Gas Fridge problems?
I had problems with my previous Swift Caravan (from new) and in June I swapped to a Swift Finesse. The first time I went away for a few days was on a basic facilities CL no EHU. Then I set sail for a long tour of Scotland in September. Fridge failed to function on Gas. I got a mobile man out and he got the fridge functioning again. All was fine until the next move. So I had to forego the cheaper non EHU sites total loss around £250 so far. Finally took it back to the Dealership this week. They clearly thought they could sort it there and then as I wasn't taken to the service area. I told the chap that I would scream if he sorted it out on the forecourt! I had tried it myself AGAIN before I left home and even with lighting the gas rings first there was no sign of the fridge working on gas. Anyway I nipped away to the ladies for a few minutes to leave him to it and when I got back he said "I do hope you aren't going to scream....." No I said because it didn't "just work" you did something. He had rest the fridge but the WHY astounded me. Did I employ the AUTO mode when turning on the fridge - um Yes. Why wouldn't you turn on Auto? Apparently the reason why not is that the fridge requires a very small amount of gas to ignite the fridge and if there isn't sufficient gas supply the fridge switches off the GAS facility. I am dumfounded that there IS an AUTO facility if it doesn't meet the required pressure of gas. I also didn't know that there is a 25 or is it 15 minute lag between a failed attempt at lighting the fridge with gas and the next attempt. I would like to be ehu free but the last 5 years at least have proved to me that the fridge is a problem.
What I can say with confidence is that the alternative is a pack (or two) of Party ice from a supermarket BUT that requires to have somewhere safe to melt into. i.e the salad boxes or something!
If anyone else has had this problem I would be interested. I think I now know how to "reset" the fridge but I still don't understand why there is an AUTO function if that is inadvisable!
Comments
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Pippah, the Auto function does work if you are changing from mains to car hook up when towing. It will initially change to gas if there is any still left in the system from when you have used the cooker etc. I think that gas is the default setting. I now make sure that I change the setting to whatever is relevant to my requirements, as it is much easier that way!!
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We never had an auto function on our caravan fridges, however the MH does and I leave it on that setting permanently. Our gas is normally on as the system has crash protection but is turned off in storage. If I forget to turn it on before switching on the fridge, or if it has been off for a long time a red light comes on and it refuses to light. Pressing the reset button after turning it on, or lighting a burner on the cooker clears it and it lights almost immediately. If electric is connected there is no issue as it defaults to that. The only 15 minute wait on ours is if we have been running the engine and it has been in 12volt battery mode. I believe this is a safety feature to prevent it firing up when filling with fuel.
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