Flue cleaning w/o pulling the fridge?

[fotochop]

here's what I've found so far:

"As for the gas option, I cleaned everything well. I stopped at pulling the unit. Can I clean the flue without pulling the whole Frig?

You can get a buret-cleaning brush from a chem supplier (or a friendly high school chemistry teacher), remove the burner unit and snake the brush up the flue past the baffle from below. When I did this, about a teacup-full of corrosion scale and crud fell out. The unit works great now!"

I just pulled the burner today (long story, you don't wanna know ;-( ) and got it running (dirty thermocouple). Don't think I wanna pull the entire Dometic, but it WOULD make sense to clean the flue while I have lower access, yes? No idea what a 'buret brush' is or how that works. ?? Sound reasonable?

[TomW]

A "burette" is a piece of laboratory glassware, and its specially designed cleaning brush looks like this:



In my '67 Airstream, the top of the flue can be accessed by sliding open the cabinet door above the refrigerator, and removing an access plug.

I use a baby bottle brush taped to a coat hanger to clean the flue.

Tom

[fotochop]

Thanks, as you can tell, Chemistry 101 was not on my freshman class schedule. The baby bottle brush sounds like my speed.

Is it OK to clean with the metal spiral insert still in the flue, or does that have to be removed somehow?

[Bibinstruct]

On my 1969 Caravel the frig is to the left of the entry door as you enter. After plumbing the innards of my frig gas and electrical lines through various cabinet/entry doors, I found that taking off the floor to ceiling panel on the left side of the frig (as you face the frig) is the best way to get at everything. Once you get that panel off you can easily clean the flue, etc. Make sure that you place a cloth over the burner when you work on the flue as it will save you from having the burner getting covered with debris. Taking off the panel is not hard, at least not on the Caravel.

[TomW]

Originally Posted by fotochop

... Is it OK to clean with the metal spiral insert still in the flue, or does that have to be removed somehow?

On mine, the metal spiral insert is attached to a wire that is attached to the non-threaded cap at the top of the flue.

Once the cap is removed, the heat diffuser is out of the way.

Tom

[fotochop]

Originally Posted by TomW

In my '67 Airstream, the top of the flue can be accessed by sliding open the cabinet door above the refrigerator, and removing an access plug.

I use a baby bottle brush taped to a coat hanger to clean the flue.

Tom

Found it! Thanks again, I would have been looking for DAYS for that access. Very simple when removed (unlike pulling the burner! rusted, upside down, no-access, stripped Phillips have just been replace with hex-head stainless machine bolts. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for the next time I need to clean the burner/flue.)