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From:   David Beierl [SMTP:dbeierl@ibm.net]
Dunno -- you're looking for a contact thermoswitch.  Standard industrial
part in many flavors, but not sure how to get one at retail.
snip
Of course, I should have looked first! Checking my catalogs,no luck in
Grainger or MSC, but Newark electronics has TO220 packaged, close at temp,
thermal switches, $7. I will order a 40Deg C (104 Deg F) thermo switch, the
lowest temp offered.

If the fridge works on gas, then the thermocouple is working.  See below...

>  If my memory serves correct, there is a solid
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Good guess...the "solid wire" is a coaxial thermocouple.  One end sticks
into the flame and the other end screws into the gas valve.  When the t/c
is in a flame, it generates a few millivolts which (astonishingly) is
enough to hold the gas valve open after you open it by pushing the
button.  The connection to the LED panel is a single wire from the gas
valve, goes (IIRC) to an inline plug a foot or so away from the LED panel
connector.
David

  I must have disconnected the wire at the gas valve, now I know where to
look, thanks!
Ah, so the Seebeck junction is in the gas valve? That makes sense since the
body of the gas valve is a large heat sink to keep that side of the
junction cold. Does the gas valve actually use a solenoid to hold it open?
I would think a bi-metalic structure would be more efficient, but that is
neat if it actually uses a solenoid. Hard to believe 10 or 20 millivolts at
low current is enough to energize a solenoid, but I have seen stranger
things. When I was a kid I recall reading a description of an oil lamp with
a bunch of serially connected thermocouples used to power a radio during
wartime, I think it was a Russian invention. Of course, now we have those
Semiconductor  Peltier junctions, I imagine one of these could power a
solenoid well.
If it is truly a coaxial thermocouple (never heard of such a thing)  that
would imply an insulated core and the junction at the tip of the wire? Or
is the name misleading?

Thanks for your tips.
Ezra