Refigerator Pilot Light

[spirit]

Can anyone give us advise about our pilot light for the refrigerator.  We were dry camping at French Creek State Park and my DH could not get the pilot light to stay on.  It would stay on for a few seconds than go out.  Needless to say we had to make a cooler and ice run.  Someone tried to help us but he could not get it to stay on, he suggested something must be stuck in the line. Anyway does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this problem?  Thank you in advance for your  help.


2002 Coleman Sun Valley
2000 Winstar

2 kids and 2 frustrated parents who want to go Fall camping

[SCCS]

Spirit,

 Yes lighting propane appliances can be a (pane).What I do is to make sure all the appliances work before I leave home.I turn on the propane valve and go to my HWH first,and usually have to sit their about 5 minutes with the plunger held down before any gas gets their.Once the pilot lights I turn on the main burner for about 10 seconds(be careful because of no water in the heater)and then turn every thing off.Then over to the fridge,same proceedure as the HWH execpt their is no main burner like the HWH.This can take quite awhile to light because of the small amount of gas that is being released at the pilot.But once it stays lit all the air has purged from the lines.Turn the fridge off then go and turn off the propane vavle.Now when you go camping the next day everthing should light alot easier and faster.Hope this helps.

[Campaholics]

SCCS and I do about the same thing.  But I light the inside stove first.  That gets a lot gas into the line quickly.  When the stove burners are steady, turn them off.  On the Sea Pine the HWH is at the end of the line.  That's next.  About two minutes of holding the pilot button down Then the frige.  Lighting the pilots is the only thing that's easier to set up after dark.

If you are still having problems, try cleaning the pilot area, dust, dirt, etc.

[hoppy]

Hello Spirit,

  Definetely not an expert with the 3-way refers, but in general if a pilot lights up, and then goes out, there are two reasons I know of that can cause this.

   1. Air in the supply line. Even though you run other appliances that speed up the process to purge the entire main line, the line with the appliance must also rid itself of air pockets. Pilot light nozzels on appliances have very small orifices, (I can't spell worth a hoot) and do not purge air as quickly as a stove jet. I found this out last weekend while I was attempting to start my water heater on my new camper. Got both my low and high pressure stoves to light up with no problem. Took at least 3 minutes to purge the air out of the water heater gas line enough to light the pilot. After that, it took a minute or so before I could switch to the ON position with out the pilot going out.This maybe the same situation you are experiencing.
   2. A faulty thermocouple. This is the little guy that sits over the top of the pilot flame that shuts off the gas supply if the pilot flame does go out.

       Make sure that you keep the pilot button depressed for at least a minute or two before switching to the ON position. If the coupler does not heat up enough, it will stop the gas going to the pilot and the main burner.

   I'll be trying my 3- way fridge this weekend on the propane side, and see if there are any other possibilities that can cause the problem.

    But in the past with my furnace, these were the two main causes.

     Since you are able to light the pilot, I would discount blockage in the supply line.

      Try these suggestions before calling the gas man.

    Hope this helps you out.

    Hoppy

[mike4947]

Not only could the thermocouple be bad but it could be out of location. I fought with a stubborn fridge all one summer and when I fanilly broke down and took it to the dealer he lit it, looked at it, reached in and bent the thermocouple a little so t was in the flame. Then he said to me, "Boy I'll be you have a heck of a time keeping it lit." He also said 99% of his fridge troubles were spider webs (for some reason they love propane), soot in the burner or the thermocouple bouncing out of the flame. Now the bigger units with their automatic control panels that was a different story.
Here's a few links, some with FAQ's on fridges:
http://www.gasrefrigeration.net/
http://www.rvmobile.com/Welcome.htm
http://www.bryantrv.com/docs.html

[Nick]

Can anyone give us advise about our pilot light for the refrigerator. We were dry camping at French Creek State Park and my DH could not get the pilot light to stay on. It would stay on for a few seconds than go out. Needless to say we had to make a cooler and ice run. Someone tried to help us but he could not get it to stay on, he suggested something must be stuck in the line. Anyway does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this problem? Thank you in advance for your help.
 
 
2002 Coleman Sun Valley
2000 Winstar
 
2 kids and 2 frustrated parents who want to go Fall camping

This same thing happend to me a few weekends ago while drycamping.  After first purging the gas line of air it still would not light.  I enden up taking off the front piece of the box around the pilot light to see if it looked clogged.  Sure enough the slits in the pipe where the gas comes out was a bit clogged.   I disconected the gas, pulled the tube out, wire brushed the slits, used some wire to clean the inside of the tube, reasembled the whole mess and it lit right up.

[tlhdoc]

If you are sure there is gas getting to the burner, check to see if the burner looks clean.  You can use a can of air and try blowing any gunk or spider webs out of the burner.