David Jones Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I have a 2011 Motorhome fitted with a Dometic fridge model RMD8505. At the end of April this year the fridge ceased working on electric, as it was under warranty the local Dometic agent came to me on 4 occasions and replaced various electrical parts. By October this year, it was returned to our local Dealer with the Dometic agent, and they both agreed they had gone as far as they could to find a solution to the problem, it was now in Dometic's hands, waiting for parts and a solution. It is my understanding that there are many more Dometic fridges fitted to various motorhomes that have this same problem. Can anyone help or comment.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Just checked and it's the same fridge we have fitted in our Auto-Trail, have only used it for 3 weeks or so away, it seems to have worked correctly for us, on AES, it works on EHU and changes to 12 v with engine running etc., What was the nature of your problem ? did it just cease getting cold ? did it show any error lights ? does it still work on gas ? how long did it work before it broke ? Have we got that to 'look foward to' ? Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums, David. I'm not aware of widespread problems with Dometic 8-Series appliances regarding operating on 230V power (which I presume you are referring to, rather than 12V power). If you've been given to understand that lots of 8-Series appliances have experienced similar problems to yours, could you say, please, what the source of that information is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Jones Posted December 15, 2012 Author Share Posted December 15, 2012 In reply to questions regarding my faulty Dometic fridge, it worked for 1 year, it then failed, but no error lights occurred, but it works on gas. The information regarding other motorhomes may have this problem came from the Dometic agent, and also the dealer from where I purchased my Motorhome. They advsied there at least 8 or 9 within the area I live. Parts that have been changed are:- 2 power boards, a cooler unit, and numerous loose connections, but the fridge still does not freeze on 230v. Initially the fridge starts to freeze, but always fails after 2-3 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 failed after a year, could be nasty. Hopefully yours is still under warranty ? I have 2 years on mine. But I will be keeping a close eye on it. Sounds like a strange fault too, electronics usually 'just fail' and don't work again. yours seems to have worked 'on and off' . Hope they get to the 'bottom of it'. Let us know the outcome. And by the way, Welcome to the Forum. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 We had a stupid fault on the AES fridge freezer when we had a Rimor, the board was changed but we still had a fault with it on electric. I think it eventually turned out to be a loose connection for the wiring to the controller/charger unit in the battery compartment, it kept loosing it's connection, hence the intermittent fault. Once the connections were all tightened up we never had any more problems. It might therefore be wise to go over the cabling back to the charger unit and ensure all the connections are tight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 David Jones - 2012-12-15 4:20 PM In reply to questions regarding my faulty Dometic fridge, it worked for 1 year, it then failed, but no error lights occurred, but it works on gas. The information regarding other motorhomes may have this problem came from the Dometic agent, and also the dealer from where I purchased my Motorhome. They advsied there at least 8 or 9 within the area I live. Parts that have been changed are:- 2 power boards, a cooler unit, and numerous loose connections, but the fridge still does not freeze on 230v. Initially the fridge starts to freeze, but always fails after 2-3 hours. David, a bit more detail might help. You say it won't freeze after 2/3 hours, but that would barely be time for it to get down to freezer temperature. However, you don't say whether it cools the fridge compartment normally, or whether the whole thing fails to work on mains. If there is no warning light, how do you know it isn't freezing? Also, in the absence of warning lights, how do you know it actually runs for 2/3 hours and then stops? I haven't checked the manual for your model, but would expect the freezer compartment to need to be cooling for around 24 hours to get to freezer temperature. The manual should say somewhere. I would add in addition, how do you know it is running satisfactorily on gas? I assume because the freezer compartment gets down to temperature, and the fridge compartment is acceptably cool? Does it work satisfactorily on 12V while you are driving, or does the temperature rise while in transit? Questions, questions: I know! :-) However, these are relatively simple machines that work on heat (thermo-syphon: so no pump). There is only one cooling circuit that serves both compartments. There is one gas burner which, from what you say, seems to be working satisfactorily. There are also two electric heating elements: one 230V and one 12V. If the fridge-freezer is working as it should on gas, the thermo-syphon is functioning, which suggests there is adequate coolant in the system. If it is working as it should on 12V, the control circuits would also seem to be working as they should. So, as it seems it has not yet been replaced, I just wonder if the 230V heating element has a fault that causes it to cut out as it gets to maximum temperature. Possibly a loose connection that breaks contact as parts expend on heating, or simply a duff element. Clearly, the machine is still "seeing" the 230V supply, or it would automatically switch to gas on its AES logic. This suggests to me that whatever the fault, it lies "downstream" of the AES control system, so a fault with the heater element seems at least a possibility. Worth investigating? Failing that, it may be that the fridge compartment has by then reached its set temperature, so the thermostat turns off the 230V heater. I don't know whether the fridge and freezer have separate stats, or whether there is just one. If just one, I would assume it will be in the freezer section, with the fridge just having to accept whatever temperature that results in. If two, maybe a dud freezer 'stat? If only one, I wonder whether that 'stat (which I think is not the same on as used for gas) may be defective. From your list it seems that item hasn't been changed either. There are installation and user manuals available here: http://tinyurl.com/d5x4qul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 David, As the dealer has now had at least 4 attempts at repairing the duff fridge I would be asking for a replacement with a brand new fridge. Start off by asking nicely before making any threatening moves such as CAB or legal advice and you may have more luck. I'm not quite sure what your legal position is on asking for a complete replacement but it's definitely worth trying. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.