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Old 03-08-2005, 08:22 AM   #1
stiles watson
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Leona
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M.O.C. #2059
A lesson learned

Monty has been sitting for about 2 months--finally get a weekend free to that her out. Check list--all goes well. Turn on refrigerator--thirty seconds--Check light comes on --check manual. "If the RV ahs been in storage for awhile, you may have to repeat several times because automatic lighting times out after 45 seconds and propane needs to reach the burner." Several more tries--check light comes on each time. Hummmm---try shore line. Switch to "auto"--cursed check light still comes on--PANIC. Oh no, visions of refrigerator replacement. Scoured the manual--no help. Called my adopted dealer and talked to the service manager.

"Did you check your battery?"

Well, no.

"It takes 12 volts to run the system on your refrigerator. If you have less than a 12 volt charge on your battery, your refrigerator won't start up."

But I have the shoreline connected.

"Doesn't matter, you have to have 12 volts on your battery.

Oh, OK, thanks, I'll try it. Voltage = 11.6. Charge battery--refrigerator runs. All is well in Montana Land and they lived happily ever after.
 
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Old 03-08-2005, 08:36 AM   #2
Montana_2785
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I fervently hope that the refrigerator is not that sensitive to low voltage. When boondocking, the voltage will drop to below 11 volts, expecially during higher loads (several lights on, running an inverter for tv or Microwave, etc.) My old TT referigerator was known to be happy down to at least 10.5 volts.

I will suggest that you perhaps didn't cycle the refrigerator enough times to get the propane to the burner. I can take several tries after an extended period with the propane tanks shut off. It seems that the propane leaks out of the plumbing over time.

One thing that I do is to light the stove top burners as they would purge quite a lot of the plumbing (being much bigger burners). Then the refrigerator didn't have quite so much to purge itself. On my Monty, the furnace is right under the refrigerator. If yours is also, you could also try lighting the furnace before the refrigerator just until it lights. Since it is also a MUCH bigger burner, it would also help with the bulk plumbing purge. Then when you try to light the refrigerator, it should only take a couple of cycles to do the trick.

Eric
Eric
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Old 03-08-2005, 08:43 AM   #3
stiles watson
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Thank you for you suggestion, Eric, however, I did those things, i.e., lit burner, cycled at least 10 times. This issue seems to apply to initial start up. I am not sure about continued service. If you plan to boondock often, I would check it out with your dealer's tech guy. Remember, I also said that it would not come on with the shoreline.
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Old 03-08-2005, 10:05 AM   #4
sreigle
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Do you suppose it takes more for initial startup since it's sparking across the gap, trying to fire the propane? Maybe once it's up and running it will continue running until it needs to start up again? Just wondering.
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Old 03-08-2005, 10:21 AM   #5
padredw
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Old 03-08-2005, 12:55 PM   #6
Chester
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Stiles, as mentioned by someone I always found lighting a burner on the stove helped the refrigerator start right up.
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Old 03-08-2005, 01:02 PM   #7
Native Tex
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Well guys all the suggestion are great. But the gas in the line does seem to evaporate over a long period of time. Turning on a burner does help to get more gas into the lines quickly. In fact, you may want to light a couple of burner, then hit the fridg. If you have someone to stand outside the trailer, you can hear the striker and know when it lights. Sometimes the sparker will try several times.
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Old 03-08-2005, 01:28 PM   #8
Searchers
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Stiles,

I believe the auto/off control system operates off the DC battery even when hooked to shore power. I think another question I'd be asking is why was the battery discharged when the shore power was plugged in? Possibly a defective battery or charge circuit?

It seems to me from looking at previous posts some of the Montanas come with a single battery, where ours was delivered with two SRM Interstate Marine/RV Deep Cycle units. They lasted 5 years and would have lasted longer if I hadn't let them freeze last winter.

We boondock most of time for 3-4 days and have never had a problem with low DC voltage. But then again we spend most of our time outdoors.

Good luck and let us now how things turn out.

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Old 03-09-2005, 10:04 AM   #9
stiles watson
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You are right about the 12 volts to run the controls. I know why the battery was discharged (used a couple of time in "dry dock" without recharging). Part of the lesson is to make sure the battery is up the day before you need it.
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