Fridge - electric starter

[geonomad]

Hi Ant,
recently my fridge electric starter has been randomly clicking away despite the fact that I can see the blue flame through the little hole so I know it hasn't gone out.

I assume there is a sensor that triggers this restart flash and that it is dirty or something. Is it possible to get at it without removing the whole thing?

Is it a photosensor? Or something else?

Is it likely that cleaning will help?

If I turn the fridge to high, it still clicks once in a while, but rarely. So enough heat or light certainly makes it work.

If I turn off the red switch, is there a danger of gas continuing to flow or is there a fail-safe thermal cutoff that will save me from conflagration?

Otherwise, the fridge works great on all 3 modes.

As always, thanks in advance for your cherished advice.

Peter
Sopot, Bulgaria
nomadness.benlo.com

[ant]

Hi Peter.
The continued clicking can be caused by a few things, one, the electrode is a bit too far away from the burner and hence the flame, if the flame moves due to wind or even you getting in or out and creating a draught the electrode cools slightly and clicks, a sure sign of this is when the once fast clicking when lighting slows slightly( bigger gap for the spark to jump).
The second, is the box of tricks that create the spark is not responding to the current caused by the hot electrode and continues to spark regardless, this is quite common and can continue to work like this for years. The flame failure device (FFD) on the fridge burner shuts off the gas within 45 seconds of the flame going out ( this is one of the tests that should be carried out on a habitation type service or gas test). If the FFD takes longer than 60 seconds to work the FFD needs to be replaced. To test- when you turn off the fridge on gas set the stop watch, listen carefully and you hear a small clunk from the back of the fridge, stop the watch as that clunk is the FFD shutting off the gas.
Thirdly, it could just be dodgy Bulgarian air!

To make any repairs the fridge would have to come out, so i'd live with it if all else is working fine.
Ant

[geonomad]

Excellent synopsis Ant! Thank you very much.

I checked the cut-off and it is working fine. As confirmed by the need to hold the knob in to relight the flame.

So far it has never gone out on its own except when there is enough wind to shake the camper or the gas bottle is empty.

So I will just leave the electric starter in the off position except when lighting until I have another need to pull the fridge out. Remembering back to the days of manual lighters, I just love this electric one. I can remember spending what seemed like hours pushing the zap button to get the fridge started in our boat.

As for the Bulgarian air, it is clear and pure up here in the mountains at Sopot. I have wondered whether the gas might be responsible in some way. This bottle was purchased in Tallinn.

An interesting sidenote of interest to anyone buying Camping Gas anywhere: I take my little fishing scale with me when I buy. In Tallinn they had 3 bottles on the shelf. Two weighed only 4 to 5 kilograms but the one I bought weighed 6.75 kg. In the past, full ones have varied in the 6 to 6.5kg range. The one I was returning was not quite empty at 3.75 kg, but I figured it would be soon and I might not see another supplier for some time. True, it turns out.

Cheers,
Peter