A tale of two ICMs...

The saga continues...

The wind howled yesterday - thank goodness for awning straps and tie-downs! - so we spent the day working on the fridge.'Not much point in trying to flyfish in a gale.

Having exhausted most of the troubleshooting we can do on our own, we decided to take the ignition control module, burner and electrode to Kamloops and have them checked by an RV technician. The tech at the first RV place suggested we replace the burner, but unfortunately (or fortunately, as you will see later) the currently available replacement burner requires a new fitting on the gas line, and we lack the tools to do that job (need a flaring tool). He offered to do it for us if we brought in the gas line, but of course that is a 2 hour round trip. He was not able to test the ICM for us, so we went to South Thompson RV where John and his RV tech were extremely helpful. They cleaned and checked the burner for us and pronounced it sound. They tested the ICM and said that it passed the test, but their tester would not necessarily pick up intermittent failures. John was of the opinion that we might have oil in the lines blocking the flow of gas from time-to-time. John also suggested I go talk to his Dad, Terry, at Citation RV next door. Terry was also very helpful, and he didn't think that oil was our problem, but it was likely that the ICM was failing intermittently - apparently not common, but also not unheard of. While talking with him I got the idea that I could perhaps swap the ICM from the hot water heater with the ICM on the fridge.

When we got home last night I re-installed the ignition control module, burner and electrode on the fridge and, of course, the fridge started right up. The flame is much stronger now that the burner is clean and free of debris. We went to bed with our fingers and toes crossed, hoping that we would wake up to see no Check light. Sadly, it was not to be - the Check light was on in the morning. The fridge started up when we turned it off and on again, though - very weird. I decided to try swapping the hot water heater and fridge ICMs to see what would happen. Both appliances seem to be working with each other's ICMs. If the fridge works fine with the hot water heater ICM then we'll know that it needs a new ICM. If not then we'll know the problem must be elsewhere. We'll see what happens...

On the bright side, the weather is much improved - it's sunny and wind, while brisk, is not strong enough to cause whitecaps on Tunkwa, so we can go fishing!

Cheers! KW

BTW I have nothing but good things to say about both South Thompson RV and Citation RV. They were very helpful, and the lads at South Thompson RV would not accept any payment for the cleaning and inspection of my burner and testing of the ICM. Great service! They'll definitely get my future business.