Fridge on gas. How long should gas burner be on?

[VXman]

Might be being a bit paranoid but....Got a new Thetford Fridge fitted finally after a whole year of having one that didn't cool when on gas. First time out with the new fridge off grid. How much of the time would you expect the gas burner to be on?

Fridge was cooled for 24 hours on electric first and contents cooled in house. It's about 18-20 degrees outside but the gas seems to be on pretty much all the time. Turned it down to 3/5 and gas went off for a couple of minutes and then kicked in again. Does the gas burn most of the time generally?

 

[LesW]

Ours stays on all the time, it has to, to keep the contents cool/frozen.

 

[VXman]

Ours stays on all the time, it has to, to keep the contents cool/frozen.

Well, I assume the gas flame (burner) would switch off when the fridge reaches its desired temperature, (what ever you set it to) and then re ignite when the temperature increases.(like a home fridge does, or a heating system)

If it's on permanently I would have thought that means it's not reaching the desired temperature????

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

Once down to temp, I *think* our Dometic fridge/freezer then tends to cut in/out in variable length bursts to maintain temp as opposed to almost constant running on gas. But I never really had cause to monitor the running, just noticed it sometimes.

 

[RedFrame]

Ours cuts in and out, we're away at the moment and I've got nothing better to do so I'll time it for you while looking after a glass of wine or 2

Cheers
Red

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[busbuddy]

Mine runs constant but its 2003 era so manual ignition, no way of relighting itself

 

[Lenny HB]

Our Dometic runs for about 30min then off for 5-10min, off for longer if its cooler outside.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Ours is a dometic and it cuts off when down to temp and restarts. You can sometimes hear the pizo click and the has ignited your close to the fridge.
Best to fit a couple of fans in the upper vent area with a thermostat. They are cheap to buy and easy to install. They will help to reduce the coolant temperature and the efficiency of the fridge and lower the gas use

 

[Tombola]

runs for quite a while percentage wise but is a very small flame.

Yours is a new fridge BUT , if it was old then the cooling coils can get dirty at the back and not shift the heat as quick (similar to adding fans to help it) so would run for longer in that case.

 

[jumar]

Shouldn't be a problem....ours is on most of the time...you can even hear a slight roar....new jet and burner complete last year on 18 year old fridge...still chills our wine...

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[RedFrame]

With van level, at ambient 18⁰c the burner is running for about 25 to 30 min, then off for about 8 min, the temperature between the cooling fins varies between 20⁰c and 28⁰c, obviously not high enough to kick in fan assistance.

Should be warmer tomorrow so will check again.

Cheers
Red

 

[VXman]

Th

With van level, at ambient 18⁰c the burner is running for about 25 to 30 min, then off for about 8 min, the temperature between the cooling fins varies between 20⁰c and 28⁰c, obviously not high enough to kick in fan assistance.

Should be warmer tomorrow so will check again.

Cheers
Red

Thank you for that. Very thorough!!

Seems to be similar to mine then. It was off for about 10 mins, on for 40. Just been out for a bit and it hasn't been on since we got back. So.- seems to be working.

I will look into fitting a fan as we are going to south Italy in September.

 

[Simon Meadwell]

Slightly off beat i have just repaced the heat sink paste what a difference to the cooling.

 

[Lenny HB]

Slightly off beat i have just repaced the heat sink paste what a difference to the cooling.

The cheap rubbish Dometic uses drys out with age.
When I took the fins off to fit an internal van when the fridge was new the paste looked OK. A couple of months ago before a trip I decided to replace as now five years old the original stuff had dried up and was crumbly. Used a decent heat sink compound made a huge difference.

 

[VXman]

Slightly off beat i have just repaced the heat sink paste what a difference to the cooling.

Well at £1500 plus fitting I would expect this fridge to work perfectly for sometime to come (not that I paid for mine - under warranty replacement)

I see that Thetford do supply a simple fan mod for £45 to aid airflow behind the fridge. You'd think at £1500 for a fridge it would be standard fitment in the begining!!!

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[dunnah01]

Once our RMD8 series fridge/freezer has got down to temperature it seems to be on for 5-10 mins and then off for 30-40 mins

 

[Richard n Ann]

Ours must have had a pilot light on it so I never knew if it was 'on' or not.
Was manual ignition.

 

[DuxDeluxe]

Th

Thank you for that. Very thorough!!

Seems to be similar to mine then. It was off for about 10 mins, on for 40. Just been out for a bit and it hasn't been on since we got back. So.- seems to be working.

I will look into fitting a fan as we are going to south Italy in September.

Mine is similar to that above

 

[pagey]

Mine ever seems to turn off

 

[TerryL]

It's something that's been bugging me too, aggravated by the flame being very noisy despite having changed the burner. The fridge works fine but it does seem to run for a high proportion of the time and I get the feeling it's using more gas than it used to. Once it's down to temperature we usually keep the control down to 2 bars (out of 5). I fitted a pair of extractor fans and they appear to help although I couldn't really be certain about that. Have done the usual things, cleaned the flue (had to take the fridge out to do that!) and replaced the heat transfer paste.
Just glad to see I'm not the only one.

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[gus-lopez]

Manual ignition ones never go off. Mine has been on since 22nd June when I left home and is unlikely to be off until next Thursday when I have ehu at a friend's.

 

[Sunlovers]

Ours is a Dometic fridge, been in use for just under a year now. Last weekend we were without hook-up for four days and it was evident that the fridge burner was on pretty much all of the time, with short "off" gaps. We turned it down to 4 bars as it was coping well enough in the UK summer warmth we were enjoying.