Fridge problem solved...you'll never guess! (1 Viewer)

[Emmenay]

Let me recap on previous events first,
we left the uk four weeks ago for a road trip to Spain and soon discovered our Dometic 6401 fridge would not stay alight on gas. It would light on ignition but would go out as soon as the push valve was released.

We were able to locate a Dometic dealer thanks to MHFunsters, in Barcelona. After giving it a service they soon diagnosed a dodgy thermocoupling which they duly changed, only to find that was not the problem!

Next they diagnosed the selector switch, as they quite often fail. They changed that and informed me in their best English that the fridge is working but the problem may still lay with the gas valve/thermostat, but anyway I was happy it was working at all.

We arrived at our next stop, tried to put the fridge on and guess what, yep, nothing!

Long story short, I have today fitted a brand new gas valve/thermostat and hey presto...STILL NOTHING ARHHH:shout:

So, the power of logic tells me it HAS to be electrical.

After many days of huffing and puffing and dismantling/rebuilding, after 250 euros worth of parts I have found the problem, wait for it..


A dodgy wire! Yes, one dodgy wire between the selector switch and the gas valve.

I suppose the moral here is don't overlook the obvious :thumb: Oh well, at least I have got some spares now :Blush:

 

[treetops1]

Well done ,at least you found the fault.lol.

 

[B-well]

well done, problem solved good nights sleep awaits now.

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[jhorsf]

You now have a good grounding on how it all goes together

 

[rolandrat]

Fridge problem solved...you'll never guess

It makes you wonder whether the service guys were switched on so to speak.

 

[bobandjanie]

Well done :thumb: nothing worse than warm beer.

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[Ridgeway]

I think you'd make a great business in chilled distribution

Good job for finding it.

 

[Emmenay]

And the best part for me,

I didn't break anything! Considering how the fridge went in and out at least a dozen times,
unlike when I tried to repair the oven safety switch, as I pulled the oven forward by the door handle, the door shattered :Blush: That wasn't cheap!

One more thing, if anybody is diagnosed with a faulty selector switch on the fridge, don't be fobbed off with a new one until the old one has been opened and inspected, they seem to be the most basic multi position switch I have seen and can easily be tinkered with. :thumb:

 

[MichelleRyall]

On a different but similar note..we stopped in Lyme Regis for the day before going to our campsite. I thought the fridge had ignited but when we returned I could hear the ignitor clicking and didn't think much more of it, just put it on 12 volt and drove on. Arrived at campsite........would not ignite, no clicking, nothing. The fabulous warden Barry, at Graston Copse amazingly rigged up some hook up for us. My hubby then spent best part of an hour taking the vent off, checking the thermostat, tapping the solenoid etc to no avail. I will mention at this point that we did not take the manual with us, yes, you can see where this is heading. So we ring our dealer and arrange to pop in today. On arriving back at home, my hubby gets out the manual and EUREKA.....there is a little fail safe cut out and all you have to do is press the hazard button and voila, problem sorted

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[Gooney]

On a different but similar note..we stopped in Lyme Regis for the day before going to our campsite. I thought the fridge had ignited but when we returned I could hear the ignitor clicking and didn't think much more of it, just put it on 12 volt and drove on. Arrived at campsite........would not ignite, no clicking, nothing. The fabulous warden Barry, at Graston Copse amazingly rigged up some hook up for us. My hubby then spent best part of an hour taking the vent off, checking the thermostat, tapping the solenoid etc to no avail. I will mention at this point that we did not take the manual with us, yes, you can see where this is heading. So we ring our dealer and arrange to pop in today. On arriving back at home, my hubby gets out the manual and EUREKA.....there is a little fail safe cut out and all you have to do is press the hazard button and voila, problem sorted

That often well used quote, "When all else fails, read the instructions"

 

[filopastry]

I have the Dometic 6401 and the gas will light and continue to flow after the thermocouple has done its job but the ignition just keeps on clicking. Sending me CRAZY. All works great just continues to click, click, click. Any ideas ??

 

[mitzimad]

I have the Dometic 6401 and the gas will light and continue to flow after the thermocouple has done its job but the ignition just keeps on clicking. Sending me CRAZY. All works great just continues to click, click, click. Any ideas ??

those fridges have some sort of retification rather than a thermocouple most common reason to keep sparking is the probe is dirty or theres no earth path to the burner assembly the probe can be filed to clean it up, you can check if its earthing by touching the burner with a wire connected to earth after that its the ignition module or the switch

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[tonyidle]

They have both a thermocouple to hold open the gas valve and flame rectification to kill the spark generator. Not many years ago, just after peizo fridge ignition died a death, the spark generator worked like the one on the cooker - it only sparked whilst a button or knob was held in. Problem was that if a draught caused the flame to blow out - it stayed out. Then along came the magic sparker. It uses a phenomenon that causes a high voltage AC to be rectified when it is conducted via a flame. The fridge spark generators now in use are powered as long as the fridge is turned to Gas and the reason they stop sparking once the flame ignites is that they're designed to spot the resultant rectification. The thermocouple is used to hold the gas valve open once it is heated by the burner. Until it is heated the user has to keep the valve open manually by holding the knob in until a few seconds have elapsed.

If in use the flame is extinguished by a draught the spark generator has a short period during which to re-ignite it. That short period is the time between the flame going out and the thermocouple cooling down sufficiently to cut off the gas supply.

 

[filopastry]

I had the burner assembly off to replace the thermocouple so taking a little from you and a little from Mitzimad I recon I may be onto the problem now. I checked the parts list and found an item 440 that I believed created the spark but even when checking the wiring diagram it is described as a "reigniter" and I could see a + and - connection, a wire for the warning light and another the spark wire, but nowhere could I find the actuating circuit. Now I know why because of Tonyidle's explanation. Ta very muchly, twas doing my poor little Yorkshire 'ead in. Will let you nkow how I get on.

 

[filopastry]

All started well, identified all the parts, stripped down the burner sanded and cleaned all surfaces to ensure good contacts. Thermocouple and sparker reinstalled and burner set up outside van to test. YAHOO, all works. Put everything back in place and .... NOPE, she lights but click click click. Stripped down and burner back outside the van and we're off again, this time spark slows down to click ....... click .................click then silence, hooray. All back in place and the soddin thing again refuses to play the game. Wife brings out a coffe to stem the flow of naughty words. Back on the outside again with the burner works again. Fits it all back together and ..... IT WORKS. Me chuffed as only a chuffed little chappie can be, wife sighs and says can we have lunch now, I agree happily washed my hands then sat at the table ready to be fed. "THERE'S A FIRE OUTSIDE" screams wifey, nearly said makes a change from in the oven but instead set off gazelle like out of the house where the van is parked, at the side of the house. Black smoke billowing up the far side of the van, I run turned off the gas at the bottles grabbed the hose pipe and sprayed onto the back of the fridge where the fire was happily burning away, flames coming out of the burner box,cover and setting fire to wiring and plastics. Fire out in seconds. LOTS n LOTS of REALLY naughty words. From the cinders and ashes it seems that a family of spiders or similar had taken up lodgings in the chimney. How or why it caught fire I don't know. Fridge doesn't need repairing now, just replacing. It's been a challenging day, but, hey ho. Now looking at a replacement and it seems that the RM6401 has now been replaced by the RM8501 with manual fuel selector or RM8505 with the automatic fuel selector. Anyone any experiences of these or similar/better models.

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[Riverbankannie]

All started well, identified all the parts, stripped down the burner sanded and cleaned all surfaces to ensure good contacts. Thermocouple and sparker reinstalled and burner set up outside van to test. YAHOO, all works. Put everything back in place and .... NOPE, she lights but click click click. Stripped down and burner back outside the van and we're off again, this time spark slows down to click ....... click .................click then silence, hooray. All back in place and the soddin thing again refuses to play the game. Wife brings out a coffe to stem the flow of naughty words. Back on the outside again with the burner works again. Fits it all back together and ..... IT WORKS. Me chuffed as only a chuffed little chappie can be, wife sighs and says can we have lunch now, I agree happily washed my hands then sat at the table ready to be fed. "THERE'S A FIRE OUTSIDE" screams wifey, nearly said makes a change from in the oven but instead set off gazelle like out of the house where the van is parked, at the side of the house. Black smoke billowing up the far side of the van, I run turned off the gas at the bottles grabbed the hose pipe and sprayed onto the back of the fridge where the fire was happily burning away, flames coming out of the burner box,cover and setting fire to wiring and plastics. Fire out in seconds. LOTS n LOTS of REALLY naughty words. From the cinders and ashes it seems that a family of spiders or similar had taken up lodgings in the chimney. How or why it caught fire I don't know. Fridge doesn't need repairing now, just replacing. It's been a challenging day, but, hey ho. Now looking at a replacement and it seems that the RM6401 has now been replaced by the RM8501 with manual fuel selector or RM8505 with the automatic fuel selector. Anyone any experiences of these or similar/better models.

Gosh, how frightening, thank goodness your wife spotted it and you were able to put it out.