Newby question regarding propane/electrical usage

[89warrior20]

Hey all I am so fortunate to find this site and be able to access seasoned rv'ers as yourselves.  Hopefully I do not bore you with questions you may have answered time and time again.  In any regards I wanted to see if I could get a bit of guidance with my concerns.  I am a new owner of an older 89 Winnebago Warrior 20 ft'er. I checked it out as thoroughly as I could prior to purchasing it.  I am happy with the overall condition and price I received it for.  I am though a bit concerned with the fridge.  It worked well with the propane fueling the unit.  Although after getting it home and shutting the propane off at noon and coming back to it later that evening and connecting it to my house electric and following all the ac instructions to get the fridge going the next day the fridge doesn't seem to be cooling.  It feels slightly cool in the freezer section but overall not the same as in prior inspection.    Am I missing something?  Also one overhead lite that has a separate switch to turn on does not work whilst other patio switch works the light properly (checked bulbs etc...) I checked fuses all seem to be ok. 

One other item, if I were to use the propane to power the fridge how long would the tank last?  (5 gallon propane tank).

Your knowledge in this matter is highly appreciated by a first time rv owner. 

Regards to all, hope to meet some of you out at the campgrounds.

 

[John From Detroit]

Only five gallons.. Likely a few weeks or more  The fridge does not use much propane

As for it not working on electric there is a trouble shooting process

First plug in .. This is one of the few cases where I say plug in instead of unplug

Now, open the outside fridge compartment  You should see a plug and one or two outlets there.. Unplug the plug and plug in a test lamp (A common drop cord will work very well here,  very well indeed)  does the light work?  YES: good, NO: power is not getting to the fridge (That was easy wasn't it) track it down.. Suspect 1 is a circuit breker.

If power is getting TO the fridge,, We have to go to the next step.. USUALLY this means using a volt meter though you could use a clip-on test lamp.

On the right side of the compartment is a round pipe. looks a bit like a dryer vent pipe in your house. 

The burner for the propane is at the bottom of this pipe

Farther up you will see two (or perhaps 4) wires going to this pipe. two of them then go on into the pipe.. THESE wires are the ones we are interested in.. Check for power here  CAUTION 120 vac, can cause SERIOUS injury up to and including DEATH if you are not careful.

IF you have power on these leads (120 volts on the meter or light on the bulb) the heat element is toast

If you have NO voltage or very low voltage (Say 20 volts) you have a control board problem.. LOW voltage most likely cause is a relay on the control board needing cleaning.. I do not know if you can do that as I've never actually SEEN that relay. (or rather looked at it) I've looked only at fuses on that board.

 

[Alfa38User]

It feels slightly cool in the freezer section but overall not the same as in prior inspection.    Am I missing something?

Perhaps!! As John said, make sure it is plugged in.  Since you turned off the propane at noon and plugged in later that day, it has had a chance to warm up some. These fridges are not like a house fridge, they take a long time to cool down, especially if loaded with 'stuff'.

The other possibility is that the electric heating element is defective as John has suggested. These are not expensive to replace but can be a PITA depending on accessibility.

As far as the light not lighting, I am assuming that this light is not associated with the fridge problem,  that you are talking about a light outside the RV and it has two different switches which are supposed to activate it. Is it a 12V light?? (most are!!) I would start by checking the back of the 'defective' switch for power or perhaps a poor/corroded connection. How many wires connected back there? Although in a house it is not unusual to find two switches for a given light, (think upstairs-downstairs), I have not seen one in an RV myself. They would require a different wiring arrangement than the normal RV 12V, 2 pole light switch.

 

[Lou Schneider]

Hi, Welcome to The RV Forum!

Most RV light fixtures come standard with an on/off switch built in.  It's also common for manufacturers to add an external wall switch in a more convenient location.

When these switches are used together, they're each separate on-off switches, not the 3 way switches used in homes.  Having either switch Off will prevent the light from coming on.

Have you looked for a wall switch controlling the light that won't come on?

On propane usage, all gas appliances have a nameplate giving their BTU rating.  BTUs are usually thought of as units of heat, but in gas appliances they're used to measure the amount of gas that's used to produce the heat, which varies according to the type of fuel (propane vs. natural gas).

Propane contains about 90,000 BTUs per gallon.  So all you have to do is divide the nameplate's BTU rating into 90,000 to see how many gallons per hour is used.

For example, my Norcold fridge has a rating of 1450 BTUs, which means it uses 1450 BTUs of propane per hour.  Divide 1450/90,000 and you'll see the fridge uses about 0.016 gallons per hour.  A 5 gallon propane tank will run the fridge for 300 hours, or about 12 1/2 days.

You can do the same computations for your other gas appliances.  My gas stove has one 11,000 BTU burner. two 6500 BTU burners and a 7100 BTU oven.  Multiply these by the length of time they're in use to see how much propane is used.

Same for the furnace and hot water heater, which are the largest propane users.

 

[Ned]

Our overhead dinette light was out earlier this year but since we rarely use it, I ignore it.  When I finally got around to taking it apart, I found the bulb was ok but it still wouldn't light with the wall switch.  Then as I was standing the step well, I happened to notice a push switch on the back of the fixture, normally hidden by the globe.  Pushed it once and the light worked!  I still don't know how it got turned off.

13+ years and I'm still learning new things about my home

 

[seilerbird]

The refer might be plugged into a circuit protected by a GFCI outlet. Look around for them and make sure they are not tripped.

 

[wackymac]

For example, my Norcold fridge has a rating of 1450 BTUs, which means it uses 1450 BTUs of propane per hour.  Divide 1450/90,000 and you'll see the fridge uses about 0.016 gallons per hour.  A 5 gallon propane tank will run the fridge for 300 hours, or about 12 1/2 days.

Lou---Wouldn't that usage be assuming that the burner is running all the time?  Doesn't it cycle off and on?

 

[89warrior20]

Wow, all excellent responses and a big thank you for your replies.

I will check these eagerly tomorrow and see what I can find. 

I have my MH parked on an inclined driveway and she said that maybe the cause.  Would an incline negatively affect the ability of the fridge to get cold?

Anyways, I will check all avenues.

Thank BTW calculation formulas make me feel alot better about utilizing the propane for the fridge if need be.

Regards to all.

 

[Lou Schneider]

Lou---Wouldn't that usage be assuming that the burner is running all the time?  Doesn't it cycle off and on?

You're right, but the burner doesn't turn off - it cycles between a high and low setting.  The flame looks to be about half as large in the low setting, but I don't have any information on it or how long it's on low vs. high.  So it would have been more accurate to say the fridge will run at least 300 hours on a 5 gallon tank.

 

[Larry N.]

...
I have my MH parked on an inclined driveway and she said that maybe the cause.  Would an incline negatively affect the ability of the fridge to get cold?

...

Absolutely. It really does need to be approximately level when it is running, otherwise it not only won't cool well, there is a chance of damage to the fridge.