My Norcold N430 would not work at 7500 elevations for the last 7 years. So I made an appt with…read moreArizona Route 66 RV Repair to diagnose at 7100 ft elev. 10 miles west of Flagstaff in town called Bellemont. I was impressed one person reviewed they took their RV to 3 other repair places, who could not resolve the issue, but Jeff at Route 66 solved it. He is both Norcold and Dometic Factory Certified Technician.
Jeff blew off the altitude reason. He said no reason why it shouldn't work at 7000 - 8000 ft elev. He said if I lived full time in my RV at 10,000 feet, maybe then I would have to do the modifications. He felt my problem was my flame sensor was dirty. I told him I only do dispersed camping on dusty roads. He said "dirty has nothing to do with road dust. Dirty is when the sensor gets corroded (turns green color) from years of having the gas flame on it".
But my flame sensor was really hard to remove, almost inaccessible. Took him 15 min to find the right tool in his extensive drill bit case to get one that could remove the sensor that was in real awkward spot, so I don't think I could do it myself. He cleaned the flame sensor with a piece of sandpaper. Looks like an "L" shaped allen wrench.
I learned that a corroded flame sensor cannot sense the flame, so it shuts off the propane thinking there is no flame . No propane, no flame, so no cold fridge. There was no answer why the "corroded" is only when I was at high altitudes, but four days ago on June 8, 2020, when I drove to their 7100 ft store elev from 1200 elev, the flame stayed on all night at 7100 feet even BEFORE Jeff cleaned the sensor. But May 14, 2020, I camped at 7500 feet, the flame refused to stay on the whole 4 days at camp, and my food all got spoiled.
Jeff spent maybe 30 min on my fridge, including 15 looking for the right bit to remove the propane sensor. Cost me their minimum charge of 1 hour $145. Jeff spent another 30 min educating me about fridges, and also told me not to let my battery get too low or I will have problems with the fridge. Here I thought the battery was only needed for the ignitor when on propane. Jeff said No, the whole fridge needs power for all it's functions to work. If I was gonna be dispersed camping for many days, I should consider solar panels.
Jeff said I should have my fridge serviced and cleaned this way every 2 years. He said the fact that my fridge is still running at 22 years old, is pretty darn good. (Norcold discontinued my fridge model N430 in 1999, 1 year after it was purchased by previous owner.)
Now I camped 4 days at over 7000 ft elevation and the flame is strong, the green flame light stays steadily on and the ignitor has never ticked after Jeff cleaned it. Horay, finally I have ice and cold drinks!
But I won't be going on another camping trip "to use my fridge" till I find another 5 speed tranny, cos when I was driving home, my stick could not find the gears, causing cars to pile up behind me, honk and honk, or go around me, cos I was stopped or coasting trying to find the gear. Bad synchronizers. If not one thing, it's another, with these 40 year old rigs.
Here are photos of my Toyota 1982 Sunrader, and the 2 elk at my Flagstaff campout, at Marshall Lake, where I enjoyed ICE and cold drinks, thanks to Jeff!
