My 2 original AC units from Dometic died after 14 years.I was happy with this performance.So I put in 2 more $1500 AC units from Dometic. The fist one dies about 18 months after install and Dometic covered the repair under warranty and did an excellent job of getting me a replacement. When I looked at the circuit board of the failed unit there were several components that were not properly soldered in, which caused the premature failure.(Bad manufacturing, and bad quality inspection)Also the replacement unit was not covered under a new warranty, but only until the warranty of the original unit expired. (bad customer service, no belief in a quality product)A month ago after 3.5 years the 2nd new unit died. I sent Dometic an email explaining my frustration at having spent $3000.00 for 2 units only to have them die way too early.What did I get back ? Crickets, chirp chirpSo I am done buying their products because they are poor quality.This email is a warning to all those out there who may considering a purchase of a Dometic AC Unit.

When you find a better quality unit let us all know because they all are built like junk

I keep saying that they have us hooked on crack. Cheesy products just break over and over and keep buying more.

Yet my cheap Coleman Mach air conditioner units running off fluctuating generator power exclusively for thousands of hours don't break? I'd say that's definitely a Dometic problem.

We have a 2006 Phaeton. The front A/C has been replaced 4 times. The back one is original (both are Coleman). The fan is bad and we are having it replaced tomorrow. Still cools, though. The tech told us we would never get such service (14 years) out of a new one.Dale

You only have 2 choices for RV roof AC units. RVP(Coleman) and Dometic. From your post you must have Penguin models at least 3 to 4 years old. Those models did indeed have compressor problems. Now(last 2 years) they found and are using a better compressor. As to your comment about the Circuit Board. That is NOT a common problem and that board is easily replaced. So, if they replaced the AC due to a bad board, that was the Service companies fault. NOT Dometic, for a complete unit. Dometic has about 70 percent of the RV market and RVP takes up the slack. Also, to your comment about HOW the term of warranty operates. That is true of almost ALL products including Automobiles. You have a Auto with a 36/36 warranty and at month 35, you have the AC compressor replaced, you only have 1 month of warranty on that new compressor. When the term of warranty expires ALL items expire, regardless of when items were replaced under warranty. Doug

Dometic AC Unit, another failure | Good Sam Community

18 Replies

2_many_2
Explorer III
Oct 29, 2018
My 2014 TT had a Dometic Penguin low profile A/C. It failed late 2016, the sticker on the unit stated a mfg date of 2012. The compressor said the country of origin was Brazil and was mounted horizontally, everything else said Made in China.

I replaced it myself in June of 2017, the new A/C said it was mfg in 2017. The compressor says it was made in Korea and is mounted vertically. The new A/C also is much quieter on start-up and shut down. The old A/C had a very loud "clunk" when the heat pump would shut down, so loud it would wake you up at night.

I have my fingers crossed that the new one lasts longer than the first. But since everything under the cover has "Made in China" all over it, I don't expect too much :M
JCat
Explorer III
Oct 29, 2018
Update:
I sent the original post to the CEO and Board of directors at Dometic last night, and this morning at 7:55 I got a call from Dometic, shocking !

I will let you know what happens next.
johnhicks
Explorer
Oct 29, 2018
Doug, Dometic has one or more units labelled "commercial." Do you know if these are really any better than the standard units?
dougrainer
Nomad
Oct 29, 2018
You only have 2 choices for RV roof AC units. RVP(Coleman) and Dometic. From your post you must have Penguin models at least 3 to 4 years old. Those models did indeed have compressor problems. Now(last 2 years) they found and are using a better compressor. As to your comment about the Circuit Board. That is NOT a common problem and that board is easily replaced. So, if they replaced the AC due to a bad board, that was the Service companies fault. NOT Dometic, for a complete unit. Dometic has about 70 percent of the RV market and RVP takes up the slack. Also, to your comment about HOW the term of warranty operates. That is true of almost ALL products including Automobiles. You have a Auto with a 36/36 warranty and at month 35, you have the AC compressor replaced, you only have 1 month of warranty on that new compressor. When the term of warranty expires ALL items expire, regardless of when items were replaced under warranty. Doug
Scottiemom
Nomad
Oct 29, 2018
We have a 2006 Phaeton. The front A/C has been replaced 4 times. The back one is original (both are Coleman). The fan is bad and we are having it replaced tomorrow. Still cools, though. The tech told us we would never get such service (14 years) out of a new one.

Dale
HadEnough
Explorer
Oct 29, 2018
Yet my cheap Coleman Mach air conditioner units running off fluctuating generator power exclusively for thousands of hours don't break?

I'd say that's definitely a Dometic problem.
azrving
Explorer
Oct 29, 2018
I keep saying that they have us hooked on crack. Cheesy products just break over and over and keep buying more.
newman_fulltime
Explorer II
Oct 29, 2018
When you find a better quality unit let us all know because they all are built like junk

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Dometic AC Unit, another failure

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