Dometic Fridge not working...again

It should be doing FAR better than what you're reporting. Have you had an RV fridge before? Compared to residential fridges, they take much longer to cool initially, take much longer to recover from warm food being put in them or the door left open while you figure out where something is, and don't freeze anywhere near as hard.

BUT, it should still be doing FAR better...

Are you able to look at how it's installed? In from the back vent on the side of your coach? Is the fridge in a slide? Or does it have a roof vent?

Installation is VERY critical!!! Our friend Chris Bryant is an RV tech and has a website with lots of information HERE! Take a look at Installation and Troubleshooting. It'll at least arm you with some understanding.

As I said, installation is critical. Insulation, baffling, and clearances all matter. If the fridge is in a slide, special attention is required. If air flow upward over its coils is restricted or there's too much back clearance it'll have trouble cooling. Same if a baffle above is required and missing. Again, in the slide is a special case.

I had never used an RV fridge prior to this, no. I know they're not going to function as well as a residential fridge. I stocked it with cold food after letting it cool down on 110. When it got up to 68 it had been closed for 24 straight hours running on propane.

It's an Eagle Cap 960. Yes the fridge is in the wall slide. Vents out the side. I feel like Eagle Cap did a **** job installing so that would make sense. We almost exclusively boondock down awfully bumpy forest service roads and 4WD trails. I'm wondering if the insulation slipped back out of place. Is it unrealistic to think that everything will stay in place and the fridge will work in these conditions?

Thanks for the link, I'll read up.


***Edit to add: the freezer has worked fine, almost every time if not every time. I can't remember it ever failing even when the fridge did but I didn't check this last time.

Open the cover and get some pics of the coils and the chimney if you can.
The heater/burner needs to work but you also need good airflow to cool the rest of the coils. Air is pulled through with convection and needs to be drawn over the coils not just up the open space.

I had to add a baffle to redirect the airflow in my old pop-up. Very similar with a short chimney.

long story but the truck broke down this weekend and the camper is stuck out the mountains so no pics til later this week when the truck is fixed. the insulation was over the coils, which is what the dealer said they fixed last time. i'm wondering if it fell back over the coils. however, if it did i only drove a total of 30 miles which would be a bummer if it's going to keep happening.

I guess I'm also wondering if these issues are permanently solvable or every trip that I take will I have to take the vents off to move insulation or fix the fridge in some regard? I'm frustrated that we have lost 3 refrigerators worth of food to these issues too.

Which Dometic Model?

Obviously the fridge is NOT properly installed. Insulation falling down 1X is 1X too many.

If insulation is falling down then I bet that the clearances required by Dometic on install have not been followed either.

And it being installed in a slide makes it even more critical that installation instructions be followed
Also may need to have a fan installed to help improve the lack of draft that happens w/o a roof vent.

I'm frustrated that we have lost 3 refrigerators worth of food to these issues too.

Might want to take a large ice-filled cooler along until you're sure the fridge problems are resolved.

1. To tell a customer NOT to utilize the Refer MAX setting because it will freeze is just plain WRONG. NOT TRUE
2. IF anything blocks the upper coils on your outside top access door, that means the refer will NOT cool correctly. So, if the insulation has fallen, that means the refer will not cool correctly
3. As to what you state about your freezer. There is a difference between freezing and what an RV freezer will do----the RV freezer should be between 0(ZERO) and 10 degrees. Unless you get a digital temp reading you cannot be sure the freezer is working to spec.
4. In a slide out, ALL refers need a 12 volt exhaust fan blowing out the top access door. NO EXCEPTIONS. Failure to do that will never get adequate cooling---Marginal cooling, but never to spec.
5. IF that insulation has been on those top coils, I will bet the cooling unit is ruined due to overheating. It will work marginally but has lost its peak efficiency. The cooling unit needs replaced and the insulation needs to be correctly secured.
6. Temps for your refer is tested with a glass of water and after 24 hours on MAX the temp of the water should be below 35 degrees and the freezer temp below 10 degrees. If NOT, then the cooling unit is defective due to the lack of ventilation caused by being blocked OFF.
Doug

It sounds like you may need to remove the top vent and securely fasten the insulation. My Dometic works fine but the problem I have is remembering to have my pants, wallet and keys ready in case I wake up to a fire. It's also a pita to keep tripping over all these fire extinguishers I keep on hand. :)

I have looked at residentials just in case. Is it crazy to to even have an appliance that lets you fall asleep wondering if it's going to burn tonight!!!!! I have even wondered how I would repair black scorch marks on the filon IF I was lucky enough to extinguish it in time. Insanity?????

old-biscuit - pretty sure it's the DM2862RB

nova rt - we will be from now on. each time it has ruined a fridge of food it had been recently "fixed".

doug - thanks for all that.

since it's a new fridge do i need to take it back to the dealer where we bought the truck camper or could i go anywhere that does dometic warranty work? getting a little frustrated driving 40 min each way for work that doesn't fix the problem. i don't want to do too much myself for fear of the dealer then saying that i caused the problem. thanks for the help everyone.