My husband and I have an old Lance camper that is still in excellent condition. Only problem is the Dometic 2600 refrigerator finally died. Several places we checked all said same thing...Too expensive to repair and replacement is way too expensive for us right now. Someone at an RV dealer we buy stuff from suggested buying a "apartment" style electric refrigerator as replacement. We have one in our bedroom that's almost the same size as Domestic unit that has freezer section as well and works like a charm. Since we are older now, we have mostly been going to full hook up camp grounds anyway so we would have electricity to run it. Was wondering if any of you guys have heard of doing this and what may be involved in switching out the old propane one for a new electric one. Any advice would be greately appreciated. Thanks!

Just a thought but have you checked any RV Salvage yards ?? I did a lookup on a search engine and came up with several. This could be an inexpensive option that you could consider

Great idea LED67! We will definitely look into that! Glad I posted to this forum. Thanks much!

we have mostly been going to full hook up camp grounds anywayWith the dorm refer you need to decide what to do in the "not mostly" times. Depending upon a number of factors the drain on your batteries could be overwhelming due to the refer.

I've seen this question many times...and faced it myself once before... and am looking at it again. The refer won't drain batteries in the situation she is describing... she plans to run from here to there without the refer energized...and plug in when they get there.I found an amish company online that makes new amonia absorbtion coils to repair the dometic... they don't even want your old one in exchange... the repaired cores usually fail again prematurely. ..That is how I fixed the one...I am deciding between the same avenue or full replacement on another...Friends who are happy with the dorm unit in their situation have suggested the same to me... all you do is cap the propane line... and run on shore power at locations... once the dometic is removed you have a huge place to position the dorm unit... some trim work will be desired...you may also want to cover up the side panel where you now acces the rear of the dometic as it will be gone...bugs, wind, rain...this is not acceptable to me as I like to run the propane between stops... and often find myself at a lake or extreme rural area with no shore power and thus require the gas option as I do not have batteries to support an invertor either...

All good things to consider...we do have solar panel that keeps our battery good and charged for times we don't have electric hook ups. Also, we packed existing fridge and freezer with some dry ice and block ice and that allowed us to still use it as kept plenty cold if not repeatedly opened. That worked for three days before adding more blocks. Thanks for all the input guys. I'll be sure my husband sees these helpful responses.

20 Year Old Plus Lance Squire Camper-Refrigerator Advice

21 Replies

sleekcrafter
Explorer II
May 15, 2013
This is my option too, if and when it goes TU. There is no way to even get it to the door in my TC, the partition is in the way, well before it even makes it to the door, which is also too small. There are instructional videos on youtube showing the cooling unit replacement.....
bmorkert
Explorer
May 13, 2013
I had the same thing happen in my 2000 Lance 1140. Amonia leaked out of the refer core. I initially took it in for a repair and they wanted to replace the unit for over $2000 and the replacement was only a two-way refer.

I Decided to do the work myself. There are several places online where you can order a refurbished core. I was able to pull my fridge, replace the core and reinstall. All total, it was about 5 hours of work and about $500 for the replacement core. Fridge still works great.

The hardest part of the project was getting the fridge out. I learned that they apparently build the campers around the refrigerator and there is exactly enough room to get the fridge out to work on it. Definitely a two person (at least) job.
recycler
Explorer
May 13, 2013
get an amish cooling unit put in..I have heard many good things about them on this forum.. this is the route I will be going with my "new" rm 660 dometic "freebie" from what prices I have seen is about half the cost of new refer and there is lots of videos on youtube showing how it can be done yourself..
bigfootford
Nomad III
May 12, 2013
Photomike wrote:
I always am concerned when a dealer says "to expensive to fix", really how much is too expensive if you want it to work and not have to switch out the entire thing????

I had a similar issue last year with my fridge packing it in. I ordered a new one but because of shipping damage refused it. Then I rebuilt my cooling unit, why? I really liked the fridge and the fact that it uses no power when running so I paid the cost on the new cooler - really have not had a lot of chances to try it, will see this year if the money was worth it.

What did they say was the issue? On older units there is not a lot to go wrong (honestly on most newer units they are pretty simple). If it is the cooling unit and you are in the states there is a company that sells new units that are suppose to be amazing, contact them and get a price.

**side note - for anyone that follows the happenings on the space station, imagine changing that ammonia cooler out! I wonder if they had three quotes from a repair company before doing it themselves???

Ditto this, the older units were very simple, no electronics to go bad. Parts are avail to fix almost anything.

Many on this forum have repaired their old fridges and they are still running!

What Make and model is it?

Jim
ticki2
Explorer
May 12, 2013
There is a large RV salvage place in Sacramento that has lots of stuff if it's not too far , may be worth a call .
http://www.rvdoctorgeorge.com/
Photomike
Explorer III
May 12, 2013
I always am concerned when a dealer says "to expensive to fix", really how much is too expensive if you want it to work and not have to switch out the entire thing????

I had a similar issue last year with my fridge packing it in. I ordered a new one but because of shipping damage refused it. Then I rebuilt my cooling unit, why? I really liked the fridge and the fact that it uses no power when running so I paid the cost on the new cooler - really have not had a lot of chances to try it, will see this year if the money was worth it.

What did they say was the issue? On older units there is not a lot to go wrong (honestly on most newer units they are pretty simple). If it is the cooling unit and you are in the states there is a company that sells new units that are suppose to be amazing, contact them and get a price.

**side note - for anyone that follows the happenings on the space station, imagine changing that ammonia cooler out! I wonder if they had three quotes from a repair company before doing it themselves???
Ski_Pro_3
Explorer
May 12, 2013
I bought a really clapped out camper with one exception; it had an almost new fridge in it. I paid $500 and used the fridge in my own camper. Then I parted out the rest of the camper right down to the copper propane lines and made my $500 back and then some.
spacedoutbob
Explorer
May 12, 2013
I'm in Oakland, Calif.

Bob in Calif.
Bill_T
Explorer
May 11, 2013
One thing to consider when switching over is the required ventilation for the rear mounted condensing coils. Unlike std. size units which most vent the coils from the bottom of the reefer, these units vent from the back of the reefer. You would not want to block or remove the outside vent and you MAY have to cutin a upper vent to let the heat out of the compartment.
ruddfan4evr
Explorer
May 11, 2013
More great advice. Thanks Bob. Will look into those options as well. Glad I found this site and reached out. Lots of helpful ideas. Hope one day we can return the favor here to some one else in need. I'm from Cali. too . Covina. What city are you in?