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FiveGreers · 03-16-2006, 05:28 AM

How level do I have to be to cool the frig without doing any damage to it? If you look at my pictures, there is one showing the Safari hooked up to the truck in our driveway. Our driveway is not level, and even when we unhook and lower, it's still not level. We cannot park in the street as we're the 5th house in a neighborhood of 100+ homes on the main road. And yes, I've already thought about moving, unfortunately it's not an option-

-lol!

ZoominC6 · 03-16-2006, 05:34 AM

Difficult to tell from your photo but it looks like your drive slopes to the house. If that's the case and you cannot lower the nose as suggested, why not raise the rear wheels onto a 2X10 or such and then try lowering the nose to level? Does that make sense?

lewster · 03-16-2006, 05:39 AM

Howdy,

By 'level', the refer manufacturers mean 'comfortable to live in'. It does not have to be perfect. This is necessary because the design of the cooling unit in the fridge requires gravity to help it work and the orientation of the tubing system in the back will not allow for full coolant flow if the unit isn't 'level'. I quess one could argue that 'comfort' depends on one's situation, but if you can walk around in your T/T and not think that you're in a Fun-House

, then it's probably OK!

Silvertwinkie · 03-16-2006, 06:35 AM

From what I understand, it's not as critical with a new unit than an older one.

Chaplain Kent · 03-16-2006, 06:49 AM

I went to a Dometic seminar a few weeks back and the presenter stated if you have a round flue it is not that critical to have the unit level for cooling. He said if you can stand comfortably you can run the unit. Do you cool yours with 120 first then switch to gas? Next question is does anyone else use those little fans which are to help cool down the fridge?

FiveGreers · 03-16-2006, 06:59 AM

Thanks for the repsonses.

Yes, the drive does slope towards the house. Luckily, not enough that we bottom out at the bumper!

We do plug into the adaptor and into the house to cool the frig (well, only once-the only trip we've taken so far). We also ran off the electrics at the cg for the frig. Don't recall if we used the fan-although we do have it. Do you run it all the time or just in the beginning?

26.982 amu · 03-16-2006, 06:05 PM

I tried this on another thread--no answers. Can you help?

I fired up my '72-vintage Dometic with LP and it worked great for about a day, then completely quit cooling. Flame is still on, too. Is there anything I can do?

ArtStream · 03-16-2006, 06:39 PM

Hello CK,
Yes, I too have a fridge fan, plus a fan on the coils.
For a fridge fan, I wired a real fan into the 12V. I use a small computer box fan, lasts forever and is almost silent!

Michael

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaplain Kent

I went to a Dometic seminar a few weeks back and the presenter stated if you have a round flue it is not that critical to have the unit level for cooling. He said if you can stand comfortably you can run the unit. Do you cool yours with 120 first then switch to gas? Next question is does anyone else use those little fans which are to help cool down the fridge?

sander17 · 03-16-2006, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silvertwinkie

From what I understand, it's not as critical with a new unit than an older one.

I definitely agree. In our previous 79 Ambassador, the Dometic RM100 fridge was very picky when it came to level. Just a little off and it would start to warm up, even when running on the "flame". The other fun part was choosing a surface to put the level on. They all seemed to disagree with each other. I finally went with the freezer shelf and a 9" torpedo level. That seemed to work best for that model.

Vince, try using such a level inside the freezer compartment instead of any levels mounted on the outside of the trailer. They might disagree. Our 79 had that problem. Be sure to check in both directions. Those old Dometics are touchy.

In such a "vintage" fridge, the 120VAC heater never seemed to cool as well as the flame, but that could be from electric heater element old age.

**azflycaster** · 03-16-2006, 08:00 PM

We use a round level like this on the bottom shelf. If the bubble is touching the center ring, it's close enough.

65glbtrotter · 03-16-2006, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince Brach

I tried this on another thread--no answers. Can you help?

I fired up my '72-vintage Dometic with LP and it worked great for about a day, then completely quit cooling. Flame is still on, too. Is there anything I can do?

Try taking off the orifice and clean it with alcohol anf then blow it out with an air compressor, that did the trick on my '65 dometic when it quit cooling last year.

lewster · 03-16-2006, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince Brach

I tried this on another thread--no answers. Can you help?

I fired up my '72-vintage Dometic with LP and it worked great for about a day, then completely quit cooling. Flame is still on, too. Is there anything I can do?

Vince,

Did you verify the intensity of the flame? As 65GT said, if you have a flame that is not generating sufficient output to properly heat the refrigerant in the cooling unit it just won't get cold. You should see a nice blue, robust flame. Also, gently place your hand on the heating section (above where the flame is) and then on the absorber coils in the center of the cooling unit. They should be about the same temp.......very warm to hot to the touch.

**azflycaster** · 03-16-2006, 08:55 PM

Can you smell any ammonia around the unit?

basecamp · 03-16-2006, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince Brach

I tried this on another thread--no answers. Can you help?

I fired up my '72-vintage Dometic with LP and it worked great for about a day, then completely quit cooling. Flame is still on, too. Is there anything I can do?

I had the same problem. I had my trailer in the driveway, ran the fridge on electric for 6 weeks then when I tried to run it on propane it would not cool. I cleaned the burner area and got the fridge to fire up but the flame would not ramp up and the flue got slightly warm but the fridge did not cool, same situation as you. Well I took my trailer to Jackson Center for a couple of upgrades in December and I asked them to check the fridge. The diagnosis, JC replaced my regulator, they said it was full of liquid propane. The factory claims it works fine now, I told them I did not want to find out two days after I leave JC that my fridge still doesn't work as my intention is to pick up the trailer in 3 weeks on my way down to Florida from Canada. The kicker is that JC replaced my regulator less than a year ago when I had furnace problems. I asked about the regulator being covered by warranty and they said it's not covered because it was full of liquid. Gee you would think that the regulator would have a drain hole to relieve any liquid buildup if this is something that can happen on occassion. It just sounds fishy to me, the original regulator lasts 8 years and the regulator they replaced last March lasts 6 months. By the way, while my fridge didn't work, my furnace worked great on propane. I'm going to freak if my fridge quits after I pick it up from Jackson Center. Maybe someone else has heard of this happening to their regulator and in turn reduced the gas pressure enough to prevent the fridge from working properly.

lewster · 03-17-2006, 06:12 AM

Basecamp,

This doesn't sound right. If your furnace is working, it is drawing the propane from the same regulator as the fridge....no? In that case, there should be nothing wrong with the regulator. I'll bet your stove works fine also

. It should be checked for proper output (11"water guage) with a manometer. There is a little hex plug that is there as a test port. If it doesn't have one, the manometer can be connected directly to the regulator output. If the regulator checks out OK (and I have a feeling that it will), then the same test should be done at the fridge gas valve (has a test port also) to see if the proper pressure is available there also.

If both are good (11" water guage) then the prblem is downstream of the fridge gas valve, like a blocked burner tube, clogged burner orifice, or improper fuel/air mix in the burner tube. PM me if you need more info on this.

26.982 amu · 03-17-2006, 06:46 AM

The exasperating thing about my Dometic's failure to cool is that there is no telltale ammonia smell, the heating unit above the flame is warm/hot to the touch, and the flame at the orifice appears to be vigorous. A bubble level resting on the freezer shelf shows the bubble dead inside the circle.

I turned the whole thing off for a week and fired it up again yesterday afternoon. I'll be checking it today--maybe things are better now.

26.982 amu · 03-17-2006, 12:01 PM

The unit was not cooling this morning when I checked it. The trailer was full of exhaust fumes, though. Could a blocked flue be the problem? How in the world do you clean it?

Sav'h Steve · 03-17-2006, 05:40 PM

You could have an animal building a nest for example in the top of the vent flue. A blower will clear the top of debris. Clearly if the vent is not open, good air flow won't happen.

Steve

lewster · 03-17-2006, 05:58 PM

Vince,

A blocked flue would most definitely contribute to your situation, as a rusty spiral baffle found in the flue tube. You might have to remove the unit from it's place in the T/T (depending whether the top of the tube is accessible) and remove the blockage and scrub it out with a flue brush. Remove the baffle first. It hangs on the end of a precisely measured wire attached at the top of the tube.

Remove all rust (remove or cover your burner assembly to keep it clean) and then re-assemble. That should do it!

65glbtrotter · 03-17-2006, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince Brach

The exasperating thing about my Dometic's failure to cool is that there is no telltale ammonia smell, the heating unit above the flame is warm/hot to the touch, and the flame at the orifice appears to be vigorous. A bubble level resting on the freezer shelf shows the bubble dead inside the circle.

I turned the whole thing off for a week and fired it up again yesterday afternoon. I'll be checking it today--maybe things are better now.

My flame looked good too, even had a mobile rv tech tell me my flame looked fine and that since it worked on AC power that I needed to replace the fridge. But after checking prices I just had to find another solution before I was going to part with $800.