Dometic fridge

[Noody]

Thanks again to both of you, it's gone now. Then I fell-foul of the EU or maybe just Germans using blue as live. I'll put this down to my ageing thinking processes because I'm well aware and started marking conductors with red and black sleeves to remind me.

 

It was just a fuse on the EBL blew when I connected negative polarity DC onto a positive connection.

 

The fridge is back in it's hole now and everything connected other than the supply to the 12volt heating element. I need to make a printed strip from one of those plastic tape printing machine to remind me or any future owner that this is the switch for 12 volt fridge whilst on the move in much the same way as I have a printed strip stuck just above the Truma boils switch to remind me or whoever to remove or replace the flue cover.

 

When I bought the van it didn't have a flue cover, I didn't know they existed until I took the van to Truma HQ and every van I see with that round Truma balanced flue terminal does not have a flue cover. Why ?

 

 

Sorry to digress.

 

Hang in there, ill keep you informed on progress and hopefully some photos before I cover up with the gas hob.

[Noody]

Trying to post a photo.

[Noody]

I'll try for another photo, it wasn't easy and then it happened. Is it Safari ? Years ago Safari caused problems with many websites though the last five years haven't shown any problems.

 

Can I have another moan about Dometic quality, I had two replacements of the door catch before I realised they were just very poor. now the knobs that go through the fridge facia board have split, in one case two large chunks have come away. I have tried a repair with epoxy. Have you seen the price of those knobs ?

[Robinhood]

Noody - 2017-11-09 12:25 PM

 

......now the knobs that go through the fridge facia board have split, in one case two large chunks have come away. I have tried a repair with epoxy. Have you seen the price of those knobs ?

 

...a common problem. If the shaft splits lengthwise but remains whole (Simply meaning that it doesn't sit tight enough on the "D" of the switch to turn it) I've found that tightly wrapping it round with a few turns of electricians tape is an effective repair, and generally will outlast the 'fridge.

 

(In the past, such shafts used to have a metal reinforcing collar slipped over the end to avoid such issues).

[Noody]

You have given me an idea, thanks.

 

I have some 3M copper adhesive tape, once the backing is off the copper strip is very thin but the adhesive is strong. I bought it about 40 years ago at a military clear-out (Canal St. Nottingham) sale along with a lot of heavy duty radio stuff and built a simple circuit board with the copper strip to carry 3.500 volts for a radio 2K amplifier. (Smile)

 

Those knobs have only been out and back in again three times if you include this repair/modification. Once the epoxy has cured, a bit of abrasive around the outside of the shaft before the copper tape then after everything is cured a bit of silicone gel over the shafts. Yes ?

[Alanb]

Noody - 2017-11-09 12:25 PM

 

Can I have another moan about Dometic quality, I had two replacements of the door catch before I realised they were just very poor. now the knobs that go through the fridge facia board have split, in one case two large chunks have come away. I have tried a repair with epoxy. Have you seen the price of those knobs ?

 

May I quote a couple of statements made by my father who was a very competant mechanical engineering designer/daftsman, and died over 30 years ago.

 

1."We live in an age of cracked plastics."

 

2."Value analysis has been applied to the design, to such an extent that there is little or no value remaining."

 

Alan

[Noody]

I have an obsession about/against plastic I need to admit to though I only became obsessive as a result of the media coverage informing us about what happens, or doesn't, happen to plastics.

 

I spent a lot of time on the beach right up until three years ago and saw the stuff that floats in with the tide, not all of which is thrown overboard by ships.

 

My view is if we have to have plastic then it has to be of a quality so we don't need to keep replacing and the Dometic plastic is the very worst I have yet to encounter amongst a massive array of plastic everywhere around my home.

 

I have plastic cased Makita power tools from at least thirty years ago with no plastic breakage, our cars have a lot of plastic that doesn't fall to pieces in a few years.

 

It wouldn't be so bad if Dometic sold these spares for what they are worth rather than taking the opportunity to milk a cash-cow.

 

Fact-is we don't have many choices when it comes to these fridges, my Truma boiler kept going for three years past the time for a complete overhaul and only failed because lack of care at the right time. No breakages. So it isn't the leisure industry, just parts of it and other parts than Dometic.

[monique.hubrechtsgm]

About the smell of gas in a motorhome: LPG (propane and butane) and natural gas at home(methane) are all odourless and colourless gases. That is why a ethyl mercaptan is added and some variants per country and tested to a gas smell to people. There are trigger alarm options availble for motorhomes. The same goes carbon monoxide gas which occurs due to bad orange flame burning of above gases. That is a real killer of oxygen, the same could happen in your shower whit hot water and no ventilation That gas is even more difficult to detect. You fell just in sleep of your motorhome and never wake up again

[monique.hubrechtsgm]

PCB boards can be repaired has iseen myself. Even the the onces in a restaurant to account for your bill *-)

[Keithl]

monique.hubrechts@gm - 2017-11-09 3:18 PM

 

About the smell of gas in a motorhome: LPG (propane and butane) and natural gas at home(methane) are all odourless and colourless gases. That is why a ethyl mercaptan is added and some variants per country and tested to a gas smell to people. There are trigger alarm options availble for motorhomes. The same goes carbon monoxide gas which occurs due to bad orange flame burning of above gases. That is a real killer of oxygen, the same could happen in your shower whit hot water and no ventilation That gas is even more difficult to detect. You fell just in sleep of your motorhome and never wake up again

 

Monique,

 

You are posting about gas smell in the wrong thread again!

 

This thread is about fridges, I posted a link to the smelly gas thread earlier.

 

Keith.

[Noody]

Im not sure about starting a new thread on this or if I can add to a relevant one, I'll leave it to your guidance.

 

That dreadfully expensive fridge catch that lasted one go for the last one I purchased has been modified and I can confirm it is a success though fiddly job.

 

The plastic bits that push the metal catch always break off so I replaced them with bits of steel I cut from some of that steel strip with holes in it called ?

 

It works and has yet to fail.

 

Have a photo.

[Derek Uzzell]

One of the door-catches of my 2005 Hobby motorhome’s Dometic 7-series fridge/freezer suddenly broke, preventing the catch from functioning properly.

 

The fault is well known and the attached photo shows a complete repair kit (over £20). The problem is caused by breakage of the pair of skinny plastic ‘fingers’ sticking up in the middlle of the lower section of the top-left part in the photo. I cut off what was left of the plastic fingers, formed a metal U-shape that replicated the fingers’ shape and bolted and glued the metal piece in place. As the repair proved to be 100% effective and seemed bomb-proof, I treated the 2nd (yet to break) door-catch similarly.

 

(I vaguely recall it being said that - on later catches - Dometic beefed up the thickness of the ‘fingers’, but I don’t know if that’s true.)

[Noody]

Is that a slightly different catch but with the same problem ?

 

Yes, I glued these steel replacements in with epoxy, it was a fiddle because some epoxy migrated to places you don't want it. In hindsight your repair might be easier and tidier though I doubt my one will fail again.

 

What irritates me is that this and other plastic failings on the Dometic fridges have persisted without the problems being addressed over many years. My fridge model wouldn't be the first and it's thirteen years old.

 

Plenty of time for a revision but they still sell the same old crap for the same old extortionate price.

[Derek Uzzell]

My Hobby motorhome had a Dometic 7-Series fridge/freezer with two door-catches - one catch on the top of the fridge door and the other identical catch ‘upside down' on the bottom of the freezer door. I’ve attached a photo showing the upper surface of the ‘slider’ part that carries the fragile plastic fingers on its lower side.

 

I’m doubtful that it would be practicable to use my chosen repair method on your fridge-catch and vice versa. Just gluing a metal U-shape to my fridge-catch would not have produced a strong enough bond. Bolting the metal “U” to the catch provided the necessary strength and the glue made sure nothing moved.

 

Regarding the type of catch fitted to my Hobby’s Dometic fridge/freezer, it’s the ‘fingers’ that always break and, if the moulded plastic piece that carries the fingers had cost just a couple of quid, I would not have bothered with a repair. There’s really no need to market a 6-piece repair kit when five of the pieces of the original catch are most unlikely to fail.

 

There have been problems with the door-catch of early Dometic 9-Series fridges. These were mentioned by Nigel Webber here

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Dometic-9-series-fridge-RML9335/40713/

 

and his description of how to replace a broken catch is on pages 133/134 of the December 2017 issue of MMM magazine.