One other thing... If you live at high altitude you may have to turn the gas
pressure down. I find that at 6,000 feet (Tahoe) my fridge will not stay lit
at 11 w.c. inches, but it does at 9 or 10 w.c. inches. I have been told by a
Dometic Service Tech that Dometic says you may have to turn the gas pressure
down to as little as 5 w.c. inches if you at 8,000 feet. I have not found
this to be the case. I find 9 or 10 works great.
Bill
90 Westy Syncro
-----Original Message-----
From: W. Silva <wsilva@CAPECOD.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Monday, April 26, 1999 3:39 PM
Subject: Dometic-Gas Lighting

>We went round and round with this as have several Listees-we had the same
>trouble lighting on propane as everyone seems to experience.  What we have
>found is the following proceedure which seems to work.
>
>Start fridge either on D/C or A/C for an hour or so, then switch over to
>propane making sure your controls are set:  toggle switchset to gas and the
>far right hand knob has to be set for "I"  (for In?)
>
>Set thermostat to Minimum (not miximum as manual dictates).  It has been
>found that too much propane causes a sudden mini-explosion or "poof" that
>actually blows out the flame once you have managed to light it.
>
>Push in the air pump about 15 times (without going all the way in to
>"click" the spark)
>
>Hold in the botton that actually lets the gas in and PUMP THE AIR CONTROL 5
>MORE TIMES KEEPING THE GAS BUTTON PUSHED IN  THEN PUSH THE ACTUATOR (SPARK)
>IN UNTIL THE FLAME LIGHTS.  A maximum of 20 seconds).
>
>Wait about 5 minutes and FEEL the outside air vent.  I should feel warm (it
>won't feel hot).  If not, repeat the entire proceedure.
>
>It has been our experience that you hardly ever see the pilot in the little
>hole in the floor of the fridge.  Those with 85 or newer Dometics will see
>the green LED light when the gas is lit-unless thaere is a problem with the
>LED.
>
>Once the propane is actually lit and running you can smell it at the
>outside vent if you really try.  DON'T stick you face to it when someone
>has just tried to light it!
>
>When we bought our Westy it had sat dorment for over a year.  We used a
>garages compressor to blow a couple of short bursts of compressed air
>through the drain plug at the bottom of the fridge front.  This blows out
>all the dust and stuff but won't necessarily blow away spider webs.
>Spiders are atracted to the smell of gas and their webs are strong.
>
>It doesn't hurt to say an incantation or prayer to whomever............
>
>Good luck!
>
>Wendy & John
>Cape Cod, MA
>
>'85 Westy,   "S-CAPE"
>