gas injector on 3 way fridge

[Guest bill]

I found it very interesting all the messages about the problem with the gas being lit but the flame not big enough to cool the fridge. I have managed to clean out the burner by various methods such as puffing air from a hand pump up it, tapping it by the burner and blowing air down the chimney. I have improved the situation and it works fairly well now although not as good as the mains or 12 volt. The trouble I had was in finding a thin enough wire to poke up through the extremely small hole in the injector. I tried an e string off my acoustic guitar which is about a tenth of a millimeter but even that wouldn't go up. Anybody got any tips for this?

[Guest Frank Gordon]

Because the aperture size of a fridge's gas-jet is critical for proper operation of the appliance, cleaning it by poking something through it should never be attempted. When a fridge is professionally serviced the gas-jet will normally be replaced as a matter of course A new jet costs very little, but the type of jet does vary according to the model of fridge. (That's the 'official' advice. In fact, I think I recall being told that a stiff bristle might be used to try to clear a clogged jet, but you really shouldn't use a hard material like wire.)

[Guest bill]

Thank you for that swift reply Frank. I don't seem to have done any damage but I'm glad to know about that. I suppose the same is true for the carver trumatic gas fire as well, the size of the hole in the jet being critical. When the fire started burning very poorly I had it serviced and the engineer said that all he did was to give it a clean out. Presumably he cleaned the jet. I will only use a bit of air from my bicycle pump in future, that seemed to do the trick with the fridge anyway.

[Guest Frank Gordon]

Dunno about the heater as the burner design is significantly different to a fridge's. I would guess that, as gas-flow through the heater's burner will be vastly greater than for a fridge, the 'hole' will necessarily be much larger and its size likely to be less critical. The main problem with fridges running on gas is that soot and clinker builds up in the chimney and (rather like a house chimney) this eventually falls down into the 'fire' below and, in the fridge's case, blocks the gas-jet. If this happens, blowing air at the burner may clear the blockage temporarily, but the long-term cure is (again like a house) to 'sweep' the chimney. Unfortunately, with many leisure-vehicle fridge installations, this action is impossible without removing the fridge from its enclosure. Suggest you invest in "The Caravan Manual" (Haynes Publishing) - essential reading for all caravanners in my opinion - as this contains a large section on fridge maintenance (plus info on heaters, gas, water, electricity, awnings, chassis, towing, etc. etc.)

[Guest Bertiebrooke]

QUOTE:I tried an e string off my acoustic guitar which is about a tenth of a millimeter but even that wouldn't go up. Anybody got any tips for this? I used a single strand of electroncs hook up wire that used to be called 7/0076 (there must be a metric equivalent these days) That was thin enough. I have been told by a very savvy old time engineer that boiling the jet in water will clean it but I havent needed to try that yet.