Community Forums

wilson8ford · 09-01-2016, 07:17 AM

My Norcold 1201 LRIM in a 2001 Winnebago Journey DL has been stubborn about staying lit on LP. It will ignite, stay lit about a minute or so, then shut off with the no Fl message. Turn it off, back on, and it it ignites, burns for a minute or so and goes off with the no Fl message. I blow in the burner box with compressed air a couple of times, sometimes repeating the procedure several of times, and it ignites and stays lit. I'd like to clean the burner tube, but Winnebago only left a small access door, and it doesn't look like the burner tube can be accessed without pulling the unit out of the wall, which looks like quite a task. Has anyone tried cleaning the burner tube without pulling the unit?

TonyMac · 09-01-2016, 11:08 AM

Well, if all the other LP users, water heater especially, are working we'll figure it's the fridge. A few too many RVs burnt to the ground due to LRIM fridges, and the fix to the fix to the fix was to put a sensor in the exhaust stack that senses too much heat and shuts off the fridge before it burns the RV to the ground and kills everyone inside. Is your fridge so modified? Look at the exhaust stack insulation. Look for a cutaway section in the insulation near the bottom of the stack. Behind this cutaway is the mod, with a wire running to a small 'fit in the palm of your hand" control box, with more wires running to the fridge.

wilson8ford · 09-02-2016, 05:14 AM

Thanks, TonyMac. It appears that the previsous owner of this MH had carefully attended to all recalls and updates. In this case, there is a sensor on the frig described by others as the updated safety issue. My problem, however, is on startup after sitting for a few days--a couple of weeks. The frig will be working normally when shut down; however, when I prep for a new trip, the frig LP burner will ignite, stay lit for a minute or so, then shut off. If I turn the frig off, I can repeat the start up procedure with the same result. So far I've been able to blow compressed in the ignition chamber a few times and the frig will ignite and stay lit. This is aggrevating and seems to indicate trouble ahead. It just started behaving this way this year. I've read about this in other blogs, and the suggestion seems to be to clean the stack and burner. However, Winnebago left such a small access door that I'm wondering if I can remove the burner to clean it without pulling the frig from the wall and I wonder if anyone else has had that problem and if they had any success at this without pulling the frig.
Again, thanks.

TonyMac · 09-02-2016, 08:17 AM

I'd try to remove the 'fix'. The fix is supposed to shut the fridge off if it senses high temps in the burner, to keep the fridge from catching fire due to high temps. The fix is likely designed to fail safe, shut down the fridge if the fix fails. Remove the fix, if the fridge works, the fix has failed.

Fred and Bonnie · 09-02-2016, 04:07 PM

Sounds like the LP lines need to be bleed prior to lighting the refrigerator. I start with the stove (it's the closest) then front furnace (it's the farthest from the LP source), then go to the water heater, rear furnace, finally the refrigerator. Keep in mind at each location it normally takes 2 or 3 attempts to light.

Fred

wilson8ford · 09-06-2016, 04:43 AM

Thanks for the suggestion, Fred, next time I'll try bleeding the line; however, I don't shut off the LP tank so I'm not sure how air would get in the line since it's pressureized all the time. But, hey, I'll sure try bleeding. I'll also have a look a the device controlling the overheating fix. But I'd still like to clean the burner: what I'm wondering is if anyone has been able to remove it to clean it on a 2001 Winnebago Journey without removing it from the cabinet since Winnebago only left a small, very small, access door. Again thanks for the suggestions.

wilson8ford · 10-10-2016, 06:16 AM

Continuing saga: I was able to remove the sensor/igniter and burner tube by working through the samll service door left by Winnebago, but with large hands it's a chore. I also had to do some creative use of tools. The burner was clean, so that wasn't the problem. The sensor,igniter did not seem burned or damaged, but I ordered and installed a new one. No change--it still ignited, burned for about 30 sec. and extinguished. Removed the control board and found that it had been previously replaced by a Dinasaur board. I removed the board and inspected it for any sign of broken solder joint or damaged part, but did not see any. I've contacted Dinasaur. More later.

mchero · 10-16-2016, 01:08 PM

That sensor should be no further that 1/8 from the burner. Is that sensor in the flame? Do you have a nice healthy looking flame?

wilson8ford · 10-17-2016, 05:48 AM

Thanks. Yes, the flame is bright blue and steady. The igniter/sensor is located correctly--I had to use a mechanic's mirror to inspect both after removing and inspecting the burner tube. The control board had been previously replaced by with Dinosaur board. I contacted Dinosaur and the tech suggested that the secondary windings in the transformer coil might be breaking down and this would give a false flame reading. I ask Dinosaur if they could repair the board or send me a new transformer coil and I still have not receive an answer--on Mondays my interpretation of that silence is cynical. At any rate, I ordered another board, installed it, and the frig works as it should. So, on to the next issue--I'm sure there'll be one.