Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks: My Dometic Refer is sick; any suggestions

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My Dometic Refer is sick; any suggestions

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Topic: My Dometic Refer is sick; any suggestions

Posted By: lostagain
Subject: My Dometic Refer is sick; any suggestions
Date Posted: 14 Jun 2017 at 9:30pm

My Dometic RM8501 refrigerator has a rusted out burner. It's the original from 2009. I suspect the prior owner never bothered to clean the burner and it is now corroded enough that it won't support a hot enough flame to keep the ammonia circulating. In my initial foray into replacement parts I'm told that the unit is obsolete and that there is no replacement part number. I've emailed Dometic's US distributor to see if they can help, but so far have not heard back.

Seems to me not having a part for a 8 year old refer is not so good, not to mention poor product support. I've wondering whether it is worth trying to patch up the old burner as much as possible and see if it can be coaxed into burning hot enough to work or whether it would be better to rip out the refrigerator and put a new one in. Anyone have experience with this?

If it is more cost effective to replace it, what has been the quality experience with Dometic vs. Norcold. It appears that Norcold is made here in the US while Dometic is part of Electrolux and is made in Germany, at least that's what the data plate says. Does anyone have experience in the comparison of the two brands re quality, product support and ease of installation?

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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
Sonoma 167RB
Our Pod 172
2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost

Replies:

Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 15 Jun 2017 at 7:48am

It's a couple hours to swap out a replacement fridge. As long as it's the same one or size. If you try to go bigger, more involved.

http://colawrvsalvage.com/ - Possibly these guys , or someone like them, can help.. It appears that there are similar facilities in the NV/AZ area...

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Posted By: lostagain
Date Posted: 15 Jun 2017 at 10:34am

Thanks furpod, I was finally able to find a phone number for Dometic and talk to someone in their parts dept. They said that probably the discontinued part numbers have replacements and it should be no problem with a replacement burner. Now I have to go to the diagram and figure out exactly what I've got to replace to see if it is available. If that doesn't work, I'll give the salvage yard a call to see if they have anything.

I'd prefer to repair what is already there if it is cost effective. On the other hand, if I rip out the old refer and put a new one in, I'll feel a lot better about working on the new one.

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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
Sonoma 167RB
Our Pod 172
2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost

Posted By: lostagain
Date Posted: 15 Jun 2017 at 2:14pm

Well, I found the part number from the Dometic diagram and called them. They said it is available, but they won't sell it; that I should go through their RV dealers. I called various dealers and none had it in stock. The list price for a piece of square metal tube about with a little burner orifice of about a centimeter of thin metal is $185.00 plus shipping which brings it up to $200. I found a direct Norcold replacement for $1053 on Amazon.

I spent about 6 hours on the phone and internet trying to track down the Dometic parts people and looking for the part. Their customer support is horrible.

Since I'm not 100% sure the burner will really solve the problem and I anticipate having more replacement part problems with Dometic, I decided it would be more cost effective to get a whole dang new refrigerator than to mess around with the old one. But no more Dometic products for me. It'll be a cold day in hell before I ever get anything from them. They're added to my list which includes Xerox, IBM, HP, and Dell.

The Norcold is on the way from Amazon.

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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
Sonoma 167RB
Our Pod 172
2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost

Posted By: GLBCamper
Date Posted: 15 Jun 2017 at 6:52pm

Originally posted by lostagain

I suspect the prior owner never bothered to clean the burner and it is now corroded enough that it won't support a hot enough flame to keep the ammonia circulating.

I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I've never seen any suggested maintenance on the Fridge beyond emptying the drip cup. How does one "clean the burner?" How often? Any other maintenance?

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Old: 2014 177 HRE
2015 Tacoma V6 4x4 Double Cab
New: 2016 EVO ATS 200rd
2016 F150 4x4 Sport

Posted By: Q7-retired
Date Posted: 16 Jun 2017 at 5:51am

Originally posted by lostagain

But no more Dometic products for me. It'll be a cold day in hell before I ever get anything from them. The Norcold is on the way from Amazon.

I'm not sure even the Norcold could make hell freeze over! See http://www.alphadictionary.com/fun/hell.html - http://www.alphadictionary.com/fun/hell.html

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Best regards, Jim
2015-RP178
TV 2015 Audi Q7 TDI and 2017 Ford F150
At home in "Our Pod"

Posted By: lostagain
Date Posted: 16 Jun 2017 at 8:37am

GLB, beats me. It is the burner is about a 1cm in diameter and is protected by a circular flange around it. I could see that the openings in the burner were corroded away and at the other end of the +/- 10 cm square tube in the inlet there is a little foil insert with a hole and it was corroded away as well such that the hole was uneven. I suspect someone stuck a pin or something in it and damaged it. Since I bought our pod used, I have no idea of the maintenance history.

The baffle and such in the burner tower were also in pretty bad shape as though they had never been cleaned and there was a lot of rust in there too. In the long run, I had a suspicion I'd be chasing the problem with each little piece not fixing the problem and more an more money being invested in very expensive parts and long delays in getting them.

Q, as for whether Norcold can make hell freeze over, what I can say is that Dometic will have to figure out how to do it before I buy any of their stuff.

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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
Sonoma 167RB
Our Pod 172
2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost

Posted By: Carolavan
Date Posted: 19 Jun 2017 at 9:48am

I agree. See my posts re Dometic service.

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2015 R-Pod 179
2016 Nissan Pathfinder Platinum

"It's a good thing we are going slowly because we might be going in the wrong direction." Ashliegh Brilliant