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Need Advice on Changing Dometic Fridge Burner and Threading New Cables


Bellas Dad

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The burner on my Dometic RML 9435 fridge has rusted so that some of the gas slots are bigger than they should be - as a result the flames are unstable (and very noisy).
I need to fit a new burner - which I have. I intend to change the burner myself and get a gas engineer to check the gas connection when I'm finished.

The Dometic burner has 2 cables attached to it - one for the ignition and one for the thermocouple. These cables plug into a control unit at the top of the fridge. This control unit is accessible through the top vent and the burner is accessible through the bottom vent.

I need to thread the new cables up the back of the fridge and plug them into the control unit. Has anyone who has changed these cables or the burner got any suggestions on how to thread the new cables please? I'm really reluctant to have to move the fridge out to get better access if I can possibly help it. A technician at a M/H garage quoted 15 minutes to change the burner so I'm guessing it can't be too difficult to do (PS the garage is a 200 mile round trip for me so I'd like to try to avoid taking the M/H there if I can). If all else fails I'll look for a local M/H engineer to do the job but I'd really like to try myself first.

I'm thinking of the tying string to the existing cables at the top - pulling them down through the cavity between the back of the fridge and the wall of the motorhome and then tying the new cables to the string and pulling the new cables back up to the control unit. I can't drop the new cables down the cavity as they are attached to the gas burner and don't seem to unplug. There also doesn't appear to be straight line access from the burner up to the control unit with all the other gubbins of the fridge in the way - it seems to be a bit of a convoluted path that the existing cables take from burner to control unit.

Anyone got any experience of trying to do this? Any and all suggestions very welcome.

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No experience, but can you use a mirror and a torch to get a view up or down the void at the back of the fridge?  I ask, as I  strongly suspect the existing cables will be attached to the rear of the fridge at intervals to stop them flapping around, and not left loose.  If that is the case, I suspect the fridge may have to come out to allow the new cables to be similarly attached.

It may be that a cable conduit has been installed on the rear of the fridge, in which case your string idea will be fine - just don't let the end of the string go before you have drawn the new cables through!  You can't push on string!

If the cables aren't attached, then your string idea should work fine.

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Inexpensive automotive 'endoscopes' are readily available, but in the past I've successfully used a smartphone's camera to view areas inaccessible to the naked eye.

As Brian says, it's quite likely that the original top-to-bottom cables are tidily (and firmly) attached to the fridge's rear and - if that's the case - they won't be removable without first displacing the fridge. (I've looked at on-line 'parts' diagrams for the the Dometic RML9435, but they don't show the route of the cables or how they might be fixed).

It may be best to leave the existing cables untouched and just pull the new cables up from bottom to top. Hopefully the replacement cables are well insulated against heat as they would almost certainly end up in contact with the fridge's cooling structure, but it's hard to see any alternative if the fridge is to remain in situ.

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Many thanks Brian, Den and Derek for suggestions and help.

I've wiggled the existing cables around a bit whilst my wife held a torch in place and a mirror to try to see the route and freedom of them. It doesn't appear that they are currently tied to the back of the fridge so I'm hoping they are free to be pulled out OK.

The tip about using stripped 3 core cabling for wire guiding is great - I'll definately give that a go.

I'll let you know how I get on

Thanks again

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