Refrigerator on Propane Won't Stay Lit

Topic: Refrigerator on Propane Won't Stay Lit (Read 302 times) previous topic - next topic

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May 16, 2021, 08:59:41 pm

Hi On way home from Florida and recently noticed the refrigerator works fine on shore power but once unplugged and goes over to gas after 30-60 sec light for check goes on. Fuse in panel looks good, checked board and seems getting power. Any ideas, have a 2017 MB. Thanks

Re: Refrigerator on gas

Reply #1 – May 16, 2021, 09:29:20 pm

The 'Check' light means the gas flame won't stay lit. That occurred to me the other day and the cause was some debris was on the burner preventing a good flame. Sometimes it can be some small flakes of chimney rust or just what blows in from the road. Try taking an air hose and throughly blow out the burner area and all under the box. That worked for me.

Re: Refrigerator on gas

Reply #2 – May 16, 2021, 09:33:10 pm

I concur with Mike. Spiders sometimes investigate the propane burner (propane can apparently attracts spiders) and leave silk and other contaminants. The same thing can happen to the hot water heater.

Re: Refrigerator on gas

Reply #3 – May 16, 2021, 09:50:34 pm

Thanks so much, tomorrow’s project 👍

Re: Refrigerator on gas

Reply #4 – May 16, 2021, 10:08:42 pm

Hi Molly, Was the propane turned off at the tank recently? If the propane lines have air get into the lines, it can take awhile for propane to get back to the refrigerator burner in the correct proportion to burn. Depending on your floorplan in relation from the tank to your refrigerator, and the routing of the lines; you can just relight it a few times. Turn the refrigerator on, it will spark a few times then turn on the check light. Turn it off and on a few times, it should eventually relight ok. You might want to check with a stove burner that you aren't out of propane, and that the tank is turned on.
Once I had trouble getting my refrigerator to light. I opened the access panel, and there was a large spider sitting on the burner. Propane is odorless, but the ethyl mercaptan used to odorize gas does attract insects. So I lit the burner by hand with a lighter. RonB

Re: Refrigerator on gas

Reply #5 – May 16, 2021, 10:37:15 pm

We were working on a similar problem today. Our refrigerator works fine on shore power, but would not stay lit on propane. The burner had a consistent blue flame, but it would shut off after 30 seconds. We checked the LP, it was fine. We sanded the burner and the gas feeder tube with some fine sand paper and cleaned the area. That seemed to solve the problem for us. If that doesn't do it for you, you may need a new control board, but that's a last resort.