Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (May 2000, week 2)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Mon, 8 May 2000 15:15:43 -0400
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@IBM.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@IBM.NET>
Subject:      Re: Fridge question ---(Sorry)
Comments: To: BRENT CHRISTENSEN <bchristensen@INFOGENESIS.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <11A2A5877BEFD111998900A0C9C74AD84E6E07@info_hq.infogenesis .com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 14:51 5/8/2000, BRENT CHRISTENSEN wrote: > > 3) What is the purpose of 'burping' the fridge??? Is this > > going to help me or > > does the fact that the fridge works on > > AC mean this in unnecessary. > >I believe this has something to do with the ammonia compound that is used >as a "refrigerant" settling into a crystalline form after time and lack of >use. It helps to resuspend and mix the solution that the system relies on >to carry the heat through the system.

The refrigerant is a mixture of water, hydrogen, and NH3 (ammonia), with some sodium chromate (anticorrosive) in solution, the whole under about 350 psi pressure. When in operation, the various parts of the system have differing proportions of all the gaseous elements -- water vapor, hydrogen, ammonia. [Quoting from Dometic service bulletin:] If the system has been overheated by being operated off-level or with inadequate ventilation, the ammonia solution in the boiler becomes too weak to support the cycle, and refrigeration stops. To remedy this, let reefer cool down completely, remove it and invert it several times. This will remix the solutions.

Dometic also recommend to tip the reefer to right, left, front, back anytime before reinstalling -- they say this will ensure that the cycle starts up as promptly as possible.

The other issue of off-level operation is that if the boiler goes dry, the sodium chromate will come out of solution and be baked onto the boiler walls, interfering with heat transmission and ultimately clogging the boiler. The whole operation cycle, including the problem just mentioned, is very well described and illustrated at: http://www.rvmobile.com/Tech/Trouble/cooldoc.htm David Beierl - Providence, RI http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/ '84 Westy "Dutiful Passage" '85 GL "Poor Relation"


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.