Re: [a/s] 75 AS Sovereign: refrigerator controls

[Susi and John Burchard <saluqi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The selector is the next-to-righthand knob; but with the knob missing it won't
be easy to turn.  In the Bob Livingston RV maintenance book (published by
Trailer Life) there is a diagram of the rear of a Dometic refrigerator which
will show you what the back end of that control looks like (it is not glaringly
obvious if you don't know).  Looking at things from the back of the fridge, you
would turn that control (it has a good sized, odd shaped flange on it) all the
way to the right (clockwise) to turn on the gas.  Then you have to lift, with a
finger, the safety shutoff valve while you light the burner, and hold the valve
up for 15 seconds or more while the thermocouple heats up.  Easy enough to do,
but hard to describe without pictures.

To turn the gas off again, turn the selector flange all the way to the left till
it hits the stop.  To select electric operation, pull the flange toward you
(away from the refrigerator, this corresponds to pushing in on the knob if you
were at the front side of the fridge) and turn it past the stop, still farther
to the left (anticlockwise).

If you are doing this from the front of the fridge, as you normally would if the
knobs were intact, you would turn the selector all the way anticlockwise (left)
to switch on the gas, then pull on the safety valve knob and hold it while
pressing the ignitor (the lefthand button) to light the gas; then hold the
safety valve open for 15 to 30 seconds before releasing it; then go outside and
look to make sure the burner is lit.  Turn the gas off by turning the selector
knob clockwise to the stop.  Switch to electric operation by pushing in on the
selector knob and then turning it clockwise past the stop as far as it will go
(only about 1/8 of a turn).

Clear as mud?

There is a simpler solution: go to an RV parts place and get replacement knobs.

The selector knob on my fridge broke some time ago and to date I have not been
able to find a replacement (many stores have the thermostat knobs but the
selector knob appears to be a rare animal).  So I have been switching it on and
off from the rear for several months now.  Dead easy to do, but hard to
describe.

John