Dometic Refrigerator Questions

Does the gas have to be on and the pilot light lit for my frig to work in automatic mode? If the gas is on and the pilot lit, is it feeding off the electric if the shoreline is plugged in?

trooper405 said:

Does the gas have to be on and the pilot light lit for my frig to work in automatic mode? If the gas is on and the pilot lit, is it feeding off the electric if the shoreline is plugged in?

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If your fridge is set to AUTO it will automatically change between electric (when plugged into shore power) and Propane when not plugged in. You can manually change it also. Your fridge should have electronic spark ignition ESI to light the pilot automatically.

Thanks, I didn't know the gas had to be on in the automatic mode for the fridge to work. I thought it would just run off the electric without the pilot being lit.

trooper405, jmgratz is correct, however, you must verify the LP valve on the fridge is turned open. It's a slotted valve and you need a flat blade screwdriver to open it if needed. It's located just before the burner tube at the LP valve on the fridge. You will need to remove the outside access panel to get to it. These newer fridges don't have a "pilot" light per say. They have ESI as Jim says and will light automatically when turned on in gas mode and will switch over to LP if the power goes out when in the auto mode. In the auto mode the fridge will run on 110 volts as long as 110 is available. If you received the owners booklets for the Dometic fridge in your owners packet, please review them. There is good clear information in them and will help to understand things more clearly.

trooper405 said:

Thanks, I didn't know the gas had to be on in the automatic mode for the fridge to work. I thought it would just run off the electric without the pilot being lit.

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The gas does not have to be on for the fridge to run in auto mode but if you lose power, it will not run on gas because it's off . The LP needs to be on for it to switch over to LP if the power fails.

BTW for you Refrigerator to cool properly you need to be level when camping. It won't properly cool if you are way off level.

12 volts DC needed also

The control circuit board that switches on the gas, lights the flame, and switches over to 110 VAC electric heat works on 12 volts DC. If you lose 12 volt power (bad battery?) the refrig WILL NOT WORK AT ALL.

What I have noticed is that the refrigerator will not cool in automatic mode if the propane is not on. Is that normal?

On Auto the refer will run on 110v if it is plug into shore power, if it is not on shore power it will run on propane, but for either system to work the 12 volt battery MUST be connected and charged to power the circuit boards.

If the propane tanks are off it will not work on propane.

You might check the access panel on the back side of the refer and make sure the 110 volt plug is plugged in and the breaker is ON and the GFIC is not tripped.