I have a 4 year old sterling Europa caravan with a thetford N112 fridge.
I have never used the fridge on gas before, and as we are going away soon to a non electric field, we will need to! The man who serviced my van advised me that he could not get the fridge to work on gas at all, does anyone have any ideas as to why it doesn't work on gas?
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There could be a number of reasons actually and too many to list so you may need an independent engineer to remove it and conduct a full service. A caravan fridge does not come under a standard service and has be done by an independent body experienced in that field but make sure you get different quotes as they can vary considerably.
Hi, the problem is the fact the Fridge has never been used on Gas, you need to get it serviced by a Thetford Approved Engineer, the chances are it will need a new burner. The fridge will have to be removed to carry out a service and MUST resealed when refitted. I always advise my customers who only use 240 volt on site to run up all the appliances on gas several times through the season to avoid this problem.
I have a similar problem with the fridge in my van. It's only 12v and gas unfortunately and sometimes the gas works and sometimes it doesn't. I've had it serviced and apparently there's nothing wrong with it.
Quote: Originally posted by Whatamess on 03/2/2012
I have a similar problem with the fridge in my van. It's only 12v and gas unfortunately and sometimes the gas works and sometimes it doesn't. I've had it serviced and apparently there's nothing wrong with it.
Nora
I had exactly the same problem with my old caravan which drove me insane and I also had a test conducted to be told that there was nothing wrong. After two years of having the problem I was told by an experienced fellow caravanner to leave it standing for half an hour after unhitching. He said that some caravan fridges are temprimental and you just have to wait for the ammonia to settle down again. When towing, the ammonia rocks about in the system and if you try to light it before it settles it just won't light. I did just that and never had a problem afterwards and when I arrived on site I just set everything else up first and just made the fridge the final setup.
The ammonia in the fridge won't make any difference to the lighting, as the 2 never come into contact.
More often it's an airlock or a blocked jet or a burner full of dust.
If it's temperamental it could well be the gas cylinder that needs to settle down.
These fridges run on such a small flame it's vital everything is correct. Also a loose fitting flame failure thermocouple will cause it to go out as soon as it goes onto pilot.
I've had a lot to do with camping & caravanning fridges this past season, I know just how infuriating they can be. The difference with me is I am a competent engineer, so I do all the work myself. I would just echo the recommendations that you employ a proper caravan fridge engineer. They'll be able to put their finger right on it.
The man who serviced my van advised me that he could not get the fridge to work on gas at all, does anyone have any ideas as to why it doesn't work on gas?
The man who installed my 3-way said the same thing about mine. However, after I had given it a good hoover along the bottom and in through the outside vent with a hoover nozzle (gets out all the little spidey webs) it worked fine.
I think he couldn't be bothered to wait to let the gas come through, it takes a while for it to come up to the fridge. If you light the cooker burners this sometimes helps.
Also, you may have a separate gas knob to turn on. Mine is in the cupboard next to the one for the cooker.#
Even after that, you need to get the jet to light, then hold in the gas knob on the fridge for at least a minute before the thermo coupler heats up or it will just go out again.
Somtimes you have to hold it in for more than a minute if there's a bit of damp air in there. Mine is always harder the first time of the season to light on gas.
My Sis had had her caravan for four years before she used the fridge on gas. Regularly serviced I might add, but it took a while and all the above before it kicked in and stayed on....
Hope this is some help, sometimes its easy, sometimes difficult, but try all these before you get a very expensive service engineer out.
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Topic: Thetford fridge on gas - help!
