Dead Refrigerator
So in December I bought a "new to me" 2021 Coach House motorhome. Last week while prepping for a summer long trip coming up, I opened the refrigerator and it was dead. I checked all the fuses and brea...
Forum Discussion
Its nice how some of the RV component manufacturers put a screwing to their customers. Dometic is one, Lippert another, and perhaps the king of it all.
Dometic made a 7 Cu Ft absorption fridge, the DMR702, starting around 2015 for a few years. They were in almost every Rockwood Travel trailer from 2015 to at least 2019, and Rockwood is one of the largest manufacturers so that's a lot of trailers, and fridges. They were also used by Lance and a lot of other builders. This DMR702 was made in China, branded Dometic, and problems became evident early on. The first was the handles would break just by being used. Another was a heater that would turn on intermittently to prevent frost on the exterior between the doors would melt the plastic case. The biggest problem was when it was turned off and you had an ice buildup in the freezer, that ice would melt and the water would make its way to the eyebrow control board where it eventually would corrode and short the eyebrow board. The kicker is/was you can not get a replacement eyebrow board for this DMR702, they are not made or available despite this model being out there in the 10's of thousands. Dometic will tell you too bad. The handles are available but a a right hand handle is @ $15.00, a left hand is @ $35.00. If the eyebrow board ***** out you buy a new fridge that will fit the hole or go to one of the re-builders in Elkhart IN who apparently can replace both the eyebrow board, main power board, and wiring between the 2 with a bandaid of their own design for @ $500.00. Rockwood and other manufacturers were still installing these fridges in 2019 and possibly later. I wont even get into Dometics garbage AC units, that's a whole other story.
Lippert (LCI) is even better at it. They have their hand in about everything. Just have to buy a slide out motor replacement from them for one of their junk slide systems and see what that sets you back. 800.00 for a 12VDC motor that is made in China for probably $15.00, but you have no choice as its designed to be proprietary. I looked at a new Grand Design TT recently and everything in it or on it was Lippert from the frame to the hardware including all the appliances (Furrion), and furniture (Thomas Payne). Absolute junk.
Dometic made a 7 Cu Ft absorption fridge, the DMR702, starting around 2015 for a few years. They were in almost every Rockwood Travel trailer from 2015 to at least 2019, and Rockwood is one of the largest manufacturers so that's a lot of trailers, and fridges. They were also used by Lance and a lot of other builders. This DMR702 was made in China, branded Dometic, and problems became evident early on. The first was the handles would break just by being used. Another was a heater that would turn on intermittently to prevent frost on the exterior between the doors would melt the plastic case. The biggest problem was when it was turned off and you had an ice buildup in the freezer, that ice would melt and the water would make its way to the eyebrow control board where it eventually would corrode and short the eyebrow board. The kicker is/was you can not get a replacement eyebrow board for this DMR702, they are not made or available despite this model being out there in the 10's of thousands. Dometic will tell you too bad. The handles are available but a a right hand handle is @ $15.00, a left hand is @ $35.00. If the eyebrow board ***** out you buy a new fridge that will fit the hole or go to one of the re-builders in Elkhart IN who apparently can replace both the eyebrow board, main power board, and wiring between the 2 with a bandaid of their own design for @ $500.00. Rockwood and other manufacturers were still installing these fridges in 2019 and possibly later. I wont even get into Dometics garbage AC units, that's a whole other story.
Lippert (LCI) is even better at it. They have their hand in about everything. Just have to buy a slide out motor replacement from them for one of their junk slide systems and see what that sets you back. 800.00 for a 12VDC motor that is made in China for probably $15.00, but you have no choice as its designed to be proprietary. I looked at a new Grand Design TT recently and everything in it or on it was Lippert from the frame to the hardware including all the appliances (Furrion), and furniture (Thomas Payne). Absolute junk.
