3 way fridge question

Submitted: Saturday, Feb 19, 2011 at 21:12
ThreadID: 84474 Views:3584 Replies:4 FollowUps:1
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Hi all,
This is my first post, thanks in advance to any and all help anyone can give.

We recently bought a new (old) van. Its fridge works like a treat on electricity, not so well on gas. I know this has been asked prob a million times before, and i have read much advice on here already, so i wont ask the same questions. I will provide some info on what ive done and under what conditions it does work on gas below, but my main question is:-

In the fridge, or rather the freezer i guess, are two tubes. My old van only had one. These two tubes are arranged like a horizontal 'U' shape. One smaller, and the bigger one goes around the smaller one. Only the middle, smaller one gets cold, the other eventually gets cool, but only from the ambient temp in the fridge as it cools down it seems. In fact it seems to get warmer in the shorter run. Does anyone know if this is normal, or if the both should be getting cold?




OK, so here is some more info. The fridge sometimes seemed to work on gas when i has pulled it forward and after taking off the outside panel had access to another panel on the back of the fridge itself, which i then took off, exposing the burner flame. Like this is seemed to work ok, but its obviously not a realistic option to use it like that outside of testing situation, ie no family inside sleeping.

The flame burns nice and blue, even with that cover on (it can be seen through a looking glass in the back of the fridge), but i have no idea how big or small one of these flames should actually be.

I have checked the chimney thing, the baffle is still in place, given the actual burner a blow out and suck with a vacuum cleaner, as much as i could get it to fit that it, which wasnt very well, it wouldnt have done a great deal. It is pretty hard to get it off to clean it properly, which i believe should be a soak in some alcohol variety, cant remember which off the top of my head.

The model number of the fridge is hard to make good sense of, i could attach a pic if it would tell anyone something, but basically it read:
British Domestic Appliances LTD
Type: 7306/98
Seems clear enough, but i cant find a single mention of the the brand anywhere on ye old google.

Anywho, be well!
Yaren

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Reply By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Saturday, Feb 19, 2011 at 23:54

Saturday, Feb 19, 2011 at 23:54
British Domestic Appliances
120 Ramilles Close, London, SW2 5DQ
phone: 02086786231

Cheers
Allan

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AnswerID: 446000

Reply By: Member - Bruce C (NSW) - Sunday, Feb 20, 2011 at 08:14

Sunday, Feb 20, 2011 at 08:14
Hi Yaren,

These three way fridges work on the same system as the old kero fridges.

They can get sediments in them and one of the best things you can do when they start to play up is to tip them end over end a few times then let them settle before putting them back into operation. This action redistributes the sediments and allows the fridge to work properly again.

This may bot be the problem in this case as you say it works well on electricity.

The electricity only fires an element, in most 3 way fridges, which does the same job as the flame.

Hope this helps,
Bruce.
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restless and lost on a track that I know. HL.

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AnswerID: 446010

Follow Up By: landed eagle - Sunday, Feb 20, 2011 at 09:39

Sunday, Feb 20, 2011 at 09:39
Fridge needs to be as level as possible too. Is the van out of level ?
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FollowupID: 718328

Reply By: MarkSom - Sunday, Feb 20, 2011 at 13:18

Sunday, Feb 20, 2011 at 13:18
Gday Yaren, got Jayco 3 way in van, cheapie 3 way in car, ours both work better on gas, get flame as small & regular as possible, keep checking it.As said keep level, & shake & roll fridge if possible.Almost critcial to have good ventilation on cooling (actually heating) coils.Installed cooling ventilation fan in van fridge void, worked a treat on Chrissie holidays for 10days at beach.....these fridges dont like being opened often,we use one for food,one for drinks,yell at the kids for opening door & staring"I dont know what I want". We run ours couple of days before a trip & pre freeze food & drinks where possible. Cheers
AnswerID: 446043

Reply By: Yaren G - Sunday, Feb 20, 2011 at 21:47

Sunday, Feb 20, 2011 at 21:47
Thanks all for your replies. I have done the tippy thing, haven't tried it on gas yet since that as I have a gas guy coming to reconnect it and check the regulator. Since it worked well on 240 I'm not to sure it will have done much. I tried to get the actual burner head out but I can't, it has some weird setup that I can't get out. Having said that, the flame worked, so hopefully the regulator thing will help. The fridge is certainly fairly level, I am using one of those triangle things with 2 bubbles in it and it's pretty close to perfect. Only thing is, where do you take the reading? Everywhere is slightly different. The freezer plate, the top on the fridge in the middle, the top at the side etc, all give a little different reading. Is there a consensus on this?
The ventilation setup is actually not bad, no fan, which I may have to consider, but other than that it's been designed, or perhaps modified quite efficiently.

I'd still love to know if both the columns in the fridge should be cold or not if anyone can enlighten me I'd be most appreciative. If it's normal for only one to get cold I could at least write it off as not being a symptom of something.

Be well!
AnswerID: 446103

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