# Fridge and Furnace Problem



## michaen (Aug 4, 2003)

I have a JAYCO fold down (1997). It's in excellent condition. On a recent trip out west I had little success in using my LP to keep my refigerator cold in between electrical hookups. It seems to cool fine both the freezer and fridge on electric but the LP source for cooling just didn't work well at all. I got my blue flame indicating I had a permanebt flame, but the cooling was very poor . Any ideas or suggestions ??

MY spark ignition furnace would work intermitantly. Sometimes it would ignite to burner..sometimes it wouldn't ?? It so small and hard to get apart to see if I have a spider web or something in there.

It will light for 5 seconds...then go out ???

Help

Mike


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## ARCHER (Aug 4, 2003)

Fridge and Furnace Problem

Mike,
What was the temp out West when you were trying to cool with LP?  There is a little degrading of temp when using LP.  Sounds to me like it was just too hot out to really get cool temp using LP. Check your owners manual to see what it says about temp using LP.
Sounds like the furnace has a blockage and you need to make sure it is clear.  Do you have a thermostat?  Need to make sure it is working correctly.  Check to make sure you air intake and exhaust is not clogged or full of wasps/hornets nest,etc.


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## Ed H. (Aug 4, 2003)

Fridge and Furnace Problem

I would check both for foreign matter. The gas/electric refrigerators usually cool better on gas. The burner may be dirty or the flue passage may be sooted up. 
The furnace sounds like it may also need cleaning. 
One other thought that just came to me is to check the gas pressure. Low pressure might give a flame that looks good on a burner as small as a fridge, but not big enough to do the job. On the furnace, it won't let in enough gas to keep the burner going (the safety system has to sense a certain size flame or it shuts down).
A word of caution, this is a job for an experienced LP gas technition.
Ed


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## michaen (Aug 4, 2003)

Fridge and Furnace Problem

It was warm out....But when I hooked up overnight my electric cooled the fridge/frzr fine ?? Once I switched to gas, and got on the road, rehooked back up that night....the temp has risen 15-20 degrees in the fridge ?? I thought I should recieve roughly the same amount of cooling on LP as on electric ?? I had plenty of gas ?? Was hoping I could check a few things myself b4 going to dealer ??

Furnace does have thermstat...as well as fridge...

I would max oout fridge thermastat all the time. Wanting to recieve maximum cooling at all times.

The furnace worked great last spring. Then one night I heard it trying to light.... You'd hear click, click, click.......the burners would light.....then run for 5 seconds then go out...

This happened continously......

I took the cover off and saw the ignitor sparking....
looked for blockages......but had a hard time seeing all the way inside the burner chamber and small heat exchanger ??

I used to work on these appliances for Sears..

But these are so small...it's hard to trace everything out ???

Thanx


Mike


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## unstable1948 (Aug 25, 2003)

Fridge and Furnace Problem

I am a little late on this, and I don't know anything about gas burners except they do have small holes. Is it possible to try cleaning or clearing the line with a stiff or semi-stiff wire?? With the GAS SHUT OFF of course. In the craft section of fabric stores or in a craft supply store they do sell the wire with the little furry stuff on it that can be used for cleaning out lines. They might be too thick but it never hurts to check it out. They used to call them pipe cleaners. Plain wire might work better. Hope you have fixed your problem. Good Luck & Take Care

 :blush:  Sara


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## duanet (Sep 13, 2003)

Fridge and Furnace Problem

Mike, I just found this forum and hope you have found the problem and fixed it by now.  But if not, I had a similar furnace problem on my 1977 Cobra "A".  When the furnace tries to fire up, there's a little photo cell that looks for a flame, which says it fired up OK and keep the gas flowing.  If the photo cell doesn't "see" the flame, after a few seconds the gas shuts off, even though it has fired up.  Sometimes the photo cell gets covered with carbon.  If you can find it, remove it and gently clean it.  Mine was right up front on the burner box, easy to remove and clean if I recall correctly.

Re the fridge, any unit I have had (3), gas always kept them colder than electricity.  Like the others said, just make sure the burner area and vent stack are clean.  Other than that, good luck.

Duane


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