Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 14:50:18 -0400
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Robert Tommaselli" <rtommase@fir.fbc.com>
Subject: Re: VW Vanagon newsgroup
Hey Now,
We must all be haveing the same problems. I just called Winnebago and Norcold
today about this. Winnebago did mention the igniter problem to me when I called
but no vent kit. What are the part numbers for that kit? Who do I call?
Heck I'm just about at sea level and I only get a 50 percent ignition rate out
of my fridge. Last summer when I drove cross country on a 3 week jaunt. I only
got the fridge to light once or twice. I had to put ICE in the damn thing
to keep stuff cold and what a great big wet mess that was. Luckly I was
pretty anal about keeping everything dry. So far this summer the fridge has
lit 2 out of the 6 times I have tried it. Not to good.
I called Norcold(800-543-1219) today to get the ignitor part. Norcold gave me a
number 800-333-1682 for thier parts warehouse. The part is $47.50 and not in
stock. It will take at least 2 weeks to get the part. I have next week
off and was planning to replace the part then. So much for that idea. Has
anyone
actually tried to further insulate the existing wire. How did you do it? Heat
shrink tubing or something like that?
I haven't seen anyone putting thier fride model numbers up for inspection.
My fridge model is Norcold 3163G (serial #001662cmgyg4). Is that what you
guys have?
I also have the LP furnace doesn't work in the cold.Ha! aint that the kicker.
I had my Mother in law visit in December. We didn't get a hotel room for her
because she loves the EV so much she volunteered to sleep in it. I had planned
to just kick on the LP furnace and let here sleep in peace. Nope. The thing
wouldn't light at all. I waited until March to test it again and sure enough
the furnace started right up. It has several times since too... Maybe it's the
cold and moisture in the North east.
Robert.
On Jul 15, 13:59, Andrew Mera wrote:
> Subject: Re: VW Vanagon newsgroup
> While Kevin Lindbloom was complaining on 11.jun about his Norcold fridge
> not starting at high altitude, two of us EV owners were comiserating about
> the same problem in the Utah National Parks at 8000 ft. Effectively we
> were roasting at 90+ degF, had to throw the food away.
>
> >From discussions with Norcold and Winnebago the starting and burning problem
> in an oxygen-poor environment is already known; depending on fuel pressure
and
> mixture achieved, individual units may exhibit the problem at different
elevations;
> I don't know whether the temperature has any effect. No recall by Winnebago,
> but a vent kit is now made available to those who have hurt enough and go
> to the trouble of complaining to the right place.
>
> Have any other listees experienced this problem while above 5000 ft? Anybody
tried
> out the suggested fix? Anybody (Rick Gordon's 12.jun post)) tried out their
system
> under these conditions and had no trouble? I wonder what made the
difference?
>
> A possibly related problem: we left the heat of southern Utah and went to
> Yellowstone, were caught in a snowstorm at 7900 ft; now the LP furnace
wouldn't
> work at night; the airblower kicks in but no heat. We tried it several
times
> the next day, again the altitude seems to be the culprit. The Winnebago rep.
> thinks this is only a fuel pressure problem. The dum thing: I can take it in
> for repair, but they cannot duplicate the environmental conditions.
>
>-- End of excerpt from Andrew Mera
--
*****************************************************************
* A little KINDness is ,==,==========. *
* is all you need, /_| [___] |___|U *
* Robert Tommaselli / ] o _ U Volkswagon *
* U-(_)------(_)--' 95 EV-Camper *
**** The bus came by, I got on, that's when it all began ********