Date:         Tue, 19 May 2009 21:04:12 -0500
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Fridge blows out while driving....
In-Reply-To:  <029001c9d8ec$c6daa870$6401a8c0@PROSPERITY>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

David is right. It shouldn't go out. The fridge sucks on 12V, and at
night with the lights on and in the driving rain and with fans going
it sucks even worse.

I use my camper a lot, I spend about a month every year in it. I put
up with the fridge blowing out even if I drove across a parking
lot--for five years. Last fall I pulled the fridge to put in some seat
tracks in the back, and while I did I took some time to look at the
blowing out problem.

I found two things wrong. The corrugated tubes that attach to the vent
had a duplicate piece of hardware installed. The chunk of metal that
the fridge vent screws into was screwed into a second, identical
piece, and that second piece was what the fridge vent was screwed
into. I removed the outer one.

The next thing I did was remove the bottom of the combustion chamber
to clean it out. Turns out it was clean as a whistle, but someone had
serviced it way back when and let a screw fall into a hole in the
bottom of the pan, plugging it. I took that out.

Since that day, in howling crosswinds and driving rain, over many
thousands of miles of operations, it has not gone out, even once.

You probably are not going to have the same weird conditions, but you
will have something. Dirt, mud daubers, something. Be sure to take the
bolt out that sticks out from under the fridge and blow back into it
with an air hose, that's the first line of defense. But something
isn't right.

Jim

On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 8:46 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans
<scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
> "85 mph in a fierce crosswind" in a vanagon  equals death......or almost
> death, or can.
> And someone might want to 'test' their fridge staying lit under those
> conditions.?   .
> .......at least, driving at 85 ,mph  in a severe crosswind , I sure wouldn't
> want the propane system on !
> lol.
> :-)
> .
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David Beierl" <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 6:17 PM
> Subject: Re: Fridge blows out while driving....
>
>
>> At 09:02 PM 5/19/2009, jon wrote:
>>>
>>> It's "normal" for the fridge to blow out during driving. In all three of
>>> the Vanagon Westies I've owned, I've had that experience.
>>
>> It may be normal, but it's not correct.  If everything is truly
>> sealed up it will stay lit at 85 mph in a fierce crosswind.
>>
>> I think the O-rings at the top are the most commonly neglected leak
>>
>>
>>  --
>> David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
>> '89 Po' White Star "Scamp"
>