Club 80-90 Forums

Following on from my leisure battery 'issues', I've confirmed that the LB is running quite a few things you'd ordinarily expect it not to.

That's something for another day.

My immediate issue now is the three way fridge. On hook up and 12v, it works fine. However, it's not working on gas.
The on/off switch which should 'click' doesn't. I've replaced it for a new one and still no luck.

Any ideas if there's fuses further down from the switch I can check or anything else I can clean/check/replace?

At present, I'm not keen to pull the fridge out as I don't want to dislodge any gas pipes or fittings.

Your help and advice is much appreciated!

The igniter often stops working due to corroded “earth” connections down at the back of the fridge in the burner area .
You might be able to access it from the outside by taking the big vent off (If its been installed with the twin caravan vents)
Failing that you will need to remove the fridge , but its just one gas connection and will have enough slack to enable access to disconnect

UPDATE

Thanks to Mocki for the advice. Pulled off the bottom ventilation grille and found two earth grounding screws.
Gve them a scrub with a wire brush but didn't unscrew them as they were tight on.

It doesn't *appear* to be the problem (unless anyone thinks different).

Next question is...where's the 12v feed coming in from?
No obvious signs of one entering the fridge area but truth be told, not sure what I'm actually poking around for!

I want to test to if there's 12v power to the ignition switch but after that, I'm still stuck.

I'll put some more photos of what I find at the switch in case someone can identify something glaringly obvious.

As an aside, would it be possible to run a temporary feed direct from the LB to the ignition switch? Something quick and dirty which would at least give me use of the gas powered fridge.

I'm going away at short notice this coming weekend and there's no hook up so really *need* the fridge working. Those beers won't keep cool on their own!

Jim

The ignition feed should be coming from the fuse board from the leisure battery , and you will be able to check there is power on the connection block on the top of the fridge where the mains power is also connected into a connector next to the 12v for the heating element and the ignition supply . Yes you can add a temporary feed to check where your issue is easy enough , but make sure it’s fused at the battery end to protect the wire and the fridge .
You will be looking for a single wire i suspect, as the 12v heating will carry the neg .
The 12v heating will ( or should be) from the main battery via auto relay triggered by the alternator so it can only work when the engine is running , it should not be powered by the leisure battery

So...
Unscrewed the ignition unit (the one that powers the switch and igniter).

I pulled the black wire out to clean the spade connector and the end fell off.
I don't have higher expectations of the blue or wires when I pull them.

Will need to crimp a new connector onto it.

Any ideas why the black lead goes into the connector block and nowhere else?

TBH, I think I'd rather get an auto electrician to come and sort this just to get it done right first time...

What model fridge is it ?
Wiring and manuals are online

From your picture, you need to introduce +12v to the black wire onto the igniter and see if the blue is already neg

Them spades look a bit mucky.
A bit of verdi-gris will not help.

Rubbersoul71 wrote: ↑19 May 2024, 17:23

UPDATE

Thanks to Mocki for the advice. Pulled off the bottom ventilation grille and found two earth grounding screws.
Gve them a scrub with a wire brush but didn't unscrew them as they were tight on.

It doesn't *appear* to be the problem (unless anyone thinks different).

The screw head in the top pic looks a bit chewed so someone has been at it before, the second one is going into a rusty panel.
Just because the screws are tight, that doesn't mean that they aren't high resistance. Disturb (loosen) and clean everything.
Earth continuity is essential if you want your 12v input to actually do any work on its way back to the -ve terminal of the battery!

PS forget the idea of any auto electrician, you'd be better off with a caravan technician

My friendly neighbourhood mechanic took at look at the fridge today but decided against testing it by lighting it as the copper pipes at the rear of the fridge were heavily corroded.
Safety comes first obviously.

So, the fridge runs on 12v when can running and on hook up which is fine for now.

Next question for the audience...

Replace the pipework? If so, does it need to be copper piping or could some suitable hose do the same job?

Or abandon the idea of running the fridge under gas?

Or find a replacement three way fridge that does all three?

As ever, your ideas are welcome!