cstevejohn Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Please excuse my ignorance but I'm new to the RV world and I have an 84 Coachmen with a refrigerator that can switch from electric to propane. I haven't used the propane option because I don't have a manual and quite frankly I don't want to blow myself up. My question is do I need to just switch the refrigerator to propane and open the propane tank valve or do I have to light a pilot light somewhere? Also, is there safe way to test for any propane leaks? Possibly a tester/gauge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linda s Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 There are a couple of buttons down there you need to push to light it. Turn propane on. Get propane into the lines if it has not been used by lighting the stove and letting it burn just for a few momments. Then turn fridge to propane. There is a little thing down there that you can look through all the way to the left to see if it has lit. Find 2 buttons just to the right of that place and hold the button on the right in while pushing the button on the left. repeatedly like lighting a barbeque. it is a pezio lighter just like that. When you see it light hold the button on the right down for at least 20 or 30 seconds for the thermocouple to warm and it will stay lit. If it doesn't work and stay lit turn evetything off and wait 5 minutes and start the whole process again. If you don't see any spark at all the pezio is not working and it may need service Linda S If it's leaking propane you will be able to smell it One other thing. Outside propane must be all the way off or all the way on. halfway can leak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiter Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Steve, I'll assume your frig is similar to mine.In order to work on gas or elec, the frig needs to be reasonably level.I turn on the propane at the tank, then usually will light one of the stove burners just to purge the lines (make sure there is propane in them) This procedure is identical to lighting a pilot light at home.I select LP on my frig, then I hold the override button in and click the ignition button to light the pilot flame (boiler). My frig has a small window port that I can see the flame to verify the frig has lite. Its not a very good window so it kind of needs to be dark to see the flame in the window. Similar to the pilot light on an old water heatre, the override button overides the safety feature that turns the gas off if the flame goes out. Obviously you need to hold that button in for a few seconds after the boiler lights. The clicker button causes a spaark that should ignite the gas. In wierd cases, you can manually ligt th e frig from th outside, you'll need a helper to hold the button in, then use one of those long fireplace lighters to light the pilot flame. Get the model numbers off your appliances, and Google around and find the manuals. Most of the operation manuals you'll be able to find in the files section of this site otr the Yahoo group. Good luck and welcome to the forums. John Mc 88 Dolphin 4 Auto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Please excuse my ignorance but I'm new to the RV world and I have an 84 Coachmen with a refrigerator that can switch from electric to propane. I haven't used the propane option because I don't have a manual and quite frankly I don't want to blow myself up. My question is do I need to just switch the refrigerator to propane and open the propane tank valve or do I have to light a pilot light somewhere? Also, is there safe way to test for any propane leaks? Possibly a tester/gauge? If you smell, or think you smell a propane leak - some dish-degergent mixed up in some water is an excellent leak detector. Just spray, brush, or pour it over any joints and wait for the presence of bubbles. Some gas refrigerators need some coaxing to get going. If it lights OK when holding the override button in, you've gotten to step 1. Next is to get it so when you let the button go -the pilot light stays on. If not, do it all over again. The burinng pilot light has to heat up a metal bulb that eventually sends signal to the gas valve to "turn on." Takes longer on some othen others. A lot depends on the size of the pilot flame and how well it is pointed to the sensor (thermocouple) bulb. I have had to take apart many that had sat and cleaned out the pilot light jet to get a decent flame. Some newer refrigerators have electronic ignition but most use a manually lit pilot light. Either a remote Piezo lighter (push button) or old fashioned "light with a match." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5Toyota Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 WELCOME TO YOU ON MY FRIG I CAN OPEN THE OUTSIDE DOOR YOU CAN FEEL IT START TO GET HOT I CAN SEE THE FLAME THROUGH A CRACK OR TOO THE INSIDE VIEWER SHOULD GLOW BLUE AT NITE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek up North Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Get the model numbers off your appliances, and Google around and find the manuals. Best selection I've found:- http://bryantrv.com/docs.html And something you'll hopefully never need:- http://www.gasrefrigeration.net/dom_techdata/AES_SM.PDF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apierro36 Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 So does the fridge still draw power when it's on LP mode? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiter Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 No, (maybe) Some of the newer automatic switchover units do, but ods are good, you don't have one of these. John Mc 88 Dolphin 4 Auto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 So does the fridge still draw power when it's on LP mode? If it has electronic ignition it will use a small amout of electric power when in LP mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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