Brians dad Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 I do not often run my Electrolux fridge on gas, but when I did so recently, I have noticed a sooty deposit around the top vent which houses the flue. I guess this means the burner needs attention and adjustment. It is not something I am prepared to fiddle with myself, so I am looking to take it into a dealer to look at it. I rang up one place, who told me that when they service fridges, they charge 4 hours labour. I suppose this is for taking the whole thing out and doing a full service. Can anybody advise - if it is just the gas burner that needs cleaning and tweaking, can this be accessed from the vents on the outside of the van? I am reluctant to go for the full works if all it needs is a quick clean and the flame adjusting, especially as the fridge is otherwise working well on all 3 methods. I guess that it is not even a serious problem, just lower efficiency and a slightly unsightly vent cover where a bit of soot settles. I would be pleased to hear from anyone else who has had this problem, and how easy the solution was. Thanks in advance to any respondents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billggski Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Just had my flue cleaned (!) one hour labour. He said he gets a piece of electrical flex and frays the wire to make a brush and pushes it through, OK he knows what he's doing, but it could be worth a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 If you are getting sooty deposits the flame is not burning correctly, if you look at the burner you will probably see a yellow flame instead of a nice clean blue one. This also means it's probably producing carbon monoxide although not generally dangerous as the flame is so small. There is no burner adjustment, a fridge service is simple, remove the burner and clean usually held in with a single self tapper, change the jet, not worth trying to clean them unless you have access to an air line, on the newer fridges the jet is held in by the gas connection undo the gas pipe and the jet drops out, a new one is about £10. Clean out the chimney and clean the baffle in the chimney. The chimney being sooted up is quite often the cause of the sooty deposit on the van. Labour times tend to be high as the only access without taking the fridge out is via the vents so it's a time consuming fiddly job, I did my last van and that had the big vents still took all afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Billggski - 2014-11-04 6:13 PM Just had my flue cleaned (!) one hour labour. He said he gets a piece of electrical flex and frays the wire to make a brush and pushes it through, OK he knows what he's doing, but it could be worth a try. Need to cover or remove the burner first otherwise you end up with soot clogging up the burner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artheytrate Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I would try and remove the bottom vent and vacuum around the burner as there is usually soot deposits, dust and debris lying around that causes the fridge to burn yellow. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 lennyhb - 2014-11-04 6:20 PM Billggski - 2014-11-04 6:13 PM Just had my flue cleaned (!) one hour labour. He said he gets a piece of electrical flex and frays the wire to make a brush and pushes it through, OK he knows what he's doing, but it could be worth a try. Need to cover or remove the burner first otherwise you end up with soot clogging up the burner. How easy it will be to ‘sweep’ the flue of an Electrolux/Dometic fridge will depend on the model of fridge and how it has been installed. Before sweeping can take place the baffle that hangs inside the flue will need to be removed and, before the baffle can be removed, the top section of the flue will need to be removed. Removing the flue’s top section may be possible wth the fridge remaining in situ if there’s an upper ventilation-grille in the right place. Similarly, cleaning the burner will be possible if there’s a lower ventilation-grille in the right place. With my Hobby’s 7-Series Dometic fridge/freezer I used to sweep the flue using a variant of the method described by Billggski. In my case, after removing the flue’s top section, the baffle and the burner assembly (the Hobby had BIG ventilation-grilles) I used a home-made ‘brush’ made up from a length of multi-strand galvanised wire with a spiky ball of wire part-way along its length. I used to pull the wire up and down through the flue from the top and bottom, finishing off by pulling a rag through the flue (a bit like using a ‘pull-through’ on a .303 rifle). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevina Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 I've just cleaned mine with a compressed air line up the bottom. I'd swept the bottom half and shaken the baffle but the screw to remove the T piece cap is totally inaccessible even for my skinny arms. I started to remove the 4 fixing screws but they sheared where the fridge skin had cut into the screw. Compressed airline was very effective but make sure all windows closed (ooops), however some soot will find its way in around the fridge seal. We've been using lpg for 4 years in UK, Germany, Austria, Italy and not had a problem but the last 1 year on French gpl (including several weeks skiing) has brought on a bad smell from the flue and the soot build up. I also changed both secumotion hoses and found the one from the refillable bottle (the othr is propane) had a little "oil" at both end threads but when cut the hose interior seemed ok. Also, once sooted-up even burning clean propane gave rise to the smell so my conclusion is that the fridges with the T cap and baffle are prone to sooting up when using French gpl which contains some oily stuff and which cakes the top of the flue with an "oily soot". From what I've read I think some foreign butane bottles can cause the same problem. For the record my flame is burning blue and is fine. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 kevina - 2014-11-06 4:06 PM We've been using lpg for 4 years in UK, Germany, Austria, Italy and not had a problem but the last 1 year on French gpl (including several weeks skiing) has brought on a bad smell from the flue and the soot build up. I also changed both secumotion hoses and found the one from the refillable bottle (the othr is propane) had a little "oil" at both end threads but when cut the hose interior seemed ok. Also, once sooted-up even burning clean propane gave rise to the smell so my conclusion is that the fridges with the T cap and baffle are prone to sooting up when using French gpl which contains some oily stuff and which cakes the top of the flue with an "oily soot". From what I've read I think some foreign butane bottles can cause the same problem. For the record my flame is burning blue and is fine. Kev That's interesting to hear, when we brought our last van our Belgium dealer told us not to fill up on French gas it's dirty. Have also met one couple on our travels who said there their Fridge had sooted up badly and stopped working while in France, they had filled up on French gas. So looks like I have been wise avoiding French gas. In the Dometic instructions for our RMD8505 in the current van it says "When using LPG gas the burner needs cleaning 2 - 3 times a year" - Is this to cover themselves in France? On the last van I always tried to fill up in the UK as gas is 100% propane, I serviced the fridge after 3 years, needn't have bothered everything was clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickt Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 I understand the French mix Butane and Propane together in the summer months, is this true and could this be the reason for sooting.Saying that I have been filling up in France for some years and not had that problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 France and other countries vary the mix of propane/butane throughout the year, I think it can be up to 50% in the summer and 90% propane in winter, but this would not have any effect on the sooting, that I believe is down to the amount of oil in the gas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brians dad Posted November 8, 2014 Author Share Posted November 8, 2014 Thanks everyone for your advice and observations - it is always useful to be armed with some facts when talking to mechanics. If the guy servicing my fridge comes out with bruised knuckles, I will know he has accessed the burners through the vents. Also good to know about potentially dodgy French gas - you pick up some wonderful nuggets of information on this forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artheytrate Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Just thought for a Sooty exhaust wouldn't you use a Sweep. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wirralian Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 After several winters here in Spain and using Spanish gas, this year I have just had an emergency service on my Thetford fridge because of exessive emmision of carbon monoxide from thr flue. The cause was a heavy residue of soot. My last two fills of lpg have been from the same Repsol station in Palencia. Is this significant I wonder? John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 Could be, only way of knowing is if you know other people who have had problems with Spanish gas. Could also be the gas air mix not correct and the soot has built up over a period of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billggski Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Could raise an issue of servicing intervals, I have my lpg boiler at home serviced every year as recommended. Should we do the same with our heating system and fridges, less use I know, but I have no record of the previous owner having it done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wirralian Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 My experience has got other people wondering about having their fridges serviced. My van is now 7 yrs old and apart from a new power board this the first tme the fridge has been seen to even though I have a regular habitation service, which does not include the fridge. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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