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Topic ClosedBrand new Dometic fridge is worthless
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spydie View Drop Down
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Posts: 159 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Brand new Dometic fridge is worthless
    Posted: 04 Sep 2017 at 12:19am
Originally posted by Casey

We ended up doing the same thing of packing all our drinks in an ice chest, and luckily had the fridge in the truck for food. It was kind of annoying have to go and get ice when we had two fridges. With my old trailer we would always pack the food in the trailer fridge, and drinks in the truck fridge, since drinks are what we would normally need on trips and exploring throughout the day, and meals were eaten back at camp. But this time we ended up packing all our Friday around for the day.

Speaking of that old trailer, I just went out and checked the temp after firing it up on propane this morning, after a 104 degree day it is now 21 degrees in the freezer and 32 in the main fridge. Now I'm trying to convince my wife to let me put the ancient wood paneling fridge in our brand new trailer

no, no... don't do that! lOL... Make your dealer or dometic or FR figure out what the problem is and help the rest of us that have had no luck with them! (smile).  When I went from NM to AR to pick up my new pod a month ago I don't know how long the dealer had had the refer turned on, but it wasn't cold.  I put my thermometer in it and some drinks and headed home.  After two days and nights on the road (it was about 100 degrees or a little over) it was still 71 degrees in it when I got home and that's when I started taking it to my local dealer to work on.  Fortunately I had taken my Engel Chest freezer/refer along and had it plugged into my truck.  I also took a spare AGM deep cycle along and put it in the front floorboard and at night I'd unplug from the truck battery and plug into the spare battery.  When I got home after 2 nights, the spare battery still had 12.5 volts in it after running the Engel for two nights.  I was pretty impressed.
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spydie View Drop Down
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Posts: 159 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Sep 2017 at 12:25am
Originally posted by Casey

I just had an idea. If the lack of a temperature difference across the condenser coils in the back of the fridge is the problem.... Why not blow COLD air across them??   If we're camping when it's that hot, we have the AC on. When the AC is running it is pumping cold air into the trailer, and all that extra air needs to exit somewhere. I need to find a way to channel it across the back of the fridge, and then out the upper fridge vent. That would put plenty of nice cool air across the condenser no matter what the outside temp is. And if it's cool enough that we're not running the AC, the fridge should be working fine on its own. I'm going to pick up some ducting and do some experimenting this week.

That sounds like a great idea.  maybe Forest River and other manufacturers should be doing this as standard equipment?  Let us know the results.  Of course you've still got a problem.  When traveling in high temps, like I did in the 100+ range while pulling my new pod home from AR to NM, there's no way to blow cold air over the coils when going down the road.  When you get to your destination, everything is spoiled from being 57 degrees + in the fridge all day and your drinks are all warm (mine never got less than 71 degrees inside on my two day trip home).  Your idea only works if you are in a campground running the AC.
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Posts: 267 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Sep 2017 at 1:02am
I'm happy for those of you that have good luck with your Dometics. Over the years I've had 5 in different RV's, and each has performed poorly. I've added interior fans and switched exterior fans to blow over the coils, and still ended up with soft serve ice cream or worse! The two Norcolds we've had were each some better. Heck, the ice box we had in our Shasta back in 1967 did a better job in hot weather. There you go. Now I'll quit sniveling and drift away again.
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Posts: 63 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Sep 2017 at 6:35am
In a thread on the FR forums, one user stated that RV ACs do not pull air from the outside. They cool the air already inside. If that is the case, there is no excess cool air needing to get out of the TT to blow over the coils.

Also, if you are trying to operate an RV fridge in 100+ temperatures, you are operating at the ragged edge of the technology used in RV fridges.

I know almost all of you know this, but in case someone doesn't:

1. Get your fridge to temperature using household power before leaving.

2. Fill your fridge with at-temperature food.

3. Fill it as full as possible. No empty space.

4. Minimize opening and closing.

I don't know if it is luck or good practices (probably a combo of both), but we haven't had an issue yet, even on high-90 days.
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Casey View Drop Down
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Posts: 19 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Sep 2017 at 7:39am
They definitely pull air from outside, there's no inlet on the inside.   

All those things mentioned were done, I'm no newbie to RVs and have lived out of 2 and 3 way absorbsion fridges for years. I've never had one perform this bad and all have been in the same types of weather.

As far as ducting cool air over the condenser, it would have been rediculously easy to do from the factory, especially with that storage space under the fridge. If my idea works, a vent in the back of that space that can be closed, and a closable lower vent on the outside of the trailer would allow you to go back and forth between inside air and outside air running across the coils. That wouldn't solve the problem while going down the road, but maybe a small air scoop vent on the bottom would help out a little bit.   

The ultimate solution is a compressor fridge, they have far more space inside and hot temperatures don't bother them. The downside is that they can't be run off propane, which is an ideal power source when you're dry camping, which is 90% of what we do.   They are really efficient on battery though, so it wouldn't take much of a solar panel to keep them going
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Tars Tarkas View Drop Down
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Posts: 1446 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Sep 2017 at 8:40am
Originally posted by Casey

They definitely pull air from outside, there's no inlet on the inside.

They really don't.  I don't think there is even an option to bring in outside air. 

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Casey View Drop Down
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Posts: 19 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Sep 2017 at 8:54am
Yep, you're right on that.   I was thinking of my old trailer and my last two toterhomes, which both pulled outside air.   I'll have to rethink my plan a bit
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Posts: 63 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Sep 2017 at 9:27am
Originally posted by Casey

They definitely pull air from outside, there's no inlet on the inside.   

All those things mentioned were done, I'm no newbie to RVs and have lived out of 2 and 3 way absorbsion fridges for years. I've never had one perform this bad and all have been in the same types of weather.

As far as ducting cool air over the condenser, it would have been rediculously easy to do from the factory, especially with that storage space under the fridge. If my idea works, a vent in the back of that space that can be closed, and a closable lower vent on the outside of the trailer would allow you to go back and forth between inside air and outside air running across the coils. That wouldn't solve the problem while going down the road, but maybe a small air scoop vent on the bottom would help out a little bit.   

The ultimate solution is a compressor fridge, they have far more space inside and hot temperatures don't bother them. The downside is that they can't be run off propane, which is an ideal power source when you're dry camping, which is 90% of what we do.   They are really efficient on battery though, so it wouldn't take much of a solar panel to keep them going

No one said you were a newbie.

I even went so far as to say all probably knew, but addressed the advice to those who may not.

Glad you acknowledged your definite dispute of the assertion I referenced--not my own--was in error, even if you didn't address it to the person whose post you were disputing.

Moving on.
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Posts: 347 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Sep 2017 at 11:11am
The Dometic fridge in our new blue/gray 177 works just fine on propane and AC.  I start it running on AC the day before we leave and then switch it to propane for the duration of the trip.  It works ok even in 90+ temps.

For what it's worth, I replaced the Dometic fridge in my truck camper with a Tundra 12vdc/AC compressor fridge about 10 years ago.  I put 2 computer fans on the cooling fins of the Dometic and that made a noticeable difference.

There's just no comparison between the two.  The compressor fridge is a real refrigerator.
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spydie View Drop Down
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Posts: 159 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Sep 2017 at 11:31am
Originally posted by geewizard

The Dometic fridge in our new blue/gray 177 works just fine on propane and AC.  I start it running on AC the day before we leave and then switch it to propane for the duration of the trip.  It works ok even in 90+ temps.

For what it's worth, I replaced the Dometic fridge in my truck camper with a Tundra 12vdc/AC compressor fridge about 10 years ago.  I put 2 computer fans on the cooling fins of the Dometic and that made a noticeable difference.

There's just no comparison between the two.  The compressor fridge is a real refrigerator.

There's a big difference between "it works" and "it works like it should, being able to keep the inside temps down below 42 degrees in the 90+ temps".  We need to know what your inside temperature is when it's in the mid-to-upper 90s outside.  Here we are dealing with temps in the 100s.  There's a big difference in how they cool as the temp changes outside.  Mine was 27.3 degrees this morning on 12 volt but it got down to 62 degrees last night.  Mine works best on 12 volt (which traditionally has always been the worst of the 3 in all my previous dozen or so RVs), second best on 120 volt and worst on LP (which has always been traditionally the best in 40 years of RVing).  Also do you live where the air is humid or dry? (I'm trying to determine if that makes a difference).  But there are a lot of guys on here experiencing the poor performance of the Dometic in high outside temps and it seems, so far, to be in the newer units.  All in all, you are right about the 12 volt real refrigerator with a Danfoss type compressor.  And the only reason I haven't pulled my new Dometic and installed one is because I hate to do that to a brand new $1500 refer.  Plus we haven't even used our new Pod yet.  I got it over a month ago and it's been too hot to go camping especially when the refer doesn't work.  Hell, I might hate the thing and sell it when I get home from my first camping trip with it! LOL
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