Club 80-90 Forums

I have cleaned out the burner - what a mess, the sparker and the end of the thermocouple, the jet, and carefully put everything back. Set up in the van to test and the sparker is now working really well with a fine spark. But when I switch the gas on and the sparker - nothing happens. No pilot light. There doesn't seem to be any gas getting through. Not quite sure where to go next. I've read all the service docs and the other threads. My possibilities are:

1. The thermostat isn't working. Not sure how to test that, but I guess that could stop the gas going through.
2. If the thermocouple wasn't working properly would that stop the gas going through?
3. I could take off the gas lines and check there are no obstructions.
4. I can see light through the jet so I guess its working but I could try blowing compressed air through.

Does anyone else have any other ideas?

Are you 'holding down'/'pushing in' the gas knob for 10-20 seconds at the start?
The knob needs to be held in until the gas lights and the thermocouple gets up to temperature so that the valve is held open by the thermocouple.

Ah! I thought you did that after a pilot light lit up. Will try that asap

Bingo! I held down the switch for 30 secs and nothing happened. Then I closed the door for a second draught-free attempt and she lit up almost immediately! It says in the manual to hold it down for 20-30 secs and then after it lights, hold it down for another 15-20 secs for the “thermo-electric ignition from the lpg tank to stay open’. Not quite sure what that means.
There was lots of exhaust fumes. Is that normal?

killerme wrote:, hold it down for another 15-20 secs for the “thermo-electric ignition from the lpg tank to stay open’. Not quite sure what that means.

It means the thermocouple needs to have a constant flame till it heats up then you can release the knob at the desired setting...or it will go out (safety device)

There was lots of exhaust fumes. Is that normal?

what do you mean by lots of fumes?
If the burner is burning cleanly then there should be only a blue flame and no smell
An orange flame means the burner is not burning properly and there will be a gassy smell

Thanks for the support guys. I left it on for three hours and in about 20 mins it settled down with hardly any exhaust fumes and a clear blue flame. It was probably very rusted up etc. After two hours there was a clear touch of frost on the metal section inside the fridge. I'm guessing that I'm there now. I'll leave it for a couple of days upside down. It's amazing. After being dead for many years I expected it would need at least a few replacement parts but all it has needed was a good clean. I think I should do a check tomorrow where I leave it on for a while then blow the burner out to see if it will restart? Also, one thing I noticed was there was no change to the size of the flame when I moved the thermostat. Shouldn't this go up and down as I turn the knob?

killerme wrote: Also, one thing I noticed was there was no change to the size of the flame when I moved the thermostat. Shouldn't this go up and down as I turn the knob?

The fridge in my van has no thermostat when on gas (you just control the size of the flame) but it looks like your fridge is slightly cleverer and has a gas thermostat; so is it possible that the fridge just wasn't cold enough that the thermostat would reduce the size of the flame? A little difficult to test I guess but maybe if you leave it a while on its lowest setting and see if the flame eventually reduces?

Mine is a 1989 joker and the manual shows:

Sorry about this guys but one small lingering issue. When I switch to gas, the red light should flicker on and off slowly with a slow clicking. But mine often begins clicking madly and the light flickers really fast. After a while it eventually slows down to normal but then, after the blue flame has emerged and I have sat for a further ten to fifteen minutes with the plunger held down, the light still occasionally comes on with the odd clicking. Sometimes it is clicking away while the blue flame is consistent. It is very similar to the problem I had with the indicators after the van had been sitting over winter. Mad flashing and clicking until after a while it settled down. Perhaps it just needs to be used a lot for a while. After all,it has been sitting for years, damp and unused?

killerme wrote:Sorry about this guys but one small lingering issue. When I switch to gas, the red light should flicker on and off slowly with a slow clicking. But mine often begins clicking madly and the light flickers really fast.

this doesn't seem right - the igniter should be doing a charge/discharge cycle (which is the regular clicking noise you should hear)

killerme wrote:After a while it eventually slows down to normal but then, after the blue flame has emerged and I have sat for a further ten to fifteen minutes with the plunger held down, the light still occasionally comes on with the odd clicking.

First - you certainly shouldn't need to hold the plunger down for minutes - it should only take seconds (5-15 secs) for the thermoelectric valve to take hold.
Second - The light should only come back on if it senses that the flame has extinguished - which it does by passing a small current through the igniter wire - if a flame is present then the current will pass to ground - so the igniter is sensing for an open circuit (no flame present) and if it senses this it starts sparking again - which implies that the igniter thinks the flame is out??

killerme wrote:Sometimes it is clicking away while the blue flame is consistent. It is very similar to the problem I had with the indicators after the van had been sitting over winter. Mad flashing and clicking until after a while it settled down. Perhaps it just needs to be used a lot for a while. After all,it has been sitting for years, damp and unused?

I wonder if your igniter is not positioned correctly in relation to the flame ?

thanks for all the help. It seems to have settled down well now. I've switched it on and off quite a few times and its been running now for about 3 days. It starts as midlife suggests it should - 15-20 secs. I think it was all just rusty and damp. Its been really damp working in the van (and that's the first time I've seen the horrors behind the fridge that I really knew were there but was in denial about!!) I'm amazed how warm the van gets with the fridge running consistently. It works as a heater! At the same time the fridge isn't really cold. I'll have to get a thermometer to see, but although the metal section inside the fridge does slight freeze up, the fridge doesn't seem terribly cold and it doesn't freeze water. Good enough to keep food cool though and the van warm in winter.

If it is warming the van up it suggests to me that your vents are not working or not even present! Do you have an upper and lower vent in the side of the van or is it vented inside the van? The addition of a small computer fan can work wonders for poor air circulation at the back.

there is a vent at the top and there is a lower vent behind the cupboard under the sink. The top vent is via the exhaust tube. But the heat is just generated from the warm pipes. Like it isn't boiling hot just kept at an low even temp. Of course it is mild weather - it might be different in the cold winter. There is no exhaust type smell and I've checked for carbon monoxide. I think its a bones! Is it possible somehow the heat is not being used to cool the fridge?

Do you mean that there is solely an exhaust vent at the top or a combined exhaust and vent? Or????
The heat from the heat exchanger is normally vented outside - I know that some vent internally. You may have a fridge that hasn't been installed correctly though.
For example here is my Merc - you can see the top and bottom vents and the exhaust close to the top vent. Ignore the big lower one that is the water heater. The heat from the heat exchanger is deflected to the outlet vent by boxing in the back and top.

thanks oldie. I'll put some pics up tomorrow.