altitude and on the road. At 9500', it didn't want to light.

Thanks.

[Bedlam]

We camped at 7k+ elevation for the last week and have not had fridge trouble. Every two nights we had been on on different electric hookups but travel was on LPG without issue. Temperatures have ranged from 70-100 degrees while traveling and 45-105 degrees while camping. Now we are at 6500' at a rally in CO but back on electric for a few more nights before we some boon docking at elevation in WY.

[ticki2]

If you can light it manually with a flame perhaps the spark is not properly located . A manual fridge can have the same problem if the pilot light is not in the correct position , or strong enough . Just a thought.

[mmurr]

I had this same problem and this worked for me. I took it apart and blew and vacuumed every speck of dust that I could get out of it. I adjusted the spark gap and put it back together. Last summer it was working at Taylor Park, Colorado elevation 10,000 feet. I am going back again in August and am hoping it will still be working.

[soos]

Kayteg1 wrote:
I can't imagine flame working just fine at daytime and dies at night becouse lack of oxygen.
Judging from your description, you have fridge controlled by computer board.
Those things can have all kind of codes and options, so posting model and better yet pictures would be a good start.
How do you get it restarted in the morning?
Following the comment above about 25 years old fridges working flawlessly. They don't have computer boards to act and I know few car owners who got rid of newer, computerized cars and bought mechanically controlled cars from 1980's
The older cars can use more fuel, but save you a lot on troubleshooting.
Hope you are getting what I am talking abut 😉

yeah KISS (keep it simple sue)
we restart by having DH outside with a lighter. he bangs on camper, I, inside, turn on the fridge. he lights lighter so the flame is right there for the fridge.

I will try to narrow it down next time we take the camper out for the weekend. I wasn't saying that during the day it has oxygen and it night it doesn't, just that its warmer during the day so the fridge runs constantly, never needing to re-ignite, and at night it cools off enough so that it reaches temp, shuts off, and can't re-ignite.

Sue

[luv2skyski]

I had the same problem in reverse with our furnace. I had to adjust the regulator coming out of the propane tank.

LINK

I'm not sure if it will fix your problem (you're at a higher altitude than Denver) but it might be worth a try.

Sincerely, Dave.

[Kayteg1]

I can't imagine flame working just fine at daytime and dies at night becouse lack of oxygen.
Judging from your description, you have fridge controlled by computer board.
Those things can have all kind of codes and options, so posting model and better yet pictures would be a good start.
How do you get it restarted in the morning?
Following the comment above about 25 years old fridges working flawlessly. They don't have computer boards to act and I know few car owners who got rid of newer, computerized cars and bought mechanically controlled cars from 1980's
The older cars can use more fuel, but save you a lot on troubleshooting.
Hope you are getting what I am talking abut 😉