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Date:         Mon, 24 Jun 2013 15:56:09 -0400
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: refrigerator behavior
Comments: To: mcneely4@COX.NET
In-Reply-To:  <20130624145737.B54TJ.467127.imail@eastrmwml205>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 02:57 PM 6/24/2013, Dave Mcneely wrote: >David, I do have piezo-electric ignition. I do have a manual. When >I was experiencing this, I forgot about having it. I'll check it out.

If you send me scans of it I'll arrange to get it hosted somewhere. If you do, use my dbeierl AT gmail DOT com address as I can receive big files there. 200x200 resolution should be enough.

>The lights I have that give indications are: Green led on the led >panel, bottom of four leds,

That's the flame detector. It's wired to one of the four amplifiers on the chip that runs the water level LEDs, and amplifies the tiny negative voltage coming from the same thermocouple that holds the gas valve open. It will probably light up when the fridge is running on DC because the 7.5 amp draw changes the ground level on the LED panel so it thinks the thermocouple is active when it isn't.

> The green led comes on when the refrigerator lights, and stays on > unless the led panel switch is flipped to off. This time it stayed > on though the refrigerator was warm. The amber light flickers when > the refrigerator is set to propane and has not been lit yet. When > it lights, the amber light goes off.

And that's the pilot light for the ignition system, saying that it's operating.

Ok. Based on your original msg, then, the fridge was still lit.

>So, you said that if the flame blew out, there is a leak in the >flue. Regardless of where in the flue the leak is, I suppose it is >unsafe, and must be addressed. I have never smelled any evidence of >flue gases or propane in the van, and the flue outlet outside the >van becomes quite warm when the refrigerator is operating on propane.

At this point it's in question what happened. But as a general thing, the flame is only about the size of a candle flame and it's easy to blow out. Leaks allow air to pass in (or out) of both flue and intake at the same time, instead of being constrained to travel in a loop pretty much unaffected by what's happening outside.

>Why would the led stay on with no flame on the burner? When I >rotated the setting knob, it would dim and go out at the minimum >setting, then come back on immediately when I turned it back to maximum.

It won't (except that as I said, it will probably light up when the DC is operating, whether or not the gas is lit). What you're describing is the flame going out when you turn the dial all the way down, and automatically re-lighting when you turn it back up again.

On an RM182B the thermostat valve has a bypass that allows a pilot flame to continue when the thermostat shuts the main passage off. The flame drops from full size to maybe 3/8" tall, and depending on your LED panel and thermocouple the panel LED may get dimmer. From your description it seems possible that the 182C is designed to shut the fire off completely when the thermostat closes.

As to why it stopped cooling -- did it blow out at the start of the trip and relight at the end when you stopped? If the 182C is capable of extended lighting attempts by itself then I suspect that's what happened. Otherwise I'm stumped.

Yrs, d


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