Date:         Thu, 31 Jul 2003 13:15:57 -0400
Reply-To:     Joe Gawzner <joseph.gawzner@ZEEMEDICALINC.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joe Gawzner <joseph.gawzner@ZEEMEDICALINC.COM>
Subject:      Re: How can I get the stove/fridge to work 1st time user HELP
              PLEASE

Tracy,

Lots of good advice given by the previous listmembers.  My experience is a
little different, and I just lit my refridge while I am at work today to
prepare and chill it up for a trip leaving tonight!

What works for me is also what I have been told by a Dometic tech that
repaired my refridgerator 3 years ago.  The key is that there's a little
box where the flame is done that heats up the fluid that causes the
cooling.  This little box can easily get flooded with gas such that there
is not enough air to mix with the gas to cause combustion.  The trick is to
just turn on the gas - not all the way, just turn it on to max 1/4.  Then
press the button and use the air pump to ignite.  The air pump is pretty
weak and really does not do much.  Not only is the pump really small, but
the distance the air has to travel from the pump to this chamber is long.
The tech said the main issue with this model Dometic is flooding - so the
issue is not getting the gas there, but insuring there is enough air/O2!

My tricks to get air is to either blow using a short piece of plastic
tubing into the drain vent located beneath the fridge or blown using max
lung power outside by the discs blowing down them.  If you smell gas at the
discs, for sure you've got too much gas there.  This AM I could not get my
fridge to light until I went out and blew.  As I did that I definitely
smelled the gas.  And I forget to just turn the gas switch on (not the 0/1
one but the one that regulates the temp which does so by controlling how
much gas/flame size there is).  I turned it to 1/4 and it flooded the
chamber!  Once I blew air there (I did about 4 powerful puffs), it lit
right up!

THis assumes that you have gas going to the fridge.  To insure there's gas
in the tank, like another person previously suggested, light your stove to
see if there's gas.  Similarly, I know that my drain tube is clean and
therefore a route to the chamber.  They can get plugged, but when the
fridge was worked on they cleared the tube out for me.

Last summer I helped someone with a really clean 1991 Westy that bought it
from the mid-west in just pristine condition.  Supposedly the refridge
never been used (heck, it still had the little plastic drip tray and the
little ice cube trays still there!).  We used my anti-flooding suggestion
and it lit up after about 4 tries.

Good luck!!


Joe Gawzner

90 Syncro Westy Vanaru