I cannot think of what can cause the burnt rubber smell except possible
the cooling fan. The Dometic cooling fan is very low tech and has
tendence to self-destruct when the bearing wears out. It tends to sieze
and cause over heating. If the ambient is 80 F or so and the fridge has
been running for hours you should be able to hear the fan by putting
your ears up against the fridge door. If you cannot hear it you might
want to consider pulling the fridge to check.

Do not take chances with overheat electrical circuits.

- Vince

http://gipsyflies.home.comcast.net
1989 Vanagon GL Camper
1993 Mazda Miata
1996 Land Rover Discovery
2005 Mini Cooper S (almost here)

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of paullist@guzyk.com
Sent: Friday, August 27, 2004 10:11 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Burnt rubber smell from Westy fridge on Propane?

I fired up the fridge in my 84 Westy today using propane.

It took a bit of effort to get it going, but thanks to the tech articles
at vanagon.com I was able to
start it without too much aggrevation.

After it was lit for about 10 minutes I noticed a faint "burning rubber
smell", very similar to the
smell when you burn the insulation off of electrical cord with a
soldering iron.

Is this normal for a fridge that hasn't been used for at least a year?
Or is something wrong inside
that needs attention?

Note, the propane in the tank is at least a year old also.

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