Topaz Fridge

Our 2006 Topaz fridge is not holding its flame unless gas knob held in. It does stay alight occasionally but will go out after a few minutes and burns with a flame that is too yellow for my liking. I have taken off the vents and vacuumed the flu etc and reckon it's a blockage in the jet. Can you service the burner through the side vents? The access is very limited and my feeling is that the fridge needs to be removed to do a "proper job". How do you get the fridge out? The trim around the fridge is pristine and assuming the securing screws are at the top how do you get that top trim off neatly. An habitation service might be the answer but that would be my default move at this stage.

If access is similar to that on our 2005 Trooper, it can't realistically be done with the fridge in place. On ours (and on my similar previous van) the cause of this problem was rust debris in the mixer tube - the horizontal tube that allows the air and gas to mix before it reaches the burner. Ours had a huge amount of rust particles in it - though yours may of course be different.

There may be only 4 screws holding it in, fitted from inside the fridge out, 2 on each side, covered by plastic plugs. Some conversions have additional screws but our Trooper did not.

Thanks Roopert that confirms my suspicions I’ve got to figure out now how to get the trim off around the fridge to get to the fixing screws. JohnR

John R....  when you say you need to get the trim off around the fridge, you may be getting confused.      The securing screws are inside the fridge....open the door and you should see them, two on either side probably behind small blanking tabs/plates.    Good luck

As BobK says, but the one thing you might have to do is to cut through a layer of silicone sealant - A/S sometimes put a bead around the fridge, and sometimes they don't. They didn't on our Trooper.

Here's what was inside the mixer tube on our van's fridge:

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Thanks Roopert just so. Trim not the issue but silicon sealant. Blockage in burner between air intake holes and the mantle (for lack of a better word)was the issue and needed a thorough clean. All working fine now and ready to roll. There is a need to service these burners because the gradual build up of rust and muck restricts the passage way until the gas can leak out through the two small air intake holes, ignite and cause some nasty problems. Thanks JohnR

The burner in my fridge looked much the same as in the picture when I last took it out. Wouldn't you think a part like this could be made out of stainless steel for not much cost.
I used to fit similar burners made out of SS in industrial equipment at work, they lasted indefinitely without constant maintenance.
Al.

JohnR wrote:There is a need to service these burners because the gradual build up of rust and muck restricts the passage way until the gas can leak out through the two small air intake holes, ignite and cause some nasty problems.

That's exactly what happened on my previous van - the rust built up, the gas was forced out of one of the air intake holes (by a particularly large flake of rust) and ignited beside the air intake hole, burning through the wire to the igniter - but fortunately not causing a fire. I fully agree with Al that this part should have been made in stainless steel, and that the mild steel construction is an ongoing maintenance liability.

Just done this today - my burner is exactly the same as the above and there was much debris inside - good clean out and all working - quite satisfying but will need to be done yearly from now!

Would it be worth treating them with "stove enamel" or "exhaust paint" while you've got it apart - to keep the rust at bay for a little longer?