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I Found This In A Propane Line


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I finally took my fridge out to see if it works ok out of the camper (it seems like it does), and when I disconnected the propane line, this fell out. Just right out from where the propane line of the camper threads onto the fridge. Any idea what it is?? I used my keys for scale. Couldn't get a good closeup of it; for some reason my camera just wouldn't focus on it.

post-6535-0-66643400-1417813105_thumb.jp post-6535-0-67333400-1417813124_thumb.jp

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See if it fits in the refer inlet. If it does maybe its SHIPPING PLUG. If it is then maybe why the refer didn't work.

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It's not hollow like that one. I thought it was plastic or rubber but it almost seems like a really dense cigarette filter. Kind of like that material. Either way it sure looks like a plug.

I kind of wondered, but then the fact that it worked great for 4 months is strange...but maybe it was knocked out of place just enough, and then somewhere along the line got bumped and blocked off the gas? I don't know. The back of the fridge was plenty hot when it was running on propane, but not cooling things.

Either way...the fridge works great on AC. I had to do a partial tear down of new cabinets to get the thing out (live and learn...of course when I put things together and every appliance was brand new I figured I'd never have to take things out again), so we'll see when I get around to it. Possibly spring...but who knows. And it'll be hard to see how well the fridge is working when it's 20 degrees outside.

So..I'll put it back in, and probably do a better job of installing it this time, and put a vent a bit above the back of it like the directions tell me to.

Yeah, pretty crazy if that is a shipping plug. I mean I'm not going to claim to be experienced and, well...even all that observant a lot of the time, but you'd think I would have seen that...the fact that they didn't make it extremely obvious, and impossible to hook up the gas line without taking out, is kinda lame.

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I sent those photos to Dometic and even though their response was waaay too fast and so I kind of doubt a qualified person actually looked at them, they said they are unable to identify that part, and that it's not something that would have come with the fridge for any reason.

So they just want me to see how it works now. Of course, same issue. It's winter. Once I install it back in my camper, it's out in 20 degree weather, so there's really no realistic way to test it until it heats back up in the spring, or I make friends with someone with a giant garage to pull into, and wait until there is absolutely no salt on the roads...

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Is it oily? Seems like it should be some type of filter. What is the module number of the fridge?

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It's looking like there is some sort of cotton filter in the propane line, which might be part of the thermostat. I'm wondering if it somehow got knocked loose and worked its way all the way to the end of the line? I'm not sure I want to run my fridge without that. So anyway, I'm going to keep bugging Dometic to see what they say.

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Found a couple of references to a little cotton filter used by Dometic

"One last thing. The Dometics use a little cotton filter in the propane line, just before the safety valve, or maybe it's just before the temp adjust valve. I wonder if your fridge has one, and if it does, is it partially blocked with crud?"

"austinado16:
There is probably a filter just up stream from the fridge gas valve, or on the inlet side of the fridge gas safety valve. It's a little white "cotton" thing that looks like the filter on a cigarette. It's about the diameter of a BB and maybe 3/16-1/4" long"

You need to nail Dometic down on this one. They should know what the blank they stick in their propane lines. Who knows, it might have been dangerous if it was placed wrong

Linda S

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Exactly! Thanks Linda.

Yeah I found a couple very vague references to filters in some Dometic guides, but it was in some other RV forum where I found the reference to the cotton filter, and they mentioned finding the part number online. So I googled my fridge and replacement parts catalogue or something like that, and found a part number.

I emailed that part # to Dometic asking them to find an image of that part for me. Pretty lame that they just took a few minutes with my email and decided "nope, we don't have any part that looks like your photos".

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Like I already mentioned, it's like a cigarette filter, or maybe a bit more dense, and either cotton or a synthetic similar to cotton. I don't know enough about gas and porosity to make a call on whether gas will pass through it.

I just know it was in my propane line...And I'm guessing it fell out of a part on the Dometic side of the set up, and not my campers gas lines.

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No problem Derek.

Well, Karin...you'd sure think so. However I've spent quite a bit of time searching, modifying my search, looking at diagrams etc. Nothing shows this filter, that I can find. It shows where it is, but not the actual filter.

But we can both just let Dometic do the work for us, here. At this point since they dismissed my question so quickly at first, I'm just going to make sure they do the rest of the work for me, now. I'm having them send me an image of this filter.

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I'd like to see a photo of this thing resembling a cigarette filter used in a propane line. I've had a lot of propane control-valve and thermostats apart and I've never seen such a thing. On the valves I've had apart from Dometics - there were either fine mesh screens or stone filters to filter propane. Sometimes just before the propane shut-off valve incorporated into a brass fitting, or at the inlet to the thermostat. I HAVE seen cotton used as a air-vent filter in control valves. Had nothing to do with propane flow.

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This image shows the propane filter I'm referring too. Built into a brass fitting on Dometics and item # 12 in the diagram. The ones I've seen had either mesh or a stone-element. Not gauze. But I have not seen them all. I have found gauze filters in many older burner-heads.

post-6578-0-23811300-1418048701_thumb.jp

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Like Zack says there doesn't seem to be a photo of this thing anywhere. Here's a parts diagram. Page 6 item #477

http://www2.dometic.com/d5cc849a-fb08-49a0-a703-d488f773cf9e.fodoc

Part number is 2923191007 and it's labeled as a gas filter. I can find replacement ones online but no pictures of it that I can find. Oops I take that back. Found a pic.

http://repuestosnuhima.com/tienda/images/Art_2923191007.jpg

Linda S

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Good job Linda you found it! It only makes sense that it would have some type of filter there are some really little parts to plug up inside.

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Dometic is kind of playing dumb with me and saying they don't have any images of that part, just "the diagram I have". Not sure what diagram they're talking about. But every email is worded as though it's the last word in the conversation. "Thanks, we can't help, have a nice day".

Either way...I sent them an "I'm beginning to loose my patience" email and asked to be put in touch with someone with actual technical knowledge. So we'll see where that goes.

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The company that made the Dometic branded refrigerators in our RVs has been out of the refrigerator business for a long time. So it seems asking questions about older refrigerators to a company that bought them out - could be a little "iffy." Certainly is for other divested companies I've tried to get archival info from.

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