Date:         Sat, 7 Sep 2013 06:37:54 -0700
Reply-To:     Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Dometic -- flame outside burner box, more
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

I have the air mixing, or burner, tube out now. It's about 3'' long. The
brass orifice goes into one end. At the other end are four small slots.
When it is mounted, the end with the slots is inside the burner box and
here is where the little flame happens that makes the refrigerator work.
The other end accepts the orifice. There are also two holes at this end,
one on the upper side, one on the lower side. Air, I reckon, gets sucked
in here to create the proper mixture. When I look into this end, I see
what looks like a white plug about 1/2''. There is a small hole, maybe
3/32'' in diameter in the middle of this white plug. It almost looks
manufactured although the center hole is a bit rough. If I blow on this
end, sealing off the breather holes, there is a lot of resistance.

 From what I've seen on the Internet, the flame in my burner box is
smaller than it should be. Here, for example:

<http://www.popupexplorer.com/forum/index.php?topic=73417.0>

This plus the fact that there is enough gas coming out of the breather
holes suggests that the passageway through the burner tube should be
more open than it is. But this white plug thingy with the hole in it
isn't some spider web -- poking at it, it appears to be some kind of
tough spongy material.

--------------------

Hi, this is probably not super off-topic since what I'm looking at is
likely very similar to what's inside our familiar RM182, so please bear
with me.

I just picked up a used Dometic RC2000 mobile refrigerator. It's about
the size of a small ice chest. It is a three-way unit, just like the
RM182. On electricity it works fine. It probably works fine on propane,
too, but there seems to be an issue.

The piezo clicker is pretty darn tough to click so I opened the little
spy hole on the back and used a butane fireplace lighter to light the
burner. The burner lights, a nice little pilot lamp.

But a small flame popped up outside the burner box. It's coming out of
the vents in the air mixing tube. One end of the tube receives the
propane line. The orifice has got to be around there, too.

I'm guessing that the propane blows through this tube toward the burner
and sucks in air through the vents, creating the proper mixture to burn
on the burner. But it's pretty worrisome that a stray draft of air
causes a flame to pop up out there.

--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
Bend, Ore.