Dometic Fridge Propane Leak?
  • JESFL
    2
    I believe I have a serious propane leak somewhere, and I hope someone can give me some suggestions for finding my problem.

    I've been stationary at an RV park for several months, but I'm leaving in 10 days. A couple of days ago I switched my Dometic fridge from electric to propane as a test before departure. The next day, one propane tank that I thought was 1/3 to 1/2 full (I thought) went to empty. So, I switched over to a full tank. Then 3 days later that tank was empty. I only used the tank for the fridge (24/7) and occasionally the propane water heater or the propane stovetop. Not good.

    I've now connected a refilled tank to my system and started the fridge running on propane again. It seems to be operating normally. I am waiting to see how long the propane tank lasts with the fridge running 24/7 on propane.

    Before I switched the fridge to propane, however, I crawled under/over and inside/out tracking the propane line with my propane sniffer device (thanks, Ray, for the tip about those). I found nothing that would set it off . . . except one thing. The sniffer (only) occasionally registered propane at the tube/vent/burner area of the fridge when the fridge was turned off. At first, I assumed that was normal because that's where the propane feeds to the burner. Then, as an afterthought, I began to wonder if somehow the electronic controller for the fridge propane might be operating improperly and not turning off the propane feed, therefore letting propane continue to feed without the flame burning?

    Has anyone else experienced any type of propane leak problem with a Dometic fridge? Does anyone have other suggestions? Any info or ideas will be valued.

    Jim
    jesfl
    JESFL Options
  • Ray
    1.3k
    You can use a device called a manometer to check the LP gas system and see if its holding pressure. Here are a couple of videos I've done.
    https://www.loveyourrv.com/building-simple-rv-propane-leak-tester-u-tube-manometer/
    https://www.loveyourrv.com/leak-testing-my-rv-propane-system-with-a-digital-manometer/
    Ray Options
  • JESFL
    2
    Thank you. Ordered one. The model you linked is out of stock, but chose another that appears to be (typically Chinese) exact same unit.
    JESFL Options
  • George
    10
    If you find that there is a problem with the propane. I would highly recommend going to someone qualified to work on propane. This not really a do it yourself repair. Especially if the pipes have a leak .
    George Options
  • Steve Lawhead
    1
    If it was leaking through the fridge gas valve into the burner then the fridge burner flame would never extinguish when they fridge control called for the gas valve to close. The other thing is that even if it is leaking through the amount is not enough to empty a tank in a few days. You can run a standard Dometic fridge 24 hours a day for almost two weeks on a single 20# tank before it's empty.

    Did you check your hoses and regulator really good? It does seem to be too much of a coincidence that it all happened after switching the fridge to gas so maybe there's something going on there. The manometer will tell you what's going on.
    Steve Lawhead Options
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