*NOTE: If anything is worked on in the LPG system, a LEAK CHECK needs to be done for safeties sake.

It is possible for air to get in the lines, even though most LPG units have gas solenoids at the unit that uses it.

If gas tanks have been disconnected for a while - air can get in. It's an observed phenominon... Air replaces propane in the lines if they are not used.

As a practicing tech, I know that the fastest way to purge LPG lines is to go directly to the stove top. If it has a spark system for each burner and I can see the spark at each burner, i can turn them all on HIGH and keep clicking the sparker. When they light - I know gas has travelled that far.

Next I go to the water heater - because the flow of gas in it is also high. IF IT LIGHTS - GOOD SO FAR!

The refrigerator LPG system is the last one I check. The reason for this is because it has a very small flame, about the size of a BIC lighter. An RV can run a fridge on LPG for six months or so on two full tanks, because the flame is that small.

But the fault circuits on it are so finicky it will try three or for times, and just STOP.

So it has to be turned off and tried again....

This system needs for everything else to be working before you test it. (ALL of the air in the rest of the line bled out).

Some reefers (Dometic, for one) will call a fault, and the board need to be reset by complicated TECH ONLY means to get it to work again if too many fails happen.

I don't want to tell you how that is done, because it is to prevent a destructive problem from costing an entire refrigerator...

But this method of one after another testing will give the refrige it's best chance to activate right even if the RV has been stored for a long time.

DO THEM IN THE ORDER I LISTED.

It will save a lot of time, trouble, and replacement.

Also keep in mind that an RV reefer cools slowly. Open the door, and for every minute it is open - it will take about twenty minutes to cool it back down.

For beer and soda's I highly recommend a seperate small reefer, such as a sony - that has an actual compressor, and cools quickly. If you have something you open the door a lot for - you need that.

NOTE: Many truck stops offer ice chests (TOP OPENING) that plug into a twelve volt source. THESE are worth having.... They are like a top opening freezer in a small size. LOOK FOR THEM! They run about ninety bucks.

RV reefers are intended to get your basic food stuffs from (for example) tombstone arizona to upstate new york without spoiling. They do NOT "QUICK COOL", and were never designed to do that.

 

Good advice there ! I've had older campers (newest is my '87 fifth wheel) and the fridge and water heater need to be lit manually. I long ago noticed the trick to getting the fridge started easily was to get the stove burners going first. Never had much trouble with the water heater (spider web in the venturi once), but your order makes a lot of sense. Sometimes we'll put a few frozen items we won't need until later in the trip in the fridge to help it get colder faster.

 

Also on the fridge - check the area where the flame is, for corrosion coming down from the stack and plugging up the lp gas holes where the starter/spark is at.

 

I was warned to avoid using compressed air to blow out rust particles around those, because there is a baffle in the tube going upwards (chimney) that can be unseated and fall down if it has a massive blast of air up the chimney pipe...

"Gotta watch that..."

Pull the flame tube and clean it by hand if you have to.