Jump to: Cooking appliance repair, Three way fridge repair
Regulator pressure issues
A digital manometer is an essential tool for a gasfitter when attending to a faulty caravan gas appliance be it a cooktop, oven, three way fridge or heater. What may look normal may actually be 30% less gas than what the appliance is designed for. Your caravan gas appliances are designed to have 2.75kpa on their inlet with all other gas appliances in use at the same time. If you have a non adjustable or faulty regulator that is putting outonly 2.38kpa with only one burner lit, by the time you light other burners and accounting for pressure loss through the 10mm or 8mm pipe, you may have less than 2kpa at the appliance. And then you wonder why the kettle takes so long to boil...
We carry a wide range of regulators and pigtail hoses on our trucks so that we can effect a repair straight away. We can also fit test points if you have an older van as well as fit an extension bracket to lift your regulator to a height that allows any liquid propane condensate to drain back into the cylinder and not into the regulator (which can perish the diaphragm). So if you have any issues with cylinders that seem to empty too quickly, a strange smell or appliances that are performing poorly, give us a call and we will check it out for you.
Cooking appliance repair
Caravan burners are a bit different from your normal stove burners at home. They have fine screws to hold the burner caps in place and these are often rusty and often require a very small torq key to remove them. It's always a good idea to spray the screws with WD40 if you have some. Makes our life a bit easier. Sometimes. Corrosion can build up over time and this corrosion drops onto the burner ports and or jet. You get left with a weaker flame or in severe cases, a flame that looks like a candle and produces unpleasant odours and very little heating capacity.
Sometimes you just get fine particles travelling through the gas pipes and building up accross the tiny injector orifice. Perhaps the installer used glue on the flared fittings when he shouldn't have. It's an ongoing issue. Whatever the cause, the jet needs to come out to be unblocked be it the cooktop jet, grill or oven jet. We can repair or attempt to repair most types of RV cooking appliances. Some are in such poor condition that it may not be worth it. We'll let you know. Other issues are burners that do not stay lit. Some appliances are easy to repair. Others such as the Dometic 402 cooktop with grill are rivetted together and just stupidly difficult to access the areas required. Contact us for support and we will give you our honest opinion.
Three way fridge repair
There are three types of three way fridges. Very old. Older. And modern. Modern fridges with electronic panels and a solenoid to switch the burner on and off are generally pretty reliable. Thetford fridges can have a sticking solenoid issue if not used for a long time. We can sort that for you. We usually keep a selection of spare burners, ignitors and flame probes but due to the cost and risk of damage, we don't carry circuit boards on our trucks. We find it about two weeks quicker to just order Dometic parts through Caravans Plus website rather than trying to buy via Dometic.
Dometic and Thetford fridges all get the usual suspects crawling into the burner when you're not looking. Mud wasps especially. When storing your caravan, keep a look out for bugs lurking in the fridge vent area. It's not difficult though to remove and clean a burner when you have the right tools and know-how. Very few people actually get their appliances serviced. If you're planning on a decent holiday with your van, motorhome or camper, get it checked out for safety. It's peace of mind to know that everything is gas tight and appliances are burning safely. We can supply spares for your trip and give you tips on preventative maintenance. Happy travels
