Changing refrigerator cooling unit...New or Refurbished??
Summary: When replacing the cooling unit on your refrigerator, would you go with a refurbished unit ($450) or a new unit ($650)??
Here's the story...
I have a 2015 Thor Majestic 28a. The refrigerator is a Dometic DM2852RBX (8 cubic feet).
Recently it stopped cooling on either propane or electric. I tried all the troubleshooting things I could to no avail. The heating element is good (as I can feel the stack getting hot on either propane or electric).
So I took it to my RV repair shop. They diagnosed it saying the cooling unit was bad. They told me they recommend replacing the entire refrigerator (~$2200 for the new fridge which includes their 40% markup, plus ~$500 in labor).
I asked them how come they don't just replace the cooling unit. They said "they can't find parts for this particular unit". I spent 2 minutes googling and immediately found the parts (refurbished or new cooling units). I suspect replacing the entire refrigerator is a much higher profit for the repair shop which is why they recommended that (...thanks a lot, right??).
I've decided I'm going to fix it myself. I'm pretty handy. There are several youtube videos showing start to finish and it looks pretty straight forward. I pulled the refrigerator and layed it down on a blanket on my couch. Then I removed the existing cooling unit being careful to label everything and take lots of photos. It only took me 40 minutes to do so and it came out super clean which I was happy to see! I wanted to make sure I could remove it successfully without damaging the refrigerator unit BEFORE I order the new cooling unit (...figuring worst case if I couldn't get it out or if I broke something I could just buy a new refrigerator for ~$1600 and install it myself).
I'm going to order a replacement cooling unit. The online company sells REFURBISHED ones for ~$450. I'm told by the company that these will perform similar to the existing one that originally came with the refrigerator. OR, for ~$650 I could buy a brand new UPGRADED design that they say will have better performance and be able to keep the refrigerator colder especially when it happens to be 100 degrees outside. They also say it should last longer.
Do any of you have any experience or opinion as to how much better the NEW replacement unit might be over a refurbished unit (in terms of its ability to keep the refrigerator cold)?
Thanks in advance!
Chris
Here's the story...
I have a 2015 Thor Majestic 28a. The refrigerator is a Dometic DM2852RBX (8 cubic feet).
Recently it stopped cooling on either propane or electric. I tried all the troubleshooting things I could to no avail. The heating element is good (as I can feel the stack getting hot on either propane or electric).
So I took it to my RV repair shop. They diagnosed it saying the cooling unit was bad. They told me they recommend replacing the entire refrigerator (~$2200 for the new fridge which includes their 40% markup, plus ~$500 in labor).
I asked them how come they don't just replace the cooling unit. They said "they can't find parts for this particular unit". I spent 2 minutes googling and immediately found the parts (refurbished or new cooling units). I suspect replacing the entire refrigerator is a much higher profit for the repair shop which is why they recommended that (...thanks a lot, right??).
I've decided I'm going to fix it myself. I'm pretty handy. There are several youtube videos showing start to finish and it looks pretty straight forward. I pulled the refrigerator and layed it down on a blanket on my couch. Then I removed the existing cooling unit being careful to label everything and take lots of photos. It only took me 40 minutes to do so and it came out super clean which I was happy to see! I wanted to make sure I could remove it successfully without damaging the refrigerator unit BEFORE I order the new cooling unit (...figuring worst case if I couldn't get it out or if I broke something I could just buy a new refrigerator for ~$1600 and install it myself).
I'm going to order a replacement cooling unit. The online company sells REFURBISHED ones for ~$450. I'm told by the company that these will perform similar to the existing one that originally came with the refrigerator. OR, for ~$650 I could buy a brand new UPGRADED design that they say will have better performance and be able to keep the refrigerator colder especially when it happens to be 100 degrees outside. They also say it should last longer.
Do any of you have any experience or opinion as to how much better the NEW replacement unit might be over a refurbished unit (in terms of its ability to keep the refrigerator cold)?
Thanks in advance!
Chris
