RM2600 not working properly

[jamie2666]

Hi,

Hoping someone can help me out with a problem with my old RM2600 fridge. This year it started to take longer and longer for the fridge to fire up. So you'd turn it to gas and nothing, no spark no gas flowing but if you kept switching it back and forth between gas and off eventually it would fire up. By the 6 or 7th time we went out this didn't work anymore and couldn't get gas or a spark. So after doing some reading about the safety system, where the gas shuts off when there is no flame, I thought I'd try turning the fridge on and then heating up the thermocouple with a lighter. Oddly enough after a few seconds the gas started to flow and it started sparking and the fridge fire up and lasted the whole two weeks. It's seemed to work like that every since but I'd like to fix the actual problem. Would it be safe to assume that it's either the thermocouple itself or the safety valve or perhaps another part I'm not thinking about ? If so, does any one have part numbers for these fridges ? I've searched the internet and can't seem to find any sort of part number list. Thanks in advance! I'm sure there's still a couple of these RM2600 kicking around and be a shame to trash it when it actually works really well once fired up. 

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Since it lit and stayed on when you did it manually, I'd guess all those are OK. Your problem is in the ignition circuit - it's not opening the gas valve or starting the ignition procedure.  Does the 2600 have a piezo ignition or the automatic re-igniter? [It appears there were two different sub-models with different igniters. ] Is the thermocouple properly over the burner flame? It could be that it is just slow to heat up and the safety system is cutting the gas off too soon.

http://techsupport.pdxrvwholesale.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Dometic-Refrigerator-Installation-and-Operating-Instructions-RM2600.pdf

http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/Maninstall.pdf

 

[jamie2666]

Hi Gary, sorry for the delayed response. I thought I'd get an email if someone responded to my post but I didn't. I was about to buy a new safety valve and thought I should maybe check back in here just in case someone did reply. So thank you for taking the time to reply!

I found a couple old fridge manuals in the RV and they had all the part numbers, then got the new part numbers from Dometic but didn't order anything yet cause I may not have the cause of the problem as you were saying. It is the automatic re-igniter...so you are suppose to push the button and hold it down and it just sparks constantly until the pilot light is lit. From looking at the schematics, it looks like the igniter button is just a long rod that pushes a plunger down in the safety valve which then should start the gas flowing. So that's not happening, when i push the button nothing happens, no gas flow and no spark. But then like i mentioned, if the thermocouple is heated up manually with a lighter then the gas starts flowing....and the igniter starts sparking and then it fires up. I'm not sure what the electronics are in those things but it is odd that the igniter doesn't start sparking when the fridge is turned to gas, even if the gas isn't flowing...I'm assuming that there must be something electronic that tells it not to spark until the gas flows....from the diagram it doesn't look to be rocket science....but troubleshooting info on these older units is super hard to find. Im thinking thermocouple must be alright since it works fine once heated....and stays lit. Just something in that initial start up that isn't quite right, which leads me to believe that the rod connected to the button isn't pushing the plunger down in the safety valve, so maybe it's the connection itself. Perhaps I'll hold off on ordering the safety valve and check out that connection first.

Anyways thanks again for the info and help. If you think of something I'm missing I'd definitely love to hear it!

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Gas  Operation with  automatic  reigniter    

1.  To  start  the  refrigerator  turn  the  knob  (A)  to  position  ?GAS?.  Lamp  (E)  comes  on.
2.  Turn  the  gas  thermostat  knob  (B)  a  quarter  of  a turn  from  position  ?OFF?.
3.  Press  the  button  (C)  to  stop  and  keep  it  depressed.When  lamp  (E)  goes  out,  wait  15  sec.  and  release button  (C).  If  the  lamp  comes  on  again,  repeat  the procedure.  If  flame  blows  out,  reignition  will  take place  automatically.  To  shut  off  the  refrigerator turn  the  knob  (A)  to  off  position

The letters refer to the diagram of the control panel and fairly obvious, but see the Bryant reference document if needed.  Holding the button down is supposed to trigger both the igniter and open the gas valve. Are you seeing the lamp (E, far left side) come on? If not, either the fridge lacks 12v power of the ignition circuit is bad.

 

[jamie2666]

Thanks again for the reply Gary. No light when it's flipped over to gas and button pressed. The light does come on, and it starts sparking when you heat up the thermocouple. And I suppose it really shouldn't spark unless the button is depressed....but it does and then stops when the flame lights. So maybe I'll look into the ignition circuit, it definitely has 12V. There doesn't seem to be a circuit board on this model so I assume it's the reignitor, as it's labeled on the parts list, that is controlling the ignition ? The electrode itself has a good spark to it when it's going.

Thanks again!

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Wish I knew more abut that type of fridge control, but I have no personal experience with it.

 

[jamie2666]

Thanks! Yea its funny cause its such a simple set up, no real circuit boards or electronics but there is really no information any where on them in terms of trouble shooting.....probably a guy should just buy a new one to avoid any further problems...but I'll try a couple parts here first and see what happens. Thanks again for the help!

 

[BruceinFL]

Why not contact Dometic? They should be able to help. Or an RV  repair guy that's been around for a while.

 

[jamie2666]

Thanks Bruce, I did try contacting Dometic and the response I got was that they don't offer technical support and to take it in to a service centre to be diagnosed..which would probably cost more than the three parts I think it could be. But there definitely is some RV repair guys on kijiji in my area so good call, I may see if any of them would offer up some advice. I thought I'd check on here first to see if there might be a fridge repair guy hanging out on the forum. Thanks again! Appreciate any one who takes the time to reply!

 

[BruceinFL]

Jamie,
Here is a link to the RM2600 owner's and installation manual: https://www.manualslib.com/products/Dometic-Rm2600-533190.html