New member & PU owner with pilot light issues

[sysco_kid]

I'd like to say hello and thank you for all the informative reading. I recently purchased a NU2ME PU.  It is a 1998 Coleman/Fleetwood Bayside. It is clean, however it has some minor rodent damage. One bunkend side canvas has a small hole and the screen is also chewed. Two of the drapes are also chewed, cosmetics only I can handle.  I paid $3200 for the camper 2 months ago.  I feel that I got a good deal, I talked the price down from $3750.  Today's replacement cost is about 12K.  Please share your opinions about the price.

Secondly, the pilot light does not stay lit on the 3way fridge so I cannot use it.  Also when the water heater gets up to temp, the unit goes out and does not come back on with demand.  I have to manually relight it.  I have used the furnace four nights without problems though.  Any suggestions regarding the fridge and H2O heater?

Thanks

[mike4947]

Here's a site that has service manuals for fridges and other appliances that should help.
http://bryantrv.com/docs.html

[austinado16]

Welcome!

Can't comment on the price.  It's one of those deals where if you like what you paid, then you did good.

When pilot lights won't stay lit, you have to look at things like:
Propane pressure
Propane flow
Condition of burner
Condition of oriface for the burner
Condition of chimney
Condition of air supply tube

Spiders and other creatures like to build nests, webs and lay eggs in the chimney and air supply tubes, as well as inside the burner tubes.  So you probably want to clean these throroughly and retest.

If you still have a problem, move up the "complexity" ladder, to clean the oriface (don't poke anything through it!) and from there, move into the realm of testing flow and pressure.

You can build your own manometer really easily, and if you search using that term, you'll see the thread where I made mine using instructions I found online.

Hopefully cleaning out the chimney and air supply tube will do the trick for you.

[PattieAM]

Something I learned the hard way....when opening your propane tank valve, do so s l o w l y, or the safety feature kicks in and limits your propane flow.

I take the time to light a burner on my stove and boil a pan of water to purge the air from the propane lines, then I can light my water heater and it stays lit, fridge will work on propane.

If propane flow is not your issue with the water heater, your thermocouple may need to be adjusted.

My Suburban water heater has a diagram with parts listed that has been helpful.