Fridge keeps shutting off

[paul42]

Any updates? I will comment that the worst time I had with an RV refrigerator was at the North Rim Campground. Due to the altitude the fridge would occasionally go out, and would not re-ignite by itself. I would have to walk around to the back of the trailer and light it manually.

As others have said, it sounds like either a battery problem or an ignition problem of some sort.

[tjcal]

You might not know this but your fridge has to be level to run properly. Just a thought.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by tjcal

You might not know this but your fridge has to be level to run properly. Just a thought.

It has to be fairly unlevel to actually affect refrigerator performance.

[Jim S JR]

I had a similar problem. It endid up being my propane regulator. They go bad after awhile. After that it worked fine.

[john.elam]

In 2015 while in Florida we has this same problem. A service tech was called and said the our coach was not sufficiently level. I releveled and have not had the issue since. Apparently there is a sensor that is the issue.

[Underdog]

We typically have repeated ignition failure and check light problems when starting our Dometic fridge after sitting for a while. What has helped is to take the burner apart enough to clean the igniter, burner, and thermocouple area of any rust or condensation that has come down the flu while sitting. Once it is clear and lights, it is fine for the rest of the trip.

[Comanchecreek]

Once you are sure the battery isn't the problem, there may be a couple of other issues. First is altitude. I have a Norcold also and we camp at 8800 feet in Colorado. There are discussions on here about how the fridges are only designed to operate under 3000 feet. I adjusted my regulator to lean out the mixture and that seemed to help. I haven't had a problem since and it seems to work fine at lower altitude still. The other problem may be where you get your propane. We would fill a bottle on the gulf coast, then go to cold weather country and have issues both with the fridge and the furnace. They use more Butane mixed in where it's warm, (a profit thing I think), but it causes burn issues in the cold. Furnace would try to light 10 times before it would go, and the fridge would go on check. When it warmed up everything worked fine. Lost a few hairs over that one.
One thing I learned in this thread is about holding the button for 20 seconds to go to gas. I put a switch on my 110 plug in to cut the power so I could run my inverter without the fridge changing over to 110. If that works I'll be a happy camper. Up camping now and will try that when I get home.

[Eric H.]

I just had the same problem with my fridge on propane. We dry camped for 9 days and every morning the fridge would be off but not for long enough that ice cream would get soft in the freezer. I would cycle the switch, it would relight and run again until around 3am according to my wife who would hear it. I found the thermocouple cracked or something and the insides came out the tip and became a chunk of hard carbon like charcoal built up on the tip. Somehow it would work for 18-20 hours and shut off. A Dometic part was $75 and a generic that I purchased was $25ish on Amazon. It's been running for a week now.

[Comanchecreek]

First of all, when I got home, I tried the button holding trick and sure enough, I was able to get the fridge to go to propane only. I am excited as I did not know I had that option. You need to have the refrigerator on with the green light showing. Hold the button and the light will go out. Continue to hold the button and after 20 seconds the orange light will come on. To reverse do the same with the orange light showing.
On to the original problem. One other issue I had when new was the gap on the igniter. Make sure you have a big enough gap or even though it sounds like it's firing, it is not making enough spark to ignite the propane. I used a butter knife to open it up, and it hasn't failed to fire in 4 years. You use what you have when you're standing in the middle of nowhere with no tools.

[Donna Pires]

Rust sometimes falls and blocks the burner. YouTube provides the video. Had to have this done. But easy enough to do.

[Donna Pires]

Rust/debri sometimes blocks burner. Happened to me.