timsrv wrote:
twigger wrote:
Dometic has clearly tried to guide blame in the direction of wattage of the electric heating element, when the ACTUAL CAUSE OF FAILURE LIES IN DOMETIC'S WELDING METALLURGY AND WELDING PROCESS CONTROL.
Only problem is that the rebuilt cooling unit is another Dometic, so some other weld will probably fail in a year or two.
Bottom Line: DOMETIC HAS A MATERIALS, WORKMANSHIP AND PROCESS QUALITY CONTROL PROBLEM, BUT SHAMEFULLY WON'T FESS UP TO IT AND DO THE RIGHT THING.
I have suspected this same thing, but have no proof. I personally think it's caused by a combination of cheap grade metal and not enough of it in the important places. The thing that has always bugged me about Dometic's statement to the NHTSA is: how can 29 watts make that much difference? Even 354 watts is admittedly within Dometic's own acceptable range of +/- 10% variance. I am now constantly seeing boiler failures on Dometic refers. 10 years ago this was a rare occurrence. I just replaced one last week that was not part of the recall (it was made a year before the recalled refers). Last month I saw the same thing on an RM2510. There are many more examples I see of this on a regular basis. It's becoming common place. Up until 2 years ago, when I sold a refer, chances were I'd not have to warranty it. Out of the last 10 refers I've sold, 3 have come back with failed cooling cores & 1 was bad out of the crate! At least Dometic gave that guy a new refer. As for my trouble to install, Dometic was generous enough to pay me a total of $60 (driving up to his remote location to install, repacking, shipping, and completing the paperwork was on me). Okay I'll stop, sorry for the rant :(.
My thoughts on rebuilt cooling cores: I quit using those about 3 years ago. I had used them for years and never had a problem. Then around 2004, about half of them I had recently installed started failing.
10 years ago installing a rebuilt core made sense because the end cost to the customer was about $500. At that time replacing the refer cost around $1,000. Failure rates on rebuilt cores were low, so this was fine. Now with inflation, higher shipping costs, and higher cost of doing business, end cost to customer is roughly $850 for rebuilding vs about $1,300 for a new refer. I guess a $450 savings is hard to pass up, but I trust rebuilt cores less than new refers, so over the long run, I think going with rebuilt will likely cost you more (except maybe for guys like twigger that have the skills and motivation to do their own).
When purchasing a new refer, at least you get a 3 year warranty. Most rebuilt cores only come with a very limited 1 year warranty. To get labor and shipping covered, the failure must occur within the 1st 30 days, and most remanufacturers only offer a maximum $50 labor allowance (actual labor is about 5 times that). At least Norcold and Dometic have motivation to make your refer last 3 years ;). Tim
To all:
The first RV for me was a no brand TT---1960 since that time I have owned countless RV's New and used. Problems yes. The biggest one of all, the pain in the biffy, the crazy refer. Not dependable. Short life. Gotta be level. Frosts quickly. Cost to bloomin' much. Well I'm OLD now. I recently bought a oldie MH. Don't have alota use for a RV, can't travel from home more that 2/3 hours. Bought it on the cheap. It sat in storage for years. Only been driven 14,500. Onan 261 hrs on the meter.DOA> Now the REF.........this is a good one. Some one replaced the old beast with a 6cf two door ELECTRIC model. I thought hmm. This is interesting. I began thinking, ok, so be it. I plug the shore power cord in at home, ( MH located close) to shore power. So no problem, just leave the ref. to remain cold, unplug, hit the road, bingo, plug into Inks Lake Park 30a power two hours later. Vary Good. Now here is the good part. I'm old, don't have to get out and level up..........nice.
Old and Slow
