Gas fridge burning sooty & smelly

[Jack TGA]

I have a dometic RM7390. Recently it has been burning sooty on gas as evidenced by soot on the top outside grill and side of van. Eventually it wouldn't ignite. I removed the bottom grill and cleaned the burner by blowing air on it with a bicycle pump. Lumps of soot came off. It then lit immediately. I only did it yesterday so I don't know if it is still burning sooty. However I think I can still smell gas or exhaust fumes. It was a bit smelly before I cleaned the burner. I thought it was just the exhaust fumes blowing back in through the door or vents. It doesn't smell inside the fridge.
1. What would cause the sooty burning?
2. Could the sooty burning have blocked the flume somewhere?
3. How can I tell if there is a gas leak or exhaust fumes blowing back into the cabin?

 

[Manic]

When you say you cleaned the burner by blowing air on it, that didn’t clean the jet. To clean the jet you need to remove it from the burner, the jet on my old fridge is held in by the gas pipe. The jet is just thin pressed meta so be careful

 

[eurajohn]

Sooty burning is incomplete combustion, either too much gas or not enough air.
My guess would be the burner assembly needs cleaning properly and the flue is most likely contaminated, be aware there should be a baffle hanging down from the top.
Unlikely to be a jet problem.

 

[Sue and Rick]

IMO people who ask questions about gas appliances know nothing about them.
A gas safe engineer is the best way. You want to wake up in the morning don’t you?

 

[Jack TGA]

IMO people who ask questions about gas appliances know nothing about them.
A gas safe engineer is the best way. You want to wake up in the morning don’t you?

It doesn't look that much different to my MSR burn anything hiking stove, which regularly needs cleaning. That said, I very much take your point.

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[dunnah01]

IMO people who ask questions about gas appliances know nothing about them.
A gas safe engineer is the best way. You want to wake up in the morning don’t you?

Or they could seek advice on a forum to learn a bit about gas to be safer straight away rather than waiting days for a gas Safe fitter to change some random parts.

 

[Stealaway]

Replace the complete jet and holder.
Quite cheap on eBay consideration how old it's likely to be.
Try a clear out the chimney

 

[Kybod]

The gas jet to the burner is extremely small, best to replace the jet with a new one, rather than trying to clean the existing one.

 

[3 cabbages]

(12 months ago I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT A 3 WAY FRIDGE AND DID NOT OWN A MOTORHOME )

8 months ago,my fridge was not working .

so I removed it to my lock-up and cleaned the burner, put it back in the van and gas burner worked.

The flame was still yellowish - not good .

took the fridge back out and took the burner indoors to my kitchen table .and with good light and surgical spirits deep cleaned the burner jet ,- reassembled all and ---- Bingo ! blue flame- result!

now have an efficient working fridge. I recently have been to Cadiz and back ,3 month trip - fridge tip-top

My van is 1994 Talbot Express!


Leo

 

[eurajohn]

The jet is stainless, gas passing through it will not enlarge the orifice, dirt / debris will block it but too little gas will not cause the OP's problem.
As I mentioned previously the burner assembly will require thorough cleaning as will the exhaust flue , with a decent suitable brush and high volume/pressure air.

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[Jack TGA]

When you say you cleaned the burner by blowing air on it, that didn’t clean the jet. To clean the jet you need to remove it from the burner, the jet on my old fridge is held in by the gas pipe. The jet is just thin pressed meta so be careful View attachment 615532

Thank you very much for the diagram.

 

[Jack TGA]

The jet is stainless, gas passing through it will not enlarge the orifice, dirt / debris will block it but too little gas will not cause the OP's problem.
As I mentioned previously the burner assembly will require thorough cleaning as will the exhaust flue , with a decent suitable brush and high volume/pressure air.

Could it be to do with the quality of the LPG? I've noticed that the gas hob is burning a little yellower than normal. I'm in Turkey and have been getting autogas from the pumps at petrol stations.

 

[Jack TGA]

The jet is stainless, gas passing through it will not enlarge the orifice, dirt / debris will block it but too little gas will not cause the OP's problem.
As I mentioned previously the burner assembly will require thorough cleaning as will the exhaust flue , with a decent suitable brush and high volume/pressure air.

Also, do you know what would be a good price to get this done professionally? I'm in Turkey and there is a van service centre nearby. It would be nice to have an idea of a sensible price before I go ask them.

 

[eurajohn]

Could it be to do with the quality of the LPG? I've noticed that the gas hob is burning a little yellower than normal. I'm in Turkey and have been getting autogas from the pumps at petrol stations.

Poor quality LPG will not help but would not have thought it would be the reason for your current problem.
There are plenty other motorhomes / vanlife people in Turkey using the available LPG with apparently no problems.

As to getting done where you are, I think will be considerably cheaper than in UK, I saw on a YouTube video recently a UK couple got quite an amount of work done by a Turkish motorhome place and was very pleasantly surprised by the low cost.
So long as the access to the unit is along the conventional lines of most vans shouldn't take more than an hour from start to finish, unless of course they employ the high pressure airline "tune up" which will only take a couple of minutes (and only give a temporary fix).

 

[Jack TGA]

Poor quality LPG will not help but would not have thought it would be the reason for your current problem.
There are plenty other motorhomes / vanlife people in Turkey using the available LPG with apparently no problems.

As to getting done where you are, I think will be considerably cheaper than in UK, I saw on a YouTube video recently a UK couple got quite an amount of work done by a Turkish motorhome place and was very pleasantly surprised by the low cost.
So long as the access to the unit is along the conventional lines of most vans shouldn't take more than an hour from start to finish, unless of course they employ the high pressure airline "tune up" which will only take a couple of minutes (and only give a temporary fix).

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[TheBig1]

smelly gas exhaust is usually an indicator that you are reaching the end of a bottle. The chemicals that settle to the bottom of the tank are very smelly. Sooty greasy stains on the van above the exhaust indicate poor combustion and again this can be the result of tail end gas in the bottle. I find that forecourt LPG in the refillables gives more of an issue than say calor. But they vent and evacuate any gas retained in a returned bottle before refilling. So the tail residues don't build up

The same dirty gas gums up regulators, killing them with oily residue

 

[Jack TGA]

Verdict (from three seperate gas techs): it's poor quality LPG for which Turkey and Morroco are renowned apparently. Solution: recommended to buy my LPG from Shell garages here.