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Topic ClosedFrig Not Cooling on Propane

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ampete View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Frig Not Cooling on Propane
    Posted: 13 Sep 2020 at 7:58am
2014 171
3 way Dometic frig works great on shore power and on battery when towing. It is not cooling on propane, or maintaining an already cold frig. The propane setting worked great about 2 months ago. 
Camper is level. 2 burner kitchen stoves burns well with a blue flame. Furnace runs well. We are opening the propane tank slowly once we are parked. 

Original issue was when frig would not switch over to propane, just clicked, wouldn't light.  No visible debris, so we took it in for service. They found a mud wasp (dauber?) nest, but where exactly I don't know.  We brought the camper home, thinking it was fixed. It lit without issue but it did NOT cool, at all.  Back to the service guys, kept it for days, no luck.  We picked it up and tried the following on our own:

Disassembled the burner assembly and cleaned the tiny orifice with iso and air. NO Luck
Replaced the regulator and propane tank. NO luck
Disassembled the burner assembly more thoroughly from the valve connection at the Solenoid to the flue. Used iso and air throughout. Used bottle brush in the flue from top to bottom (can't get to the whole length, ideas?)

The latest cleaning helped! BUT not enough.  The frig was already cold at 35 degrees from shore power, cleaned the assembly as described, switched the frig to propane for overnight.  Frig temp is now 48. That's better than before when it would raise to 65 degrees overnight. 

NEXT? Any and all ideas are appreciated. Thanks
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ampete View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2020 at 8:01am
Additional Info:  The flame looks stronger, and we can "hear" the flame with a slight roar that wasn't there before.
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2020 at 8:48am
Is your gas flame blue or yellow? Should be blue.  It might help if you post a picture of it here. 
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ampete View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2020 at 9:59am
The chimney is hot to the touch. When opening the upper panel, the right side of tubing is hot, the fins and all to the left are room temp--not hot,not cold? Normal?
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ampete View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2020 at 1:32pm
There is a strong blue flame following the more thorough cleaning. It's a bigger flame and has a slight "roar" that I can hear through the outside panel cover.  This is a noticeable improvement from earlier.
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StephenH View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2020 at 1:50pm
StephenH
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ampete View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2020 at 2:12pm
Dang!  It's level right now and has been level whenever we are camping. Maybe not while in winter storage, but the fridge isn't running then.  Would that matter?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2020 at 2:14pm
Is that still relevant if the fridge cools really well on shore power and battery? Only trouble is with the propane.
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2020 at 2:56pm
We have two threads going on the same issue, let's close this one so we can better help you by focusing on the other one. 
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ampete View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Sep 2020 at 3:11pm
Okay. How do we close this thread?

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