I am having a few issues with the fridge in my van. The pilot light for the gas stays alight but the fridge doesn't get very cold. Clearly this isn't good enough, nobody likes warm beer
After an hour or so the metal part inside the fridge starts to chill down but it isn't enough to cool the inside of the fridge down. I have left it on for a few hours but it just isn't cold enough. I read somewhere about turning the fridge upside down for a day then trying again but that didn't work.
If it works well on electrickery there was no point in turning it upside down!!! It isn't a pilot light either - it is the flame that does all the work.
Have you really cleaned the jet and burner well and is the baffle in the heater tube at the correct height?
As ObG suggests, you may be trying to solve the wrong problem with the upside-down.
The refrigerant circuit is shared between all three heat sources. If that's settled through lack of use, then turning upside down helps kick it back into life.
If it's cold on 12v or 240v, then the refrigerant's fine and the problem's the heat source - the flame. We've got the same issue on gas. We've had the jet out and cleaned it, to no avail.
I had the same problem with my fridge I thoroughly cleaned the gas burner and inspected the jet with a magnifying glass wh i could see the blocked jet. blow it out with a high pressure blast of air, check it again and if it's clear try It.
my fridge now freezes ice blocks.
1.9df petrol water cooled 1982 built registered 84 ,
If it aint broke don`t fix it !
Thanks for all the advice, the fridge is only two way so I can't try it on electric. I only bought the van a week ago so I haven't had a chance to take it on a long enough drive to try it on 12v. I think my next step will be to see if it works ok on 12v. If it does work on 12v I will remove the fridge and have a closer look at the jets. Presumably if it doesn't work on 12v there are more serious problems with it
It does take an appreciable time for the evaporation cycle to get going. How long did you give it? It's the metal tray in the freezer compartment that gets cold which in turn cools the rest of the fridge.
Gary.pb wrote:I am having a few issues with the fridge in my van. The pilot light for the gas stays alight but the fridge doesn't get very cold. Clearly this isn't good enough, nobody likes warm beer
After an hour or so the metal part inside the fridge starts to chill down but it isn't enough to cool the inside of the fridge down. I have left it on for a few hours but it just isn't cold enough. I read somewhere about turning the fridge upside down for a day then trying again but that didn't work.
Any ideas?
That's not enough time to check it's working properly. Domestic fridges at home don't suddenly make everything cold on first switching on. As said elsewhere the van needs to be level for gas to work properly. So light the gas. Get a thermometer and check the temperature. Put this inside the fridge and leave it for at least two hours. Check the temperature again. Also touch the metal bits inside the fridge. They should be cold and slightly frosted by then.
Also to help the fridge along, I freeze a carton of orange juice and put as much food, beer etc in my home fridge overnight. In the morning I put this cold stuff in the van fridge and drive. My 12v system soon takes over cooling the fridge down after a couple of hours driving. Arrive at destination and switch over to gas. Job done. I switch my fridge off overnight to stop the milk freezing as the thermocouple broke and had to be by-passed.
