40 year old fridge. Toggle switch?

[Tedsoldbus]

40 year old dometic auto and manual select between propane and electric. Bus new to me. When I disconnected power or select propane at fridge, could hear the striker try to light, but no light off. Opened panel on outside of bus. There is an old style metal toggle switch. I thought.....what could go wrong? Throwing the switch starts an exhaust (I guess) fan, and the fridge lights off right away. Fan does not shut off unless toggle is thrown back to "off". That can't be what I have to do to run the fridge every time? And fan running all the time? Fridge also quit a few times on 2 day road trip. Switched to generator while rolling. After an hour, shut off gen and fridge came back on line. Plenty of propane. Looked for mud daubers etc. When fridge quit, slight smell of propane in bus! (not good Maverick) Ideas?

[dtcerrato]

I personally would bench the fridge and put it through some operational tests independent of the bus side of things to isolate such a critical issue (propane leak??)

[robertglines1]

FREDS  : has same year and model bus you do. Maybe be able to help.  If you smell propane you need to fix or not use.  I have had a lp tank that just about empty would smell the telltale odor..see if he has extra fan switch in same place as yours?

[Fred Mc]

For about 20 bucks you can get a propane sniffer off Amazon. VERY handy to have and sometimes
the only way you can find a leak.

[freds]

FREDS  : has same year and model bus you do. Maybe be able to help.  If you smell propane you need to fix or not use.  I have had a lp tank that just about empty would smell the telltale odor..see if he has extra fan switch in same place as yours?

I converted my unit to a DC compressor and did away with propane altogether...

https://www.busconversionmagazine.com/forum/index.php?topic=34318.msg405259#msg405259

[Tedsoldbus]

Previous guy pulled out the 3 bus air/furnace units. If I scrap the fridge for a residential, (and guy before the guy before me put in electric only hot water heater), I'll have a 30 gallon propane tank only used for the cooktop range??? Seems excessive.  Think I will try a local RV guy that just does appliances. Supposed to be good. Has been at it 30 years. Maybe he can save the fate of the old fridge. New fridge would mean pulling a windshield to get it in. OR, just pretend current one is electric only? Still gets and stays cold on electric. I don't have solar panels but we boondock very little. Hate to run the generator going down the road just to keep ice cream cold. I'll have to think on this. But MUST solve the propane smell. Maybe tank is just low as suggested, but bad, bad thing to have. Will get it filled this week and see if it helps.
Thanks for the advice guys.

[Tedsoldbus]

Hey Freds,
converted to D/C compressor how? New fridge or converted compressor in the old dometic?

[richard5933]

There is an Amish run company which makes replacement cooling units for RV fridges. They also offer a cooling unit to retrofit older propane fridges to a 12v compressor fridge.

https://jc-refrigeration.com

They can install or ship it for you to install.

[Tedsoldbus]

Thanks Richard. I'll check them out.

[lvmci]

I would think the fan was to push the propane gases out the vent holes...

[Jim Blackwood]

If it gets cold on electric then the only issue is your gas burner. This is no different from any other gas burner. You said the igniter clicks which means it has an electronic spark generator for ignition and that is where you start. If that is working correctly then you only have a gas solenoid valve left to worry about and it's no different than the one on your water heater. It has a valve, a jet, and a thermostat to shut it down if the flame blows out. If those work the fridge should work. The only way for propane to get out if the line and connections are good is if the igniter fails to light off the burner, and that's only until the start cycle fails. So again, the igniter is the starting point. They do go bad and replacements aren't terribly expensive.

So check to make sure the igniter works, make sure the jet isn't clogged, and aside from the control board that's about all that can go wrong. That switch inside is probably just a manual override for testing. If it lights up with that then it could be your control board.

Don't be surprised if the flame goes out when on the road. They aren't really designed for that. Can work, sometimes don't. Also a big gust of wind can blow the flame out and that's why the electronic ignition is nice. Before we had those you'd have to notice when you lost the frost on your chiller coils and relight the pilot.

Jim

[Tedsoldbus]

Thanks very much Jim! Will look at those things when the sun comes up. Last RV I had the fridge problem was hard to find. Damn mudd daubers.....