Lighting
the Dometic 182B Refrigerator
|
|
Written by
Brent Christensen
Santa Barbara, CAProbably one of the most common topics on the Vanagon Mailing List has to do with lighting and using the Dometic 182B refrigerator that comes in the 1980 to 1991 Vanagon Westfalia Camper. Here I try to cover some tips on efficient use of the fridge as well as some ideas on how to get it lit when you are having troubles.
In propane (gas) mode, the Dometic 182B refrigerator works quite well for maintaining things in a cool state. Don't expect to be able to shove a warm 6-pack in there at 4:00 and have cold beer at 5:00 though. Here's my rules of thumb for efficient fridge operation:
- Pre-chill the fridge the night before leaving using 110v.
- Make sure all the goodies you're going to put in there are cold to begin with.
- Don't overfill the fridge - since there is no interior fan (in stock configuration) circulation of cold air off the evaporator is essentially blocked if the fridge is stuffed to the gills.
- Use the fridge just for items you don't want sitting in a pool of ice water at the bottom of a cooler. Examples are meats and cheeses, a quart of milk, and eggs. When camping, I carry drinks and bulky, waterproof stuff in a big rolling ice chest. (also holds the ice for cold drinks)
Simple tip: pre-cooling (heating) the fridge on 110v or 12v makes it easier to light on propane. These buggers are notoriously hard to light, and if yours hasn't been lit in several years, its a good bet it won't be easy the first time you try. Running it on 12v or 110v preheats the column of air in the flue and creates a convective air current that draws fresh oxygenated air into the combustion chamber. (This will make more sense after you have tried lighting it). I can get my fridge to light on the first try every time. Here's what I do:
- Preheat/chill the fridge on electricity for at least 2 hours.
- Open the outside gas valve (don't forget this step!)
- Light the stove and run both burners for about 45 seconds. This draws gas into the lines.
- Turn on the LED panel. Does yours have 4 LED lights on the left side where the water level indicator is? If so, the bottom one is green and tells you when your pilot light is lit. If you don't have this LED, bummer; you'll need to go get a heavy, dark blanket to drape over your head like an old-fashioned photographer while you peer into the lower left corner of the fridge at the puny little sight glass.
- Now set the gas knob to "I", the rocker switch to the "flame" position, and crank the temp knob all the way anti-clockwise (full on)
- Grab the starting pump with the left hand and give it about 5 or 6 quick strokes to put some air in the chamber. Now hold down the pilot button on the right with your other hand while you work the pump. This time, push the pump all the way in on the inward stroke so that you hear a "click" each time. The idea is that you have gas flowing at the pilot light, and you want to simultaneously push fresh air into the chamber and create a spark to ignite the mixture. If you pump too fast, the mixture won't always light. Pump too slow, and the chamber gets "flooded". If you hear a muffled "pop" but get no sustained flame, back off the air and gas a bit - you are creating too much combustion fuel in the chamber and it is blowing itself out.
- Now the tricky part - watch that LED (or the sight glass) for the faintest glimmer of light. If it lights up, stop pumping with your left hand, but HOLD THE GAS ON with your right hand. Give it about 1 minute to completely warm the thermocouple and then let go of the pilot button. If all goes well, the light will stay on, and it is only a matter of time before the fridge is humming along, and won't go out, even at highway speeds. (isn't that ironic?)
Now if it doesn't light within about a dozen or two pump/clicks, let go of everything and wait about 2-3 minutes. Then repeat, starting at #6 above, pushing some fresh air into the chamber before hitting the pilot gas.
If you follow this, the fridge works on electricity, and it still won't light (assuming you have gas in the tank), you likely have one of the following problems (not in any particular order):
- Bad regulator - some people have great luck by simply switching to a Marshall 290 regulator (check with the List on this one, I'm not absolutely sure of the model number)
- Pressure is set incorrectly on the regulator. Mark Drillock did some extensive testing last summer and has some good data on this. Check the archives for his posts from last year about this time.
- Faulty air pump not pushing fresh air into the combustions chamber - repair/replace.
- Clogged jet/orifice - soak overnight in alcohol and blow out with compressed air.
- Foreign material in the combustion chamber. - After 10 or 15 years, I wouldn't be surprised to find a family of critters living in there. One tiny caterpillar caused my fridge to go from 30 degrees to not cooling down past 55 degrees last summer.
- Blocked or improperly aligned flue.
This is one of the reasons I rarely run the fridge on battery power, even though I have auxiliary batteries. That sucker draws something like 7 amps. Instead, run it on propane - it will go for about two weeks between propane fill ups. An exception to this is if you are driving around and will be making frequent stops that are not very long in duration. A rule of thumb that I use is that if I plan to be away from my van for more than an hour, I switch it over to gas and light the fridge.
That is a subject of some debate, and there has been a lot of different methods described by various Vanagon List members. For me the biggest reason to add a fan was to replace the exisiting NOISY one. On hot summer nights, my wife and I would lay there listening to that ^*$&! thing running constantly! So I replaced it with a$30 Fridgemate unit that looks exactly like the stock unit. I fabricated a different mount for it, and wired it to a nifty DPDT paddle switch (from Radio Shack) that is mounted to the front panel of the fridge. Here's what the finished panel looks like.
Being the cheap guy that I am, I didn't want to throw away the other fan that was still running, so I hooked it up to the same switch (and thermistor) so that when the thermistor kicks in I can have either the new fan, both fans, or no fans (for storage/non-camping). I kick on both fans during the day when it is hot and I don't care about the noise. Here's a schematic of the wiring.One other mod I added is a nice digital inside/outside thermometer from Radio Shack which was about $20. you can see that I ran a wire between the cabinet face pieces into the area above the fridge. The wire leads to a probe for the "inside" temp, it is attached it to the side wall of the fridge using an included suction cup mount. (The lead enters the fridge through a small hole that I drilled into the top of the fridge and then sealed with silicone sealant.) The outside temp reading comes from the unit itself, and measures the ambient temp inside the Westy's cabin. (Useful to see what the temp differential is inside your fridge)
Hope this all helps. Most of these ideas were given to me by list members, so I am happy to "give back" to the community.
Brent Christensen
Santa Barbara, CA
'89 GL Syncro Westy
