"succeeds"........"suck seeds ".............................................with chartrock on the road I thought I would chirp in.
"succeeds"........"suck seeds ".............................................with chartrock on the road I thought I would chirp in.
Hi Guys,
I'm also having problems with my N3185 igniting on gas. However the problem is intermittent. Most times it tries to ignite, it succeeds. However, occasionally it will fail to ignite. It tries to ignite for ~30 seconds and then gives up and the panel lights begin flashing. It doesn't then try to ignite again until the power is cycled at the control panel. This obviously introduces a reliability issue when the thermostat tries to re-ignite the flame whilst the van is unattended.
It's not an air in gas line issue, as the fridge can run fine on gas for hours (even days) and then fails to re-ignite. Initially I replaced the regulator at the bottle, but the problem remained. More recently I observed what was going on at the rear of the fridge (with the vent removed) when it tries to ignite. Time to ignite ranges from maybe 2 to 20 seconds, and sometimes it fails to ignite altogether (as mentioned above). I noticed the gas solenoid audibly clicking in every time. I removed the burner cover and when introducing an alternate ignition source as soon as it tries to ignite, the burner lights immediately, every time. So this told me the issue lies with the igniter. The igniter always fires, but does not always ignite the gas. So I shined up the electrode and burner with some wet & dry, but the problem remains. The wiring/insulation to the electrode appears fine (no visible arcing to earth other than at the burner). I'm uncertain how to judge what is a strong vs weak spark. Could the electrode be worn even though it looks fine? Could it be the electronics that drives the electrode? There doesn't appear to be any built in method of adjusting the electrode to burner gap - should I bend the electrode to try different gaps? The van is only 3 years old.
Any ideas greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Cheers,
David.
Thanks @Boots in Action. Yes as mentioned above in my case the thermocouple appears fine. Unfortunately cleaning up the electrode and the burner where the spark arcs to has not improved things. I did wonder about the quality of the earth. There is no dedicated earth wire from the burner assembly back to the control board where the HV electronics for the igniter are - it appears to be just relying on the fridge chassis for earth - probably good enough given the high voltage involved?
Cheers,
David.
Hi,Thanks guys - I spoke to the Thetford agent today and as it is under warranty - now booked to go in early next month.
Cheers,
David.