Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2004 16:34:17 -0700
Reply-To: Craig Oda <craigoda@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Craig Oda <craigoda@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Fridge blowing out. Where to seal air leaks
In-Reply-To: <BAY14-F18MC3eYSFSV800081726@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Jason,
thanks for the information. I'm copying the list in the hopes that
your information will help others as it has helped me.
Right now I can drive my van on the freeway at 70mph (downhill with
the wind pushing me) and the fridge stays on. Every previous time,
the fridge would go out at around 40mph. This was consistent and
happened every time. Now, after four test drives on the freeway, the
fridge has yet to blow out. cold drinks are now in my future.
I followed your instructions for the flue. Thanks. :-) However,
I was too lazy to take apart the fridge. Maybe another day after
camping season is finished.
I found this diagram from the Dometic service manual helpful.
http://oda.bz/~craigoda/vanagon/img/fridge-diagram.jpg
I put sealant everywhere. However, my belief is that the critical
area was the oval aluminum casing that is housing the intake and
exhaust pipes.
This is my second time taking the flue apart. The first time I was
at the Grand Canyon, beautiful place, but hotter than heck during the
summer. I felt the need to fix the fridge right there. At the
campsite I took apart the flue and applied sealant to the places where
the gasket contacts the van and to the places where the pie pan cover
sits in the gasket. There was no difference in the fridge performance
after that Grand Canyon attempt at a fix.
Today, the fridge is working and running fine on the freeway under
propane. No blow out.
The differences:
I sanded the face of the oval aluminum housing to prepare an airtight
seal to the black rubber gasket. I used copious amounts of silicone
sealant.
I filed the face of the exhaust tube smooth and used copious amounts
of sealant on it. Not sure if this affected the performance.
I pounded the inner metal plate that sits on top of the exhaust flue
completely flat. I used a hammer and the floor of my garage. This
might have affected how the air was getting directed into the aluminum
oval chamber that houses the intake hose. Not sure.
Again, my belief, partially based on the instructions in the Dometic
service manual is that the air was getting between the gasket and the
oval chamber. I think that sealing this resolved the problem.
Hope this helps other Westy people as you have helped me.
Westy people deserve cold beer!
-- Craig
On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 11:26:38 -0400, Jason Willenbrock
<pooncerelli@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> hi craig,
> i understand your annoyance, as i have just spent the last few weeks trying
> to get mine from blowing out as well. here' what i did as per the list.
> first i pulled the fridge and opened the combustion chamber in the rear of
> the fridge where the lines go in. i cleaned the jet orifice in alcohol
> being careful not to damage the tip of it. i cleaned out the chamber which
> was full of all kinds of crud. i blew out the ehaust tubes and the
> condensation pipe that runs along the bottom of fridge. now those were all
> pretty dirty and could have possible been the cause of my fridge lowing out,
> what with the crud blowing around and hitting the flame and all. i then
> closed up the chamber, my rubber gasket was in poor shape but i used it
> anyways with copious amounts of silicone sealant. i then reinstalled the
> fridge. at this point it fired right back up, i took her for a drive and
> now she blows out at about 40 mph. okay, i am getting tiffed! so know i
> decide to combat the flue. i remove the flue and like you i use sealant all
> over it hoping to get it right. took her for a drive and nada! still
> blowing out! myt last resort other then feeling like a failure was to now
> play with the alignment of ehausts pipes. so i looked at my exhausts while
> installed, they appeared to be slightly(very slightly) angeled up, must be
> from removing fridge so much and not handling the exhausts properly. so, i
> disembled the flue again, i used some muscle and tweek the exhuast pipes
> slighlty down and using a wooden dowel in the hole to help facilitate this.
> now the holes were perfectly aligned witht the body metal. i reinstalled
> using sealant, when i got to themiddle metal insert i made sure is seated
> well with no play. i tightened everything down but not too much as too much
> torque made the flues angle back up. everything tight i check the middle
> metal piece and squeezed it together withe pie pan vent for a snug fit.
> looking at the holes they are still perfectly aligned with body metal, not
> angeled up or down but just in the middle. i took her immediatley for a
> drive on the windiest day i might add and to my surpise 70 mph and burning
> like a jet engine!!! keping about 40 degrees cooler then ambient air temp i
> might add!
> so to recap the flue vents need to be perfectly aligned to keep wind out.
> you will just have to play with different angles until you find the right
> spot. i am now afraid to remove my fridge again as i may lose the spot
> again. i do recommend pulling fridge and cleaning out the chamber as
> preventative maintenance
> good luck
> hope this helps
> jason
> 87 syncro westy with cold beer!
>
> >From: Craig Oda <craigoda@GMAIL.COM>
> >Reply-To: Craig Oda <craigoda@GMAIL.COM>
> >To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> >Subject: Fridge blowing out. Where to seal air leaks
> >Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2004 21:31:06 -0700
>
>
> >
> >So, I've taken my fridge exhaust vent off for the 2nd time because my
> >van is still blowing out over 55mph and it's getting a little bit of a
> >hassle to put ice in the fridge or flip to battery when I drive. I
> >want to turn on the propane and forget about it.
> >
> >here's a picture of my vent with all the plates and rubber off.
> >
> >http://oda.bz/~craigoda/vanagon/img/van-fridge-exhaust.jpg
> >
> >Where does the air leak in that is blowing out the flame?
> >
> >I'm assuming the exhaust pipe is the taller tube. I put a copious
> >amount of blue silicon sealant around that and tried to seal it up. I
> >also put a lot of sealant around the edge of the tear-drop oval.
> >Does this oval have to be airtight? I took a file and made it
> >completely smooth then put the silicon around the edge. put the black
> >rubber gasket over that, base metal plate, then screwed it in. I did
> >not put any sealant between the black rubber gasket and the body of
> >the van. Should I?
> >
> >There is a roundish metal plate that fits betweeen the outer pie-pan
> >cover and the exhaust pipe. There's a hole in the center of the plate
> >that aligns with the exhaust pipe. it's just kind of hanging in the
> >wind in the middle. Do I have to have this flat metal plate air-tight
> >against the exhaust pipe? The plate was bent a bit, so I took a
> >hammer and straightened it. However, even after straigthening, it
> >does not appear to be completely flush with the exhaust pipe. It
> >jiggles around a bit. Is this the source of my problem? I've got it
> >gooped up with silicon now and am going to wait for the silicon to dry
> >and try it out tomorrow.
> >
> >What should I try next? There's some hoses that the exhaust and
> >intake pipes connect to. Do these develop air leaks?
>
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