I always say the RV is like a dog. It’s never sick until the vet is closed, it’s a weekend, or you’re on vacation! The same thing can certainly be said about travel trailers. Things that break never happen when it is convenient.

A few days before our trip to Lake Whitney State Park, I turned my Fridge on (Electric). A day before we left, I pulled the RV out into the driveway to lad it up. This is when I noticed that the “Check” light was illuminated on the fridge control panel. Ordinarily, this is due to air in the LP lines. The fix in that case is simple; purge the air via the cooktop, and then retry the fridge. That did not do the trick.

I hate fixing things under duress! However, that was the path I was now on. I noticed that the ignitor was not working. Once the gas valve opens you will ordinarily hear tick..tick..tick.. and then the fridge will light on propane. There was no power to the ignitor at all.

So, I removed the outer fridge panel and checked the fuse (3 amp), it was good. Next, I removed the cover from the control board and checked the 5-volt fuse, it was also good. Then I removed my ignitor and cleaned it of any residue and reinstalled it. Again, no luck!

One thing I do know from watching many YouTube videos, is that 98% of the time when the ignitor doesn’t work it is the control board. Control boards are not expensive. However, this was something that would need to wait until we got back from Lake Whitney State Park. The two-hour drive there would have little to no impact on the temperature in the fridge. So, I hooked up our shore power until we left.

We arrived at the park with perfectly cold food, and more importantly beer.

After the week at Lake Whitney, we returned home to the new control board. Installing the board is easy peasey, but you need to make sure that all the power including 12-volt power is off before installing it. Then it is just a matter of removing the wires from the old box and placing them on the new board. The old and new boards have writing next to each wire regarding its purpose. For example, one wire says “Battery”, so you run that wire to the post on the new board that says “Battery”. In my case the location of all the wires were identical.

Once the new board was in, the fridge fired right up.

On a side note, if you are buying from Amazon, check the reviews. The board I purchased had several different makes, some had horrible reviews.

So, the moral of the story is that, if you need to ever replace your fridge control board – it is easy! However, exercise caution because you don’t want to get electrocuted.