Turning propane on for fridge...

[Jsaso845]

Dumb question and obviously I am an armature. How would I get the propane to cool the refrigerator. Is there an ignitor? I had the valves open and nothing. Do I need a power source, i.e. battery engaged? I had the on/off button on, and the gas button on and still nothing? Any help would be greatly appreciated


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[cfiowa]

Most new campers its automatic...but you must have a good charged battery or shoreline plug in.
Normally there is a switch at the fridge that u turn on and push for auto or lp
Of course u have turn on lap tanks.


2014 cedar creek 36ckts
2014 Chevy 3500 1 ton crew cab 4x4 long bed.


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[TimNJTA]

Does it click a few times when you try and run it on gas?

When i turn on the propane in my trailer, i bleed air out from the stove first then will turn on appliances like my water heater, furnace, or fridge.

[PSUFan1]

Originally Posted by TimNJTA

Does it click a few times when you try and run it on gas?

When i turn on the propane in my trailer, i bleed air out from the stove first then will turn on appliances like my water heater, furnace, or fridge.

I do the same...bleed air through the stove before trying the fridge


2012 Ford F-150 EB Crew FX4 3.73 gears
2012 Micro Lite 23lb

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[Boss Hoss]

Remember..it takes a while for the gas to get there from the tank..like forever.

[Still Kickin]

Originally Posted by Jsaso845

Dumb question and obviously I am an armature. How would I get the propane to cool the refrigerator. Is there an ignitor? I had the valves open and nothing. Do I need a power source, i.e. battery engaged? I had the on/off button on, and the gas button on and still nothing? Any help would be greatly appreciated


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Assume you have the main gas valve open, charged battery and control buttons in proper position. If it is a newer model, it will have a pizo ignitor that you will hear sparking from the outside access panel. Like the other poster mention, bleed the gas partway by lighting a stove burner. If nothing else is wrong, you will hear the burner light if you listen closely at the outside access panel. Should cool freezer first, then bleed into the fridge several hours later.

[kswing60]

Or it could be an adjustment is needed at the igniter. had that happen once.

[mysticks1]

Originally Posted by TimNJTA

Does it click a few times when you try and run it on gas?

When i turn on the propane in my trailer, i bleed air out from the stove first then will turn on appliances like my water heater, furnace, or fridge.

This is what we do as well. I usually light all 3 burners on the stove. After a couple of minutes the refrigerator will light. If I stand next to the refrigerator I can clearly hear it when it lights.

[Genealdr]

It may take several times to get the pilot to light. You may have to turn the fridge on and off at the button.

[pmsherman]

Your fridge requires two things to work; propane and electrical power. Propane provides the heat source for the cooling system while electrical power is used for the control circuitry and igniter.

Make sure your propane tank is turned on and that your battery master switch is also on. As already mentioned, if you haven't used the rig for a while, you'll need to first flush air out of the propane lines by running the stove for a minute. Listen carefully when turning on the fridge and you'll hear the igniter firing. If the fridge's burner doesn't light, an error light on the fridge control panel should turn on.

One unexpected consequence of running the fridge on propane is the current draw on the house batteries. Most fridges today have a heating strip buried in the frame where the door seals contact it. This heating strip draws current from the battery all the time when the fridge is turned on and can easily draw 24 Amps/day from the battery. An internal propane tank will usually have a solenoid shutoff valve connected to the propane detector inside the RV which can also draw 12-24A/day, depending on the exact model of solenoid. (The factory installed solenoid in my Georgetown drew 24A/day until it burned up while the replacement I now have draws around 12A/day.) A 48A/day (fridge + solenoid) load on your house battery will easily drain it in a few days. Older fridges had a shut off switch for the heater while newer ones no longer have it. My Dometic fridge has the heater on the same circuit as the interior light. It's possible to disconnect both of them at the fridge control panel, something I've done whenever I'm dry camping. Another alternative is to install a switch for the heating strip at the light fixture inside the fridge.

Phil

[kohai]

Note that your fridge will try to lite about 3 times before giving up. If there is air in the line it may fail to light and won't try again until you turn it off and back on. For safety reasons, it doesn't retry automatically after it fails.

Bleeding the lines is necessary and can cause the fridge to fail to lite a few times in a row. Bleed the lines by lighting the stove, then try the fridge as others have said.