Dometic Refrigerator + Oven RMT7655L Repair or Replace?

[scramblers]

I’m touring France at present and my fridge has failed. There was a smell like ammonia and now it refuses to work on solar, gas,12v dc or mains electricity. I went to a local Camping Car repair workshop and they quoted €2000 for the fridge freezer, €600 for the oven and somewhere in the region of €300 labour saying that it would be cheaper to replace than repair ????????. I spent €40 on an electric cool box instead.

 

Do any of the members know of a reputable fridge engineer in the South Staffordshire/West Midlands area who could possibly repair the unit?

 

Failing that, I have spent a little time on my iPad researching for a replacement fridge+oven unit but the RMT7655L is no longer available. Has any member had any experience resourcing a replacement?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[vindiboy]

My fridge freezer died in France last year, I came home and went to Whispaire in Romsey Hants where they know all about all gas appliances. my fridge was also obsolete so a new one was ordered and fitted, it took 2 weeks for whispaire to source one from Germany [ Dometic ] as that is where all spares etc come from. it cost me £1650 in total.I had to remove my front passenger seat and table to enable the fridge freezer to come out of the van as it would not pass through the habitation door.I removed the seat and refitted it to save on labour charges, the seats are very heavy.

 

I don't understand your oven bit? my fridge freezer is fitted under the oven but are totally separate units, so I only needed to replace FF , a stupid place for an oven to be fitted , above head height above a fridge,but that is vans for you, we NEVER use the oven, only for storage though.

[scramblers]

vindiboy - 2019-09-07 5:53 PM

 

I don't understand your oven bit? my fridge freezer is fitted under the oven but are totally separate units, so I only needed to replace FF , a stupid place for an oven to be fitted , above head height above a fridge,but that is vans for you, we NEVER use the oven, only for storage though.

 

It’s a single tower unit with the oven on top, mounted on a combined control panel, which in turn is mounted on the freezer and the lower portion is the fridge.

[Brian Kirby]

From what you say about the smell, I suspect the fridge has lost its refrigerant (usually ammonia based). It would be worth seeing if it can be re-gassed before deciding to replace it, as unless the leak is due to extensive corrosion on the refrigeration circuit pipework, that should restore full functionality at a significantly lower cost. I would suggest looking on Dometic's website for your nearest repairer.

[747]

The smell could be poor combustion at the gas burner. If a Circuit Board has failed (behind the top cover), that would stop the fridge working in all 3 ways. I have the same fridge/freezer and was told by a Dometic Approved agent (a Motorhome Dealer) that after discussions with Dometic Technical, I needed a new one at a cost (fitted) of £2350.

 

I declined, brought it home, cleaned the Flue and the Gas Burner ... hey presto it worked fine. It only automatically changes to Gas occasionally when I switch off the engine, so I manually set it to gas. The cheap and nasty printed Circuit Boards are a ripoff price of £250+ ... they can whistle for that! :D

 

You could buy a new Gas Burner and Jet, it will cost around £60-70. Clean the Flue and you could be fine. If you decide to go for a new replacement, you need the RMD10.5T. I think you may have an issue with the circuit board(s), so if you are keeping the van, you could maybe get a new one.

[scramblers]

Hi 747, I clean the flue and jet every year and that is not the problem, it doesn’t work on 12v dc or 240v. I think that it needs re-gassing.

[hallii]

I wasn't going to comment because I try not to comment where safety issues might be a concern. I did say I try but again I have failed!

 

I had a crack that allowed the ammonia gas to escape ( this was in a caravan I once owned) I found a fridge engineer who brazed the leak up and regassed it. It worked fine until I sold the caravan some years later.

 

 

At your own risk though

 

 

:-D

H

[Derek Uzzell]

This 2008 forum thread stated (authoratively) that it is not practicable to ‘re-gas’ a Dometic 3-way fridge.

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/DOMETIC-FRIDGE-PROBLEM/12925/

 

(I think it may be possible to replace the complete cooling-unit - but that would still be an expensive approach.)

[Charles]

Derek Uzzell - 2019-09-08 7:33 PM

 

This 2008 forum thread stated (authoratively) that it is not practicable to ‘re-gas’ a Dometic 3-way fridge.

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/DOMETIC-FRIDGE-PROBLEM/12925/

 

(I think it may be possible to replace the complete cooling-unit - but that would still be an expensive approach.)

 

Absolutely correct! I am a refrigeration engineer and the 3 way absorption fridges are not rechargeable if they lose their refrigerant mix. For a start they don't use a single refrigerant that you can buy like R134a for example. They use ammonia/hydrogen/water (or something similar I'm no expert) and it's put in the system in the factory, if it leaks out the steel pipes are most probably rotten.

 

The earlier post mentioning Brazing is what is used to join/repair copper compressor fridge pipes, they can easily be regassed.

[Brian Kirby]

Thank you Derek and Charles for the correction, I think I must have missed the final post on that 2008 string, which exactly matches Charles' authoritative statement above. My original informant made a repair to a van we had back in 2006, but when last I tried to contact the firm, he had retired and Cathedral Services now seems to focus on Miele equipment.

 

Since the tower unit has already been seen and pronounced economically un-repairable, assuming the cause is confirmed as loss of refrigerant, it seems the best avenue will be to investigate availability and cost of a suitable replacement.

 

This will not be made easier by the present, very depleted, state of Dometic's customer services department. Those there are very good, but getting to them is slow, and by e-mail only (the phone lines only lead to a call centre, who then refer your query by e-mail to customer services with a request to respond). My impression is that they are struggling with the volume of queries they receive.

 

Dometic's website is better, and gives a number of refrigeration dealers in the west midlands, so you should at least be able to test the cost/convenience ratio of a replacement.

[747]

Brian Kirby - 2019-09-09 11:53 AM

 

Thank you Derek and Charles for the correction, I think I must have missed the final post on that 2008 string, which exactly matches Charles' authoritative statement above. My original informant made a repair to a van we had back in 2006, but when last I tried to contact the firm, he had retired and Cathedral Services now seems to focus on Miele equipment.

 

Since the tower unit has already been seen and pronounced economically un-repairable, assuming the cause is confirmed as loss of refrigerant, it seems the best avenue will be to investigate availability and cost of a suitable replacement.

 

This will not be made easier by the present, very depleted, state of Dometic's customer services department. Those there are very good, but getting to them is slow, and by e-mail only (the phone lines only lead to a call centre, who then refer your query by e-mail to customer services with a request to respond). My impression is that they are struggling with the volume of queries they receive.

 

Dometic's website is better, and gives a number of refrigeration dealers in the west midlands, so you should at least be able to test the cost/convenience ratio of a replacement.

 

I have already stated the correct replacement model for a 7655, the details come from the Dometic Fridge Replacement chart.

 

[scramblers]

747 - 2019-09-07 7:45 PM

 

If you decide to go for a new replacement, you need the RMD10.5T. I think you may have an issue with the circuit board(s), so if you are keeping the van, you could maybe get a new one.

 

Thank you all for your replies, they have been very informative and extremely useful. I have come to the conclusion that the unit needs to be replaced.

 

As the now defunct unit is a fully integrated combined oven/freezer/fridge then 747 above comment solves two thirds of my problem and I now need to find an oven that matches the style of the RMD10.5T and will fit into the remaining space available. I think I will ask the advice of both Burstner and Dometic. Thank you once again for your comments.

[Derek Uzzell]

 

https://forums.motorhomefacts.com/145-lpg-gas/72876-dometic-tec-tower-replacement.html

[Robinhood]

The smell of ammonia might well be pretty conclusive, but I must admit that, given it is a big job, before trying to replace it, I'd like to be convinced that it wasn't the (known to be flakey) electronics, rather than degassing that was causing the problem.

 

I'm posting mobile, so rather restricted, but somewhere on here I posted how I had, at length, diagnosed failed electronics on a friend's similar tower unit, and further, identified a failed relay that he managed to get replaced on the board for around £10 (£5 parts, £5 for a drink to get it unsoldered and replaced). It is still working over a year on. The board itself was over £200 as a replacement.

 

Now, his symptoms were fairly unique, in that it worked permanently on hook-up due to a stuck relay, regardless of any control position, including off. Failed electronics do, however, exhibit various symptoms, including complete failure. What became obvious during my diagnosis, however, was that it was relatively simple to bypass the electronics, at least with a 230v supply, since it just goes through a relay (switch) on the board and then straight back out to the 230v heater. Applying 230v to that heater directly (either via separate source, or preferably simply jumping the existing 230v input over to the heater) will emulate mains use irrespective of any controls by bypassing the control electronics. If it starts to cool, then it isn't degassed, and the electronics are definitely suspect. That then may be at worst £250 of parts (replacement is fiddly, but DIY if you are moderately competent).

 

My reference was the installation instructions, which gave the wiring positions, and a block diagram confirming 230v use was simply passthru.

 

I had to remove the 230v heater connections as he wished to leave it on hook-up without the fridge during up. Access was, on his van, easy through the vents

[Derek Uzzell]

Robinhood

 

I believe that the earlier forum discussion was

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Dometic-fridge/48137/

[RayF]

When you are done with your trip and are putting the RV away, don't forget to turn off the RV refrigerator (also close the propane tank valves ) and leave the doors to the freezer and regular compartment open. If you don't, then as the unit warms up, moisture will condense on the inside. That will be perfect for mold to grow on everything. The mold can stain some plastics and be difficult to remove. It can also be a health problem. So prevention is the key. Leave the doors open when the RV refrigerator is not being use."

 

[Ocsid]

Without struggling through the links provided to see if the details are there, I can say that these tower Dometic fridges can have the whole regrigeration circuit replaced as a change out, keeping the original "box" structure and oven.

A friend had just that done at a cost of about half a whole new fridge costs. His was done by some company north of Poole in Dorset, a pucker Dometic approved workshop. I don't know who now, but no doubt other approved workshops are out there, just finding one not focused solely on selling the whole expensive lot.

 

The ammonia smell is almost certainly the leaked out refrigerant, typically in my experience from corrosion of the steel tubing circuit, and again typically because the brazing flux was inadequately cleaned away during the units manufacture.