Interior 3 way fridge - gas pilot warning ?

[Bellbirdweb]

Hi all,

I have been thinking of trying to rig up some sort of alarm/warning light that will tell me if the fridge goes out when operating on gas.

I've had it happen a couple of times now where the gas has run out in the middle of the night or whilst we were out and about.

If you dont happen to notice the needle has moved into the red, it could be a while before it gets noticed.

Googling around and I havent found anything, and I was wondering if anyone has already done somehting like this ?

 

[Tone]

I haven't but should be pretty simple, maybe? I would consider using a thermostat switch somewhere near the burner or even one on the condenser pipe. I put a similar thermostat 70deg for my fridge fans which work great, turns fans on when running on a warm day.
When the fridge is running on gas use a 60deg normally open thermostat and wire it up to an LED or something low on the condenser pipe or near the burner. JAYCAR sell thermostats about$5 might have to experiment with location and temps. Hope this makes sense.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

I haven't but should be pretty simple, maybe? I would consider using a thermostat switch somewhere near the burner or even one on the condenser pipe. I put a similar thermostat 70deg for my fridge fans which work great, turns fans on when running on a warm day.
When the fridge is running on gas use a 60deg normally open thermostat and wire it up to an LED or something low on the condenser pipe or near the burner. JAYCAR sell thermostats about$5 might have to experiment with location and temps. Hope this makes sense.

Yeah I was thinking of something similar using a thermocouple in the actual flame like the one thas already there, but if I just mounted it close the switch from Jaycar might do the trick.

I might try and measure the temperature vs distance from the burner to see if a 60/70 degree switch will work

 

[Tone]

You can get most temps they all are 15deg between on and off. I was thinking thermocoupler aswell but thermostats would be easier cheaper.

 

[Tone]

I used some "kneed it" putty to glue my thermostat 100mm from the bend in the condenser pipe with a 70deg. If you used a 50 further down I think it would be better. I only wanted the fans to run on warmish days and not at night.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

I used some "kneed it" putty to glue my thermostat 100mm from the bend in the condenser pipe with a 70deg. If you used a 50 further down I think it would be better. I only wanted the fans to run on warmish days and not at night.

Ahhh, of course, I was thinking of using the burner, but the condenser pipe will cool down as well. That would serve as an indicator for all 3 modes as well, not just gas

 

[Tone]

You would actually need a thermostat normally closed so when it's warm it will break the circuit and when cools connects and turns on light.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

You would actually need a thermostat normally closed so when it's warm it will break the circuit and when cools connects and turns on light.

Or do a little circuit/relay

 

[Jasman]

I have one of these and it works fantastic:

http://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-Refrigerator-Freezer-Wireless-Thermometer/dp/B004QJVU78

It won't tell you the burners out but it will tell you if the temperature goes outside of range with an annoying alarm. One sender unit in the gas 3 way in the van and one in the Engel outside (up to about 20' away) and just velcroed the display to the side of a cupboard.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

I have one of these and it works fantastic:

http://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-Refrigerator-Freezer-Wireless-Thermometer/dp/B004QJVU78

It won't tell you the burners out but it will tell you if the temperature goes outside of range with an annoying alarm. One sender unit in the gas 3 way in the van and one in the Engel outside (up to about 20' away) and just velcroed the display to the side of a cupboard.

Thanks @Jasman, I actually have the same thermometer already, but find the alarms a bit annoying on there as there is quite a variation in temps during normal operation.

The reason I'm thinking of the gas is because it's the only gas appliance that runs constantly, so is an early warning that the gas bottles need switching.

 

[rags]

You could also mount a thermostat sender at the top of the fridge flue as it runs warm when on gas

 

[Drover]

I like that idea, I'd go the the thermoswitch on the condensor tubes as on mine to get to the flu is damn difficult plus it would more than likely come on when using 240v as the flu only gets warm.
When we go away for a few hours and the fridge is on 240 I leave the gas bottle on so if someone pulls the plug the fridge will automatically switch to gas............

 

[Bellbirdweb]

When we go away for a few hours and the fridge is on 240 I leave the gas bottle on so if someone pulls the plug the fridge will automatically switch to gas............

Unfortunately ours is a manual changeover, so can't use that trick @Drover, but yes our flue is pretty hard to get to, so I'm getting all of the bits from Jaycar today to put it on the condenser to have a play.

 

[rags]

I like that idea, I'd go the the thermoswitch on the condensor tubes as on mine to get to the flu is damn difficult plus it would more than likely come on when using 240v as the flu only gets warm.
When we go away for a few hours and the fridge is on 240 I leave the gas bottle on so if someone pulls the plug the fridge will automatically switch to gas............

The fridge will only switch to gas if you manually switch over and light the pilot.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

The fridge will only switch to gas if you manually switch over and light the pilot.

Unless you have the autochangeover model

 

[Drover]

My big 2 door Dometic has AES which means it will select which mode, 240 is first choice otherwise it will go lpg, requires a 12v supply to run the gizmo but will only run fridge on 12v when plugged into tug.

The flu won't get hot enough on 240 to trip the gas alarm so tubes would be only way to go......Had my arm down there fixing chimney recently, think I'll fit one and put a flashing led on panel.............one day.