Vintage Dometic gas only refridge

[mbaustian]

I have a 1961 Overlander with an original dometic lp gas refrigerstor. I've had it for about 15 years and the fridge has worked pretty well. Had one episode about 5 years ago where the flame was wonky and we had some trouble keeping it lit. I recall that I somehow, but don't member how, I cleaned the burner an it's worked well since. I am currently about 500 miles from home and it is misbehaving. The flame isn't quite right and there appear to be some deposits in the rim of the burner that throw off a bit of Orange into the flame. I can live without it for the 2 weeks of this trip and have a lot of patience with relighting it. But, I would rather get it back on track with out making a bad situation worse. I love this fridge and want to keep it working. Any vintage enthusiasts out there with some advice? Thanks in advance for your consideration. Mark

[goransons]

Leon and National RV Refrigeration has done modern retrofits on 60's refrigerators for many of us in the vintage trailer world where we want to maintain the look of the original but have it work. He takes a modern cooling unit, builds whatever he needs to make it work, welds it all together, recharges the unit. Typically he can build it so you have modern electronic ignition, plus 110 option, and all you have to do is find a cabinet or somewhere to mount the small push button control panel. They typically do those builds in the winter, but take reservations for the work. Not a project you can be in a hurry for, but very much worth the wait!

[richard5933]

Lots of good videos on You Tube about cleaning the burners on these older fridges. Find one that's close to how your model looks and have at it. I cleaned mine in an hour or so and the flame was great afterwards.

Cleaning a propane fridge's burner and chimney tube are part of the routine maintenance, and it sounds like yours is a bit overdue.

[mbaustian]

We've returned from our trip and am happy to report that the dometic settled down and worked well for the remainder of the trip. Good to have the info about the re-builder as someday this old pals number will come up - gladly that day is not today. Also thanks for the PM reminder. I give myself a D on pm. Not that I am not able or don't understand the importance but I do fear converting something that works into something that doesn't. Time to get over it. Thanks again