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Old 08-28-2015, 05:20 PM   #1
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Auto refrig on LP question

2015 FC 28. Refrig runs great on shore power. Would like to test LP. With LP on, switch to LP how do you know refrig is ignited? I do not hear an ignition. I do not see or feel a flame from outside panel. Control light is not blinking LP. Is the flame well hidden from view when you look inside the outside refrig panel?
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Old 08-28-2015, 05:35 PM   #2
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Turn the LP gas on, turn the fridge on AUTO or Gas. The Use / Store needs to be in Use position. Fridge will automatically switch to gas mode and attempt to light the burner. If it fails, there will be an error light / message on the front of the fridge. You may need to press Reset if that light is lit. Sometimes the gas takes a while to go from the cylinder to the burner and the fridge will stop trying and give you an alert. Once it starts, you won't need to do that again unless you turn it off for several days at a time.
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Old 08-28-2015, 06:09 PM   #3
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If mine fails to ignite more than once, I find it helps to light a stove eye for a minute or two. I guess this purges the lines.
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Old 08-28-2015, 06:48 PM   #4
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OK I hear both if you. BUT, how do you know it lit? I can't hear the ignition and I see nothing when I look in the outside cover door. Shouldn't I at least see some flame, etc.?
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Old 08-28-2015, 07:18 PM   #5
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OK I hear both if you. BUT, how do you know it lit? I can't hear the ignition and I see nothing when I look in the outside cover door. Shouldn't I at least see some flame, etc.?
Not really, it's pretty contained (to keep from blowing out in wind). I can hear ours if it's VERY quiet...but that's about the only time.

One thing to do would be to let it light normally, then go shut the propane tank off. Within a few minutes, it'll run out of propane and should start blinking at you. If it's not lighting, it would never run out of propane.
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Old 08-28-2015, 07:19 PM   #6
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Auto refrig on LP question

Go outside, open the cover, see the flame, feel the heat. Ours is so quiet that is the only way to know for sure. I do this with the fridge warm, then wait to verify it gets cold and check the temp.
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Old 08-29-2015, 09:42 AM   #7
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The chimney will be hot, the Auto or Gas light will be on and the fridge will be cool/cold if it's working and been on for a while. The warning light will be on, the chimney will be cool if it isn't. If it's quiet in the trailer when you first turn it on you can hear the click from the igniter trying to light the propane. Once it's lit, you won't hear anything but if it fails to light the light on the front comes on and you have to turn it off then on again. The lines may need to purge the air until the propane reaches the igniter. [It's not a click-click-click, like the stove. It will click and if it fails to light it will try again after maybe 30 seconds.]

There's no compressor or moving parts so you won't hear anything unless the cooling vanes are warm, then the vent fan will come on. The chimney is closed so you can run it while traveling. It takes a while for it to cool down but after I leave mine on for about an hour I can feel the freezer walls will be cooler.
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Old 08-29-2015, 09:58 AM   #8
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To run on gas does the auto button need to be off and the gas button on!? On the other hand if running on auto button on on electric and if you unplug where does the gas button have to be set, on or off when it automatically switches over to gas?
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Old 08-29-2015, 10:38 AM   #9
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I have a new generations domestic 7 cut, probably the same unit as you. It is a bit different than my OEM model. Open the tank valve of a filled tank, go turn the front burner of the stove on. Wait about 15 seconds and then try to light it slowly. Keep trying until it lights. You should hear hissing and also eventually smell LP. It something happens and it does not light. Turn the burner off and wait a bit. Then try again. Get the stove burner lit and it will help. Let it burn about a minute then shut off. Now, go to the fridge. Hit the on button and you should hear clicking faintly. That is the burner igniter. If it keeps doing this then quits you will see a flashing LP in the window - not good. Try again. You want a solid dot by LP and temp to show. It should click a bit then stop and the indicator screen will show a small dot next to LP. You have to watch as you much leave the trailer power switch on as well. Don't put the trailer on store but leave the power on. It will not run the fridge on store.
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Old 08-29-2015, 11:08 AM   #10
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If you leave it on auto, the reefer will select electric if you're plugged in to shore power, and gas if you're not. If you set it to gas, it will obviously only have one choice.

Start with refrigerator turned to off. To test, set input switch from Auto to Gas (our 2009 unit reads "LP" for Gas) and refrigerator to Off. Definitely light all three burners on your stove to purge air from the gas lines, then (while they're still burning) turn refrigerator On. As others have said, you'll hear the single click as it attempts to ignite.

After a few minutes, you can move your hand carefully around the components on the outside of the coach, and you should feel some heat (don't burn yourself!) Unless it's night time and you remove the wind baffle, you're not going to see the flame as it's very small and relatively dim.

It's nice that it runs so quietly that you can't tell! Ultimately, you'll need to see if the vanes inside get cold and/or it feels cold in the freezer compartment. It takes many hours before the thermometer will indicate a move below the 60* highest setting and let you know for sure that it's cooling. As others have said, it can take a full 24 hours to get the refrigerator down into the high 30's, and all of this is effected by ambient temperature, how much you load into the refrigerator initially, whether you leave room for air circulation, and the temperature of the items that you load initially. We always try to bring some meals that we've frozen and put them in the freezer compartment when we first fire up to help the process. You could also start with a sealed block of ice in the refrigerator compartment. We usually leave the refrigerator empty and keep our food in the cooler in which we've transported it to the coach until the refrigerator's had a chance to cool down.
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Old 08-29-2015, 11:24 AM   #11
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On the refrigerator, just leave it on Auto and let it do it's own thing. If it does not light on gas a warning flashing will occur. Mine is on Auto right now (I am out camping in a NF campground), and is on gas. The Auto light is on.

Now, on the smaller 5 cu ft Dometic's like mine if you turn it on GAS, not Auto, there is an interesting thing that arises. On at least the smaller, newer Domestics, on GAS the thermostat is de activated! That is, there is no thermostatic control, the gas flame will run all the time, and overcool or freeze up things. So that is why you should use Auto, not GAS. I was told that the GAS switch is primarily for testing purposes only, and did find that in the manual someplace.

Apparently Dometic has made this change, at least by 2014 in the smaller units. I do not know it it applies to the larger ones. But it should work properly on Auto in any of the models.
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Old 08-29-2015, 11:54 AM   #12
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On the refrigerator, just leave it on Auto and let it do it's own thing. If it does not light on gas a warning flashing will occur. Mine is on Auto right now (I am out camping in a NF campground), and is on gas. The Auto light is on.

Now, on the smaller 5 cu ft Dometic's like mine if you turn it on GAS, not Auto, there is an interesting thing that arises. On at least the smaller, newer Domestics, on GAS the thermostat is de activated! That is, there is no thermostatic control, the gas flame will run all the time, and overcool or freeze up things. So that is why you should use Auto, not GAS. I was told that the GAS switch is primarily for testing purposes only, and did find that in the manual someplace.

Apparently Dometic has made this change, at least by 2014 in the smaller units. I do not know it it applies to the larger ones. But it should work properly on Auto in any of the models.
That helps a lot, thanks.
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Old 08-29-2015, 01:41 PM   #13
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We lost shore power at our campsite in our 2nd trip and our refrig didnt switch over. We could hear it trying to ignite but then we would get the error light, We reset it several times but still the error. We lit the stove and it worked fine.
We finally got all the manuals out and found where there is a manual shut off valve in the back of the refrig. The manual had a diagram and we followed it. There was a screw in the line which simply required a quarter turn. The refrig soon lit.
Either the previous owner or the dealer had shut the gas down to the refrig.
This might be something to keep in mind for new owners
This might be something to check
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Old 08-29-2015, 06:44 PM   #14
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Sorry to detour, but what do you do while driving to keep refer on? Apparently it is against the law to drive with gas on.
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Old 08-29-2015, 06:59 PM   #15
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Sorry to detour, but what do you do while driving to keep refer on? Apparently it is against the law to drive with gas on.
I think laws vary state to state. I run with it on.
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Old 08-29-2015, 07:31 PM   #16
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Good Question. We just finished our first trip and wondered that too before we left. There were opinions for and against using LP. At first we went with no LP while traveling, deciding to use the DC feature to power the refrigerator. After our batteries died the second day, we opted for LP. I thought the truck's alternator would handle recharging, but it could not keep up. Fortunately, I did disconnect the truck when we overnighted. All seemed to be fine running on LP for the remainder of our trip.
When I returned, I picked up a copy of Good Sam RV Travel Guide at Camping World. There is a section on page 196 that covers Bridge, Tunnel, and Ferry regulations. There are several restrictions listed for bridges and tunnels, but no restrictions on the highways. That is only in the US. Most provinces in Canada dictates that all appliances and pilot lights must be off, and cylinder valves closed while traveling.

I hope that helps a bit. Enjoy the road.
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Old 08-29-2015, 07:36 PM   #17
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The biggest thing I have noticed is that the line may have air if it has been a while since propane has been used. Our water heater is after the refrig so when I want to start the fridge up for a trip I light the water heater for a brief second just to make sure the light doesn't come on, then I turn it off and turn the refrigerator to gas. It starts cooling quickly and I can feel the temperature difference inside the fridge. That way I know it will light when the power is off and we hit the road unless there is some mechanical malfunction. I have had it not light before because their was air in the propane line and it timed itself out so I always check it now before hitting the road. This is the hillbilly way of checking and no doubt others have the sophisticated methods.
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Old 08-30-2015, 09:22 AM   #18
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Sorry to detour, but what do you do while driving to keep refer on? Apparently it is against the law to drive with gas on.
There are several threads on this subject and, like always, a variety of opinions. The fridge can be run during transport and some states just require that you turn off the gas before entering a tunnel. Here in KY we have the tunnel for the Cumberland Gap and there is a pull off for TT so they can turn off their LP. Here's a nice thread for you to look through

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f425...ing-76220.html
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Old 09-11-2015, 08:31 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 51coke View Post
We lost shore power at our campsite in our 2nd trip and our refrig didnt switch over. We could hear it trying to ignite but then we would get the error light, We reset it several times but still the error. We lit the stove and it worked fine.
We finally got all the manuals out and found where there is a manual shut off valve in the back of the refrig. The manual had a diagram and we followed it. There was a screw in the line which simply required a quarter turn. The refrig soon lit.
Either the previous owner or the dealer had shut the gas down to the refrig.
This might be something to keep in mind for new owners
This might be something to check
THANK YOU!

We are on our first big outing (4 weeks) and noticed the propane wasn't keeping the frig cold after a decent day's drive. Our previous trips had been too short to see a drop in temp, so we were surprised when today the frig read 60! Sure enough this brand new unit had never had the refrigerator propane line turned on. Thank you for your post. Problem solved.

Jan
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Old 09-12-2015, 10:47 AM   #20
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We leave our fridge on auto all the time except during storage and don't have any problems. We would turn off the LP but never had occasion to enter a tunnel.
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