Dometic fridge fail to relight

[mystere900]

On at least two occasions while traveling in the gas mode the refrigerator flame has extinguished and failed to relight. The way we fine out this has happened is the smell of propane up front in the driver area. The check light comes on eventually and I'm not sure if the gas shuts off at that time. I thought the thermocouple was supposed to shut off the gas supply when the flame goes out to eliminate the chance of fire. Two other factors that may help to diagnose are, the refrigerator works fine on 120 VAC and the problem only seems to happen in humid or wet conditions.

The manufacturer and model number is Dometic NDR 1292

Dometic is no help except to seek a service center.

Thanks to all

(Also posted in Fleetwood Products Owner's Forum)

[RV Wizard]

Roger, are you able to trouble shoot electrical, electronic and lp systems? First I would check the lp gas pressure under a loaded working condition. It should be at 11" water column. The igniter should have a 3/16" gap from tip to burner. You may need to clean the burner and chimney. The lp gas valve on the refrigerator should close if it does not get power from the control board. Let us know if you have checked these points and what you found.

[mystere900]

Mr Wizard,
(I loved to watch that guy when I was young)

I have never used a Manometer to check working pressure so maybe I should do the obvious stuff first. A good cleaning and set clearances is where I will start. Still, the humidity thing is puzzling. When this happened, form Illinois to SD, the only way we could keep the fridge working is on 120 VAC. Rather than run the generator, I ran a extension cord from an outlet powered by the inverter to the electric heating elements of the refrigerator. (about a 5 or 6 amp load) That's not to much for the inverter, is it? It seemed to work OK.

Thanks for the reply,

Roger

[RV Wizard]

If you have a 1500 or 2000 watt inverter; as I suspect you do, no, it will not hurt the inverter. You may find that the high tension wire or the porcelain insulator on the igniter has a crack and the high humidity makes for easier path to ground; shorting out the spark before it reaches to burner.

[mystere900]

It's a 2000 watt inverter so I guess we will continue to use it as a backup when on the move. Great insight on the igniter, sounds likely to be the culprit. Staying in Laughlin where it's going to be in the mid 90's for the next week or so. It's working fine on AC so I'm going to leave well enough alone until the weather cools down some. Don't want to loose a fridge full of food because I screwed something up. Thanks for all the help, will post again when I have more info.