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Old 04-11-2016, 05:38 AM   #1
Virginia Young
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Dometic four-door piece of **** refrigerator

From the time we purchased this Big sky, we have had problems with the refrigerator. Works great for weeks at a time, then we will have a day or two where it won't cool above the upper 40's. Dometic wants to blame everything but the refrigerator.

Everybody says it has trash in the cooling unit, but since we haven't been able to get service out here when it is actually malfunctioning, we are stuck with it. We only have 3 months left on the warranty so it looks like we will be eating this stupid thing. I can tell you - It won't be replaced with another Dometic.

I've contacted Dometic, directly. No help.
 
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Old 04-11-2016, 05:48 AM   #2
Bigboomer
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We feel your pain. Ours crapped out last summer so we put the Samsung rf18hfenbbc in and have not looked back. The cost differential is huge even considering fixing the stupid RV frig.

Funny thing about the Dometic and Norcold warranties is that you must take it to a dealer once a year to have it checked or serviced which costs about $150.

Go residential!
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Old 04-11-2016, 06:00 AM   #3
1retired06
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Guess we are lucky. Since the dealer replaced ours in the 2015, we have been trouble free for a year now, running at an average of 36-38. Did add some baffling at the top and installed a 4 inch fan at the bottom to push air up and out. We have noticed when we put hot food in, temp jumps but then comes back down.
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Old 04-11-2016, 06:23 AM   #4
jcurtis934
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I have the 12cuft norcold, which has been working well. We have had two occasions recently where fridge temps seemed to vary from 31 to 43. So I was looking in the top outside vent to see if something had changed. When I looked at the installation manual, I found out that keystone hadn't followed the manual on the install of two metal pieces that funnel air flow. Both should be the full width of the enclosure. The lower unit was only 21 inches wide, not 32. It should also have its top lip to within one quarter of an inch, horz and vert, of the right side of the finned coil behind that vent. It was not bent inward at the top to meet that spec. The metal at the very top was less than the back panel width of the fridge with gaps on both sides to allow hot air behind the metal panel. There was a lack of insulation behind that panel and the bottom of it overlapped the top of the fridge by about 1.5 inches, whereas spec is quarter inch to less than one. After correcting these two vent deflectors the fridge is purring along and closely maintaining whatever I set it to all day. Might want to dig out the installation manual and check to see what the manufacturing floor wizards did on yours! John
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Old 04-11-2016, 08:03 AM   #5
onekla
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Y'all have had problems of one sort or another since you got it! Go camp out close to a service place until it messes up again! Hope you get it fixed soon.
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Old 04-11-2016, 09:07 AM   #6
DarMar
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Ours was completely replaced in 2015 as well, not just the cooling unit. Since then we have added a fan forcing air directly out the top vent as well as adding a bunch of flashing above to eliminate any dead air flow spaces and moved the thermo switch so it calls for the cooling fans sooner. This will be our first complete summer with a working fridge we hope!!!

Yes, it's a real pain in the a** when this happens and even more so when you are full timing I am sure. When we forced the issue with our dealer AND Dometic that we didn't just want another cooling unit and we wanted a complete fridge for some reason they agreed. Perhaps keep calling Dometic every time your temp spikes and hope they get tired of you and resolve the obvious problem.

Plain and simple these fridges need a whole lot more air circulation or they will continue to crap out.
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Old 04-11-2016, 02:41 PM   #7
Clemson1881
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If ours ever goes we're going with a household unit.
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Old 04-11-2016, 03:36 PM   #8
cdaniels
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Ours is a 2009 definitely has had its ups and downs with keeping right temps. It died on the way home from our FL trip. We have the old one out and the Samsung on order. safety and better cooling was our deciding factor. We will miss the wood look but not the problem. Samsung was $1080 with a 5 yr warranty. We never dry camp so this will work well for us. And we do have the honda genny if necessary.

Thanks bigboomer for all the pics of your install. Really helped us a lot!
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Old 04-11-2016, 05:59 PM   #9
Mark N.
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Lots of us have no choice but put up with the stock refer. Residential refers are not an option if one boondocks and needs a propane refer. for extended off-grid use. Residential refers are big time power hogs, and therefore unsuitable for running off of most solar arrays or generators for anything but a very short while. So, I'm stuck with the stock refer.
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Old 04-11-2016, 07:23 PM   #10
Bigboomer
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Mark,

Have to disagree with the power hog issue with the residential frig. We have been boondocking in Quartzsite for the past 3 months and have not had any issues with huge power draw. The maximum power draw for the Samsung is 7 amps per hour that we have measured consistently with the Trimetric meter.

Even if you just need to go from one destination to another with a 1000W inverter and a couple of decent batteries the frig will work fine.

Out here in the desert the RV frigs run hot using a lot if propane in the process.

Oh, and our beer is nice and cold and the ice cream is rock hard!

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Old 04-11-2016, 07:25 PM   #11
Bigboomer
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by cdaniels

Ours is a 2009 definitely has had its ups and downs with keeping right temps. It died on the way home from our FL trip. We have the old one out and the Samsung on order. safety and better cooling was our deciding factor. We will miss the wood look but not the problem. Samsung was $1080 with a 5 yr warranty. We never dry camp so this will work well for us. And we do have the honda genny if necessary.

Thanks bigboomer for all the pics of your install. Really helped us a lot!
Anytime...that's what we are all here for....

Glad it is working out.

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Old 04-11-2016, 07:27 PM   #12
catskiner
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Have had good luck with a Camco Solar frig fan vent cover.
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Old 04-12-2016, 07:27 AM   #13
kozzy
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in my SOB, I had issues, come to find out that it was missing baffles that were supposed to be installed to assist in ventilation. I fixed it myself and it worked great. I second the install check comment, make sure it was put in properly, if its not cooling, that might be the issue.
Im about to leave on a 10 day trip, I should take my own advice and make sure my fridge works . ill turn it on tonight lol
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Old 04-14-2016, 02:11 PM   #14
tomd
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I feel sure You have checked, but just a reminder to make sure the flap on the left door is in the closed position. If it's not sealing the door can be adjusted to make it work freely.
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Old 04-15-2016, 01:09 AM   #15
Eagleback
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Have a 1210 4 door Norcold. Crapped out after a year. Replaced with a Arctic cold cooling unit and now the fridge freeze is at 3° to 9° on setting number #3. WITH OUT A DOUBT THE BEST AFTERMARKET UNIT AVAILABLE and it was replaced under warranty and they approved it because it was half the cost. AND a traveling rv repair man did it with out me having to take it to the dealer.
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