Hi Jerry and others. Regarding your question about furnace sound and gas pressure: I have a similar size German Truma E1800 heater. Curiously my propane setup came with a variable LPG regulator when I bought Popul, the '85 camper I have here in Europe. I don't have a pressure gauge, but set the LPG regulator knob so that the stove flame is similar to the '82 westy with original regulator I have in Canada. At this standard westy gas pressure setting the Truma furnace gas flame is pretty quiet. If I turn up the gas pressure I also get a "growling sound" as you describe. The Truma is rated for 50mBar gas pressure. Is this what the standard Westy regulator provides? Regarding your problem starting the heater, there are a few strages that the control electronics will go through from start to heatig operation. Did you notice if it attempted to open the gas valve? Fired the lighter/ignition spark? The times that the Truma didn't start I located the problem to the electromagnetic gas input valve. The electronics will activate this for a few seconds, and try to light the flame. If lighting doesn't succeed, or the flame sensor doesn't heat up quickly enough the gas will be again shut. On the Truma one can hear the click from the valve, then a series of somewhat different sounding clicks/sparks from the ignition. When the valve once wouldn't open, I fixed it by just taking the valve unit off and shaking it so the plungers inside would free up. (This was early in the season, it was cold and the van had been sitting during the winter) Another note: Popul's fridge is pretty tricky to light. I noticed that it lights and works ok at the original Westy pressure, but will neither light, nor stay on at a LPG pressure noticeably higher or lower than that. Also, the original regulator in my '82 is a 2-step regulator. The variable regulator someone put in the '85 is a 1 step (and may be for a different (higher?) flow applications -- few applications use as little propane as a fridge alone. More common is perhaps big space heaters, BBQ etc). With the 1-step regulator I notice a decrease in the fridge flame (through the little window in the back of the fridge) when I light the stove. A hypothesis is that a good 2-step regulator might do a better job keeping the pressure constant through varying flow rates. What do others think? (busdepot also sells a 2-step replacement, but most ones in stores are 1-step) Also, can someone with a Dometic spec sheet please look up the rated gas pressure for the fridge? Preferably in mBar. I'm going to try to buy a new regulator here and hope to get one that is right for both the fridge and furnace. (stove pressure being exactly right is probably a bit less critical) Cheers, Martin -- Martin Jagersand University of Alberta http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~jag/ |
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