RV refrigeration

[Apprentice]

OK this is baffleing to me. My friends got an RV and wanted me to check out why his fridge wouldn't work and light his pilot on his heater. Looked at his frige first, no power to it, spagetti factory, abandoned it and lit his pilot on heater. He calls later, the frige is working now. A little exploration the next weekend revealed the power to the frige is routed through a type of warp swith tied in with his heater pilot. WTF??

I understand what but I dont get the why? Can anybody clue me in on why they'd do this?

[Apprentice]

Come on, somebody's worked on RV's before...

[Mark]

to prevent explosions?.
regards mark

[chemi-cool]

is this one can be operated with gas and electricity?
if so it might be a heating element.

chemi

[Mark]

apprentice care to elaborate.

[Apprentice]

Umm, yeah, I think I do remember the guy saying that it would work on gas or electric. But apparently the heater pilot must be lit either way. He had it all plugged in before I lit the pilot and the frige never came on. That's about all I know about it. This was in early summer but since I found the experts board (sic), I thought I'd ask you guys about it. It's been working fine ever since, as long as the pilot's lit!. Greek to me.

[Mark]

hello Apprentice
Can i clarify we are talking about two seperate appliances one being the refrigerator and two being a gas powered heater.Not an absorbtion refrigerator??.
If so they could both be fed from the same electrical circuit,that incorporates a safety feature which in the event of the pilot going out on the thermocouple (situated in the heater).the electrical supply to the refrigerator is also disconnected,thus preventing the gas from the heater escaping ,and the compressor on the refrigerator starts causing a spark which ignites the gas .
regards mark

[Apprentice]

Can i clarify we are talking about two seperate appliances one being the refrigerator and two being a gas powered heater.

That is correct.

I bet you're correct in it being an explosion safety. The heater and frige is side by side. What you said makes sense about compressor spark. Specially with an LP unit.

Makes sense...fog clearing...;-)

Nice to be familier with specific types of equipment.

[Peter_1]

Please post a picture of an RV because i didn't dared to askwhat the meaning of an RV was. I could find out between the lines that we were talking about an abpsortion fridge.

[Apprentice]

An RV is a Recreational Vehicle. A mobile home, camper on wheels.