Electrolux 122

[Keekster]

The Electrolux 122 fridge in my T25 Devon is playing up. Its the gas and 12volt only version. Its always slow to light after being laid up over the winter, but no joy this time. It was sparking nicely so I pulled it out to check the gas was getting through. I hooked up the bottle directly and stripped down the bit at the back which houses the flame. I disconnected the steel pipe at the olive where it connects to the brass jet. I turned on the fridge knob and held it in and could smell and feel the gas at the pipe, great. I removed the brass jet and sure enough it was blocked. I cleaner it out with some ‘plus gas’ and blew it through until it clear and I could see light through it (wow its small). Then I reconnected it all and......nothing. It wont light and I hear no gas nor smell any gas coming through the jet. I don’t get it!
After the jet, there is a metal tube (flame tube?), that the gas has to pass along to the far end which has a series of slots in it, which is where the flame lights. I’m puzzled as to why there are two holes cut in the tube top and bottom , near the end which fits onto the brass jet. Nothing looks like it has been disturbed before, and it was working fine until this year. Also the cooker runs just great, so clearly the gas is getting through the system. Any ideas.

Separate issue. The 12 volt connection has been disconnected by the previous owner because it kept running his leisure battery flat (he had not fitted a split charge relay). Now that I have I want to reconnect it. I see the bullet connector into the loom at the back of the fridge for the red power cable, but I don’t see the connector for the earth. Where is it supposed to be? There is a earth cable dangling with a different connector on it that terminates at the fridge switch (at present its not connected to anything). Is it supposed to connect to that? Doesn’t make much sense to me. Surely it should earth to the body of the van?

[Oldiebut goodie]

I would clean the gas pipework on the fridge also - mine had a lot of fine rust particles inside which immediately blocked the jet again! A good blast of compressed air cleared it out and then I filled it with wd40 to try to minimize the rust formation. As soon as you move the pipe to re-assemble it it disturbs the rust inside.
It takes quite a while to get the gas flowing again also so persevere.
There should be an earth on the fridge where the 12v connects so use that. For example:

[Keekster]

Thanks,
I suspect I may not have cleaned the jet properly. A tip given on the wiki sight says use a strand of copper wire. That should do cause brass is tougher than copper. Will disconnect the main pipe and I think there is a filter at the other end, and clean through as well.
Not sure about the electrics though. The frudge already has a cable attached, red and black wires present. There is a connector hanging loose for the red one to push in to, but I cant see a similar bullet connector for the earth. Confused by that diagram. I dont see any terminal block. The switch has three connections, power, acc?, and an earth. The earth is hanging loose.

[Oldiebut goodie]

You will have to put up pictures as to what you have - the above diagram was an example not your layout! (hence the 'for example')

[Keekster]

Had a dig through the old paperwork for the van and found the Devon wiring diagram. The red wire from the fuse box is the feed. The earth has vanished but easy to make something up. No idea what the earth cable attached to the fridge switch is for, cause the diagram only shows two terminals not 3!

[Keekster]

Well, still no joy. Jet is cleaned properly, but still wont light. I’m beginning to wonder if the pressure regulator on the bottle is faulty resulting in less Psi (it is 30 years old). I’m guessing this would mean the gas passing through the jet would be insufficient to reach the sparker. The jet is absolutely tiny, so a fall in pressure could have a disproportionate effect.
Found the earth so electrical connections sorted. This gas problem is a pain.

[Oldiebut goodie]

Some people have found that the knob isn't going in far enough to open the gas valve - remove the knob and hold the spindle in with a pair of pliers, if it then works you need some paper or small washer in the knob to permit the spindle that extra bit of inward travel.

[Keekster]

Fridge sorted. Gas valve only works in the middle position. Grrrrr!
Markings long gone. I'm guessing thats the low setting.

[ed_crouch]

Glad its sorted. One thing on the 12V connection: the fridge shouldn't be hooked up to the leisure battery.

Its a 75W electrical heater element - which means at 12V it'll be drawing ~6amps. That'll flatten a decent leisure battery in 10 hours on its own.

The 2-way fridges were only ever really designed to ru non gas when stopped . The normal way to set it up is to connect it to ignition live, probably with a relay (i.e. directly from the starter battery, switched on ign live) unless you're confident that the ign live will cope with an extra 6 amps.

what this does is keep the fridge nice and cool while youre on your way to the campsite. The electric then cuts out as you key the engine off, and you then switch on the gas and light the fridge.

Whoever wired the fridge up to the leisure battery was basically mistaken in doing so.

Ed.

[col.decker]

Glad its sorted. One thing on the 12V connection: the fridge shouldn't be hooked up to the leisure battery.

Its a 75W electrical heater element - which means at 12V it'll be drawing ~6amps. That'll flatten a decent leisure battery in 10 hours on its own.

The 2-way fridges were only ever really designed to ru non gas when stopped . The normal way to set it up is to connect it to ignition live, probably with a relay (i.e. directly from the starter battery, switched on ign live) unless you're confident that the ign live will cope with an extra 6 amps.

what this does is keep the fridge nice and cool while youre on your way to the campsite. The electric then cuts out as you key the engine off, and you then switch on the gas and light the fridge.

Whoever wired the fridge up to the leisure battery was basically mistaken in doing so.

Ed.

ahhhhhhhhhhh


that might be why mine never seems to work on 12v then. I've always assumed it was wired to the lesiure bat via the zig unit, but I've only ever tested it on the drive with the engine off. Time for a driving home experiment me thinks.