dometic fridge repair

[surfbeetle]

My fifth wheel has the original 2003 Dometic gas/ac fridge. It's starting to not cool as well as it once did. Has anyone here used the Amish Replacement kits to rebuild a fridge? It looks to be less expensive but also more robust than just replacing or repairing with the same oem style components.

 

[jhenderson]

Amish replacement? 1903 ice box?

 

[Killgore]

You've certainly gotten your usage out of an item that normally has about a ten-year lifespan. Over the years I've replaced two Dometic's with regular 110-volt refrigerators that were the approximate same size at 20% of the Dometic replacement's cost. Granted, I was always in a hurry to get where I was going before everything thawed. Today, I'm running a large double-door refrigerator off an 1800-watt inverter that's powered by two deep-cycle batteries. You might want to consider using a 110-volt refrigerator in conjunction with an inverter if that's feasible.

- Ed

 

[surfbeetle]

Ice box? Ha now it's currently an icebox as I have to buy a large block of ice to get it cold. As for going with an inverter and deep cycle batteries, I still like having propane for dry camping. We camp at the beach and they don't always allow generators and often times it can be overcast so solar would not be a good option. I do plan to put an inverter in the truck to power up the trailer while driving. But as for repairing the current fridge, I was looking at something like these guys have at http://jc-refrigeration.com/products/

 

[Tuesdak]

The RV fridge should outlast well, you. Several full size home and RV fridges from the early 1900's are still going today. RV fridges that were made recently were defective in design for the cooling units and resulted in several class action lawsuits. Norcold has a extended warranty on some older units due to the settlement and Dometic's class action is ongoing. Dometic has several cooling unit recalls so your unit may be covered.

A little known fact about RV fridges is they need to be pretty close to level to operate without damaging the cooling units by overheating. Link about level operation and recalls. The overheating crystallizes the anti corrosion agents and the value engineered too thin for the job cooling unit walls corrode through. (Normally the crystals just clog the system and it just quits working.) Fires and explosions result from the leaks. Biased on researching my fridge Norcold has corrected 1/2 the defect in 2014+ cooling units and both Dometic and Norcold still have their heads in the sand for controlling the boiler temps. Yes the linked site is selling add on boiler temp controllers, but, the info is useful as to the failure modes of RV fridges. https://www.arprv.com/

In summery a better built cooling unit, there are several aftermarket units available, is only half the problem. (I am not clear if Dometic is building thicker walled cooling systems like Norcold has since 2014.) The other half is overheating of the boiler during off level operation.

The above said has your troubleshooting brought you to a cooling system clog or leak? Flame ok? Electric operation just as bad?

 

[KenHwy61]

My fifth wheel has the original 2003 Dometic gas/ac fridge. It's starting to not cool as well as it once did. Has anyone here used the Amish Replacement kits to rebuild a fridge? It looks to be less expensive but also more robust than just replacing or repairing with the same oem style components.

I looked at the Amish kit you mentioned and as a longtime refrigeration mechanic and RV owner I find the concept of just replacing the sealed ammonia system quite interesting. If you do go ahead with it I would really like to hear how it turns out.

 

[surfbeetle]

So touch on the above two posts, yes the flame and electric yield the same result of the fridge not cooling as well as it once did. I try to level out the fridge as best as possible. When I originally added exterior levels, I leveled the trailer based on the fridge and then added the outside levels. It's had the safety recall done years ago for that model unit. I will have to follow the link above and see if my fridge is covered by the recall, thanks for the info.