RV fridge - no flame error

bobofthenorth · January 25, 2010, 02:11:42 PM

QuoteI think the aversion to RV type fridges comes from several places. I personally have one, and I hate getting up in the middle of the night to clear a no flame error code, and I can't rely on it to run without that happening on propane.

I started a new thread to avoid dragging Nellie's thread any more off topic.

Clifford's advice to add a ground is spot on but sometimes that isn't enough. Cleaning the ground connections sometimes helps too. Tom Caffrey introduced me to Dinosaur replacement control boards last winter. I wish I had known about them years ago. If your fridge is repeatedly coding out on propane then I'd think hard about a Dinosaur board. We had non-stop problems until we installed ours and absolutely none since.

Sean · January 25, 2010, 03:33:57 PM

I second this. If I ever own another LP fridge, I'm going to put a Dinosaur in it prophylactically, as I hinted in the other thread.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

Paso One · January 25, 2010, 03:42:51 PM

Quote from: Sean on January 25, 2010, 03:33:57 PM
prophylactically,
-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

Won't the comdom cause overheating

luvrbus · January 25, 2010, 03:53:17 PM

Dinosaur makes the best boards on the market for hot water heaters and furnaces too.

good luck

PP · January 25, 2010, 03:54:38 PM

Mine errors out when I run it on 120V but when I run it on strictly lp it works fine, also much colder on lp than electric. But I'm really confused about what a 'COMDOM' is

Will

Just Dallas · January 25, 2010, 04:00:40 PM

Removed

Paso One · January 25, 2010, 08:04:54 PM

Quote from: PP on January 25, 2010, 03:54:38 PM
But I'm really confused about what a 'COMDOM' is
Will

To protect from getting little Dinosaur boards

belfert · January 25, 2010, 08:32:07 PM

Getting back on topic, the flame on my Norcold in my travel trailer would occasionally blow out when the wind blew in the right direction. We ran the fridge while on the road and the flame only went out a few times from the breeze at highway speeds.

I had a lot of other issues with that Norcold, but flame errors was not one of them.

gus · January 25, 2010, 09:56:39 PM

When my Norcold flames out underway (High wind or hard rain) it usually relights automatically. If not it always relights when stopped.

Never had one of these error codes and glad!

Nellie Wilson · January 26, 2010, 12:17:10 PM

Do you get a warning when it flames out? Does unburned propane enter the bus, or is there some kind of shut off?

Nellie Wilson

bevans6 · January 26, 2010, 12:33:56 PM

Nellie, what model Norcold do you have, I don't recall you saying. Anyway, they are electric start on propane. When the fridge controller decides it needs to have some cold created it calls for the propane to light. The computer opens the valve and sparks the auto-igniter. It does that several times, then times out, closes off the propane supply, and issues the "NO FL" code on the front panel of the fridge. You turn the fridge off and on again to clear it, and it tries to light the propane again. this is the error code that I get sometimes on my fridge.

FWIW the installation manual specifically states that the 12 dc wiring must have the ground wire connected all the way back to the power source, not grounded via the chassis. I have no idea why. I obviously RTFM when I installed my fridge, since that's the way I did it

I found the URL for the soft copy of the manual that I have, here it is:

http://www.rvmobile.com/wb/file.asp?file=install_manual_621831f__n62%2Cn82%2Cn64%2Cn84.pdf

i guess really old fridges were pilot light. In that case, if the pilot light goes out the propane feed valve won't open unless the pilot over-ride is pressed. I had one of those in a 1970's house trailer I had that I towed my race Mini-Cooper S inside of...

Brian

gus · January 27, 2010, 08:04:23 PM

Nellie,

My Norcold is pretty old. It came with the bus so I have no idea how old.

Mine shows a small red X next to the white "LP" light when the flame goes out. It then tries three times to relight and quits. It then has to be switched off and turned back on, it then tries three more times, etc......... It has no "NO FL" code.

Brian,

I'm sure the reason for the dedicated ground is so that in case of a bad frige ground the DC doesn't take a ground path back through the metal gas line. Forum experts will surely know the correct answer. Ground will take the easiest path it can find. I doubt that mine has this kind of ground. Maybe a good idea is to attach an extra ground just in case!!

Nellie Wilson · January 28, 2010, 01:03:53 AM

Quote from: Paso One on January 25, 2010, 03:42:51 PM

Won't the comdom cause overheating

Paso: Depends where it is... and who sees it

.

Quote from: PP on January 25, 2010, 03:54:38 PM
...I'm really confused about what a 'COMDOM' is

PP: It's a garment that covers PP, also called a "slicker." They come in a range of colors and one size fits all (no matter what guys might tell you).

Brian: Sorry, forgot to mention mine is a Model 963... still cool as a cucumber (not to veer back into the 'comdom' thing again). Thanks for the link and the info.

Gus: As Brian mentioned, I have my DC grounded back to the "power source" (the NEG battery post) and the AC 3-prong plug is in a 3-hole receptacle. But is that sufficient?

You're thinking I should add a ground strap to the coach as well? The only solid metal available is the OEM coach heat duct (running along the 'baseboard') or the window lock bar. Would one of these do? But where to attach the strap to the fridge? Would the bottom mounting flange be okay?

I have this one wire (my 'wire to nowhere') that seems to be redundant. It has a tag that says: "12VDC HEATER WIRE. These heater wires are for low voltage direct current only. Connection to AC will result in damage to the DC heater and/or a blown fuse in the refrigerator's electrical current."

Right now this wire is hooked to nothing, but everything seems to work, and no codes.

Could that be safely used as a ground?

(In case you haven't guessed, I'm bewildered by anything electric – and it scares the holy begeezus outta me).

Thanking you,

Nellie Wilson

bevans6 · January 28, 2010, 05:13:49 AM

try this manual download: http://gasrefrigeration.net/nor_techdata/Opmanuals/owners_900_618212d__edited.pdf

Your fridge has a separate control box for the DC heater, basically for the fuse. The main DC power supply goes into the larger control board. From there, a wire leads to a smaller extension board (with a cover you have to remove) that has a spot for a 20 or 30 amp blade type fuse. From there, a wire goes over to the DC heater, which is probably right beside the AC heater and the propane flame ignitor and the actual flame jet. The wiring to the extension board is as follows:

Blue wire from power board connects to terminal
#7 of extention board.
2. Red wire from power board connects to terminal
#9 of extention board.
3. Black wire connected to refrigerator chassis
connects to terminal #8 of extention board.
4. Yellow wire of the DC heater connects to terminal
#6 of the extention board.

So the Yellow wire from the extension board goes to the DC heater, and there is another wire, colour not stated, that runs back from the DC heater to a tab on the main control board.

Hope this helps.

Brian

belfert · January 28, 2010, 06:51:47 AM

The 12 volt DC heater wire is probably to run the entire fridge off of 12 volt DC. No propane or 110 volt neededhen. This option is primarily for motorhomes that have the alternator hooked up to the house batteries. The fridge can then run on 12 volt DC while the motorhome is on the road without using propane. Using the 12 volt heater option off of battery will kill the batteries in no time. If you're parked you really want to run the fridge on propane or 110 volt.

I'm not sure if the 12 volt option even provides enough cooling for long term. Most motorhomes aren't on the road between power poles long enough for the fridge to really get warm.