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 Topic: No gas to fridge or heater
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20/7/2016 at 10:19am
Location: Aberdeen
Outfit: Vango Tahoe 300
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It's a Fleetwood Colchester. The Fridge is an Electrolux - not a 212 but similar.
Anyway, with gas on and isolator valve on, the fridge wont light on gas (works fine on 240v) Should I be able to hear the gas as I'm depressing the dial? Should I be able to see the spark of the igniter through the spyglass?
The heater is exactly the same issue. No sound of gas and won't light.
The water heater works fine, as does the hob - I tried the trick of lighting a ring to pull through the gas.
Unfortunately I'm going away for a month next week to a site with no EHU. I have time to "poke about" but certainly not sufficient to remove the fridge, nor the physical strength.
I've taken off the bottom vent outside. If the burner is as easy to get to as mentioned in another post, then I can have a look. Without access to an air line, I'd look to try an air duster.
I've taken the front off the heater (Can't recall the make, it's not Carver) and cleared out accumulated dust and debris. I'm not sure how much more to do with it.
Is it common for both the fridge and heater to have problems? I'd have thought that if it had spent it's life on EHUs, then the water heater would have been the first to go.
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20/7/2016 at 10:54am
Location: Scotland
Outfit: None Entered
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Have you tried tracing the gas pipes back from each of the appliances to ensure that there are no isolating valves which have been turned off?
Best of luck,
John.
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mm48j
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20/7/2016 at 11:39am
Location: Aberdeen
Outfit: Vango Tahoe 300
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I had fun on my back yesterday tracing them - tar planings are really comfortable! The supply comes from the front:
T off to water heater
T off to rear of van (kitchen)
Terminates at heater
Inside cupboard of kitchen are three isolators. Fridge pipe identified, switched on and off several times.
Fridge pipe then doubles back under van.
So, both fridge and heater are at the ends of the pipe runs - though not on the same run.
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20/7/2016 at 3:16pm
Location: Scotland
Outfit: None Entered
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In the past I have had debris covering the pilot light of a fridge preventing ignition. You could try fitting a small pipe to the end of vacuum hose to make sure pilot light jet is clear. It could also be a similar problem with the fire. If nothing is obvious, for your own peace of mind, it may be better to have them seen to by a qualified gas fitter.
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mm48j
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20/7/2016 at 3:46pm
Location: Herts. UK
Outfit: Bailley Cartagena. Land Rover Discover
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On the Outandabout website there is a posting on the lighting sequence for for RM212 that makes reference to depressing the correct knob until the fail safe is operational which then allows the gas flow and ignition.
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20/7/2016 at 8:41pm
Location: Aberdeen
Outfit: Vango Tahoe 300
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Thanks for the suggestions.
I was wondering about the option of using a vacuum. It's certainly worth a try.
The RM212 is the closest I found to mine with lighting instructions. I followed them and kept the knob depressed as I tried the igniter to no avail.
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21/7/2016 at 6:23pm
Location: None Entered
Outfit: Coachman Pastiche
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If you can get to the gas pipe where it connects to the fridge, you could cover it with washing up liquid and slacken the union half a turn. If there is gas there, you should get bubbles blowing through the washing up liquid. Make sure to retighten the union afterwards.
With the bottom vent removed, have you tried lighting the gas with a match? Can you see the spark when you press the ignitor? You should be able to see it, but it's not always easy, especially if it's sunny.
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21/7/2016 at 7:45pm
Location: Scottish Borders
Outfit: Elddis Whirlwind GT
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Simple question but, are you sure that you have the correct "on" position of the isolator taps. The "T" shaped part of the tap should point along the pipe that runs to the fridge and heater. And are holding the heater fridge gas control "down" while you press the ignighter giving time for the gas to reach the burner then continuing to hold down to allow the thermocouple to heat up. Sorry if this is basic but I have been caught out with the same thing with my isolator taps. Otherwise as previously advised by DaveCoaches check for gas flow. Good luck.
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Doug
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22/7/2016 at 2:55pm
Location: Aberdeen
Outfit: Vango Tahoe 300
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I haven't been able to try the lighting from outside yet. Hopefully I'll get someone to give me an extra pair of hands over the weekend. No I can't see a spark in the window, which was one of the things that confounded me. I "might" have expected to have a spark and no gas or vice versa.
Now the shut off valve confused me. I'm familiar with plumbing where an isolator points 'on' in the direction of the tap. On mine, it seems to be opposite. There are three taps under the sink: Hob, oven, fridge. All were pointing perpendicular to the pipe run. To me, that'd mean they were all off but the hob works in that position. I rechecked it wasn't residual gas in the pipe by turning its tap the other way and it went off.
The back side of the pipework is VERY rusty. It might be a lost cause.
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22/7/2016 at 4:12pm
Location: Sussex
Outfit: 2007 Eriba Triton 430GT
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My 3 isolators are in a manifold with the supply coming verticalliy in the bottom. The 3 outlets go out horizontally. The isolators are "on" in the horizontal position.
I suggest you set your isolators the same as your hob since that works.
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22/7/2016 at 10:12pm
Location: Aberdeen
Outfit: Vango Tahoe 300
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Right, I've confirmed that there is definitely no spark. My other van that I'm selling, I checked on and the spark is clearly visible.
Am I right in thinking, that when I get an extra pair of hands, that the igniter (piezo long reach) should be aimed at the back of the viewing window? The way that the outside vent has been placed, makes getting to the burner very difficult. The only way, would be from the side and dismantling the seating ply
Could the heater be lit manually as well? Though it does look fairly enclosed
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23/7/2016 at 11:46am
Location: Sussex
Outfit: 2007 Eriba Triton 430GT
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I can't see the spark on mine through the viewing window but it works OK
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23/7/2016 at 12:28pm
Location: Aberdeen
Outfit: Vango Tahoe 300
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Thanks so far for all the replies. It gives me a better understanding as to what is involved. Bearing that in mind and with time ticking, I have a side question....
I know this has been asked in various forms, but I'm coming at it from a different angle. If I ran the fridge on 12v..... Yeah it's all been asked before but if I explain my power setup.
2 x 53ah batteries connected in parallel within battery compartment. connected through zag.
1 x 145ah battery on quick disconnects, to allow changing over from the other two.
2 x 100w 12v solar panels routed through a charge controller with two outputs: Battery and Load.
The original intention had been to connect the 145 as the Load and the pair as the battery. Thereby keeping everything topped up nicely.
What if I took the 7s input that would normally be from the tow car and routed the "load" to the fridge? This would only work in daylight of course but would not risk draining my batteries. It's not like I'm making ice lollies in the fridge, and I could supplement the cooling by using the site's icepack exchange.
If only I could sneak in my 2.2kw generator to the site!
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23/7/2016 at 8:19pm
Location: West country
Outfit: Mondeo
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The mains element of the fridge is around 120watts so 10A at 12 volt. The 12 volt element is less probably around 60watts so only 5 amp. As the 12volt element is so small it will be on all the time and will probably not keep the fridge very cold. You could no doubt add a second element but will increase the consumption.
2 x 53Ahr batteries discharging to around 50% is 53 AHr so only 10 hours life excluding any other usage.
2 x 100W solar panels out put 200W in IDEAL conditions. June and July you might get near it, other months much less so. April & Septemb er probably 8-n or 90W. This will not be for 24 hours. Zero at night, low in morning, growing to a peak around mid day then falling back to zero again.
You will not always have ideal conditions, some days will be overcast/raining.
This is the predicted monthly output of a 245kW system we have just installed. (This is 245,000W). Yours will be a lot less.
Columns are
month
% of yearly production
Production per month (kWh)
January 2.79% 6,446
February 4.43% 10,235
March 8.28% 19,130
April 10.93% 25,252
May 13.15% 30,381
June 13.25% 30,612
July 12.96% 29,942
August 12.09% 27,932
September 9.72% 22,457
October 6.52% 15,063
November 3.81% 8,802
December 2.07% 4,782
Total 100.00% 231,034
Why not just use gas like everyone else
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