Date:         Thu, 7 Aug 1997 18:18:12 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Linda Bartnik" <lbart@preferred.com>
Subject:      Re: Dometic Fridge Tips (long)


> 
> OK. Before I pulled it, my fridge worked meagerly on Propane & AC and
> not noticeably on DC. Also, after running for a while with warm ambient
> temps, the fan would come on making a ton of noise. More on that later.
> Here is what I did to solve these problems:
> 
> 1) I pulled the fridge. This is not hard to do. Bentley has a good


I agree here.  This is what I used the first time.  However, I'm sure a
certain procedure mailed to you from a certain listmember (AHEM!) helped
somewhat too ;-)

> 
> 4) Make sure the temperature control for the fan is securely connected
> to one of the cooling fins. It looks like the holding bracket for the
> thing is made out of aluminum foil and it can become loose. If the
> temperature thing is not securely touching the cooling fin, your fan
> will never come on and the liquid in the fridge may overheat. I have
> heard this can cause crystals in the liquid ruining the fridge.
> 

I agree wholeheartedly with this.  I found that my fan was not coming on
when it was supposed to even though I pulled the fan and hooked it directly
to 12v, worked fine.  Pulled the thermoswitch, heated it with an ohmmeter
connected, it worked fine.  It finally dawned on me that the bracket
holding the switch to the fins was very loose, so after some tweaking with
Mr. Pliers, it works great now.



> 5) Examine the fan. Mine was making a lot of noise because the tip of
> the fan was hitting a pipe. Also, the fan was old and the motor was
> making a ton of racket. You have three options if you want to replace
> the fan. A) get a new motor from VW for $ 150. Yeah, right. B) Buy an
> exact replacement motor at radio shack for $2. This motor will still
> generate a good deal of noise. or C) Pick up a brushless 12V cooling fan
> from a computer supply store and use that instead. These are the little
> box style fans about 3 inches on a side that are used to cool computer
> power supplies. I picked mine up for $10. It is dead quiet and pushes
> more air then the old one. The higher amperage you get the more air the
> fan will move. I got a .29 A fan. This means this fan, if run
> continuously would drain my 65 AmpHour battery in just over 9 days.
> Experience has shown the fan only comes on when the van is parked in the
> sun with the fridge side in the sun and all the doors closed.
> 

I have some new info on this.  I was looking through the Camping World
catalog the other night and they sell two fans that look VERY similar to
the one that came stock.  They are made and sold for putting behind fridges
to circulate air.  I'm sure one of them could be made to work with our
Dometics.  Interesting to note that also in the catalog they carry
full-size Dometic fridges.  Kinda neat :-)



>
> 
> 8) Put the fridge back in. Tricky but doable. Three tips: don't screw in
> the fridge until you know the faceplate will fit, use the opening to the
> left of the stove to reach in and bend the metal hoses into submission
> because they won't fit as nicely as they did when you took the unit out,
> and use plumbers tape or some other thing to seal the fitting on the gas
> line. Don't want any leaks.


That's the worst part is messing with those metal pipes.  I often find I
have to use something to pry them back with.


> 
> To light: turn on the propane, pump the pump 5 or 6 times and then push
> the gas button while you are clicking the lighter with the pump. You
> should see an orange flash through the peephole after that, hold the gas
> button down a little while longer then check though the peephole for a
> blue flame. Got it? You are in business. Don't see it? Click the switch
> on the control panel that tells you how much battery power you have
> left. The green LED next to the asterisk (*) should be glowing if the
> stove is lit. If not try the whole thing again. Resist the urge to keep
> the gas button down too long. This only floods the chamber with gas and
> makes the fridge harder to light. When this happens you need to pump the
> pump several times to clear the chamber and refill it with air.
> 


Agree with that, tho I usually have to pump mine about 20 times initially. 
My older model fridge does not have an LED indicator, but rather a neat
gauge with a white and green field, and an orange needle that swings over
to green when the fridge lights.

I still have a weird problem where when I'm driving with the fridge running
on propane, it will stay lit until I either roll down the driver's window
or open the driver's vent window.  Very strange.

Sean



> I hope this helps some of you new van owners.
> 
> Oh, as for DC. Supposedly, it will keep an already cold fridge cool but
> don't even try to cool down a warm fridge with it. It simply won't work.