Dometic Refer Recall - Possible Fire Hazard -Update 2/13/07

Empty Nest, Soon wrote:
I would likely use it on gas and pull the outside cover daily to check for leaks if I could be assured that I would see a leak before there was a danger of fire.

Wayne

From the examples of failures I've seen (and I've seen many), there would likely be no warning. After so many heating cycles the metal and / or weld in the boiler area become fatigued and may rupture. The loss of contents is immediate & close to the burner area. I don't believe traveling and vibrations are a factor as most failures I've seen are on units that are set up permanent and run exclusively on electric. Out of the failures I've seen (probably about 50 or so) none have caught fire. It is less likely they will break while running on gas, however the potential fire danger makes gas operation much more risky. The following are pix of the last failure I encountered. When I arrived, the refer was on electric and the discolored area you see below the element was glowing red hot. It had not been cooling and running that way for almost a week before I got there. This the 4th cooling core failure of this type he (this particular customer) has had over the past 6 years. Tim