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

[MELM]

Click here to go directly to Updates.
Update Number 1 Nov 23, 2006
Update Number 2 Dec 5, 2006
Update Number 3 Jan 10, 2007
Update Number 4 Jan 19, 2007 - Recall Instructions - click here: Dometic Recall You need your model and serial numbers.
Update Number 5 Feb 13, 2007 - Added links to new info on the NHTSA website including the info/form for claiming reimbursement for a failure. These are at the end of the post below where all the updates are posted.

Also, edited the below Recall to include the change made prior to the Dec 5 update showing the proposed remedy.

Below is information from the NHTSA website on a recall of certain Dometic refrigerators. This recall is in its very early stages, and there is no resolution in place as of Nov 1, 2006.

From the NHTSA website:

Dometic Recall NHTSA Campaign ID 06E076000

Make / Models : Model/Build Years:
DOMETIC / NDR1062 9999
DOMETIC / RM2652 9999
DOMETIC / RM2662 9999
DOMETIC / RM2663 9999
DOMETIC / RM2852 9999
DOMETIC / RM2862 9999
DOMETIC / RM3662 9999
DOMETIC / RM3663 9999
DOMETIC / RM3862 9999
DOMETIC / RM3863 9999

Manufacturer : DOMETIC CORPORATION

NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number : 06E076000 Mfg's Report Date : AUG 28, 2006

Component: EQUIPMENT: RECREATIONAL VEHICLE

Potential Number Of Units Affected : 926877

Summary:
CERTAIN DOMETIC TWO-DOOR REFRIGERATORS MANUFACTURED BETWEEN APRIL 1997 AND MAY 2003: SERIAL NOS.
713XXXXX THROUGH 752XXXXX;
801XXXXX THROUGH 852XXXXX;
901XXXXX THROUGH 952XXXXX;
001XXXXX THROUGH 052XXXXX;
101XXXXX THROUGH 152XXXXX;
201XXXXX THROUGH 252XXXXX;
301XXXXX THROUGH 319XXXXX,
INSTALLED IN CERTAIN RECREATIONAL VEHICLES AS ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT AND SOLD AS AFTERMARKET EQUIPMENT. A FATIGUE CRACK MAY DEVELOP IN THE BOILER TUBE WHICH MAY RELEASE A SUFFICIENT AMOUNT OF PRESSURIZED COOLANT SOLUTION INTO AN AREA WHERE AN IGNITION SOURCE (GAS FLAME) IS PRESENT.

Consequence:
THE RELEASE OF COOLANT UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS COULD IGNITE AND RESULT IN A FIRE.

Remedy:
THE VEHICLE MANUFACTURERS WILL NOTIFY OWNERS OF RECREATIONAL VEHICLES THAT HAD THE REFRIGERATORS INSTALLED AS ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT AND DOMETIC WILL NOTIFY OWNERS OF THE AFTERMARKET REFRIGERATORS. DOMETIC WILL INSTALL A SECONDARY BURNER HOUSING FREE OF CHARGE. THE RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN BETWEEN APRIL AND JUNE 2007. OWNERS MAY CONTACT DOMETIC AT 888-446-5157.

Notes:
CUSTOMERS MAY CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION'S VEHICLE SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-327-4236 (TTY: 1-800-424-9153); OR GO TO HTTP://WWW.SAFERCAR.GOV.

The following is extracted from the notice provided by Dometic to the NHTSA dated 8/26/06:

The potential defect is associated with cooling unit at the back of the refrigeration cabinet.

A fractional percentage of the potentially affected refrigerators have experienced a fatigue crack that may develop in the boiler tube in the area of the weld between the boiler tube and the heater pocket. A fatigue crack may release a sufficient amount of pressurized coolant solution into an area where an ignition source (gas flame) is present. Dometic's investigation has shown that a simulated release of cooling solution (refrigerant) in the area of the boiler, under certain conditions, could be ignited by the presence of an open flame. A boiler fatigue crack with the loss of cooling solution without ignition would result in a non-operational refrigerator that is not a safety issue. Under certain conditions, the released coolant could ignite and result in a fire. In order to have a fire, at a minimum, all of the following conditions must exist:

1. The refrigerator must be on and normally operating and gas burner must be lit;
2. 'There must be an oversized heating element in the refrigerator;
3. The boiler tube must develop a throughway fatigue crack of a
specific size;
4. There must be a release of the cooling solution at a rate which will
allow the accumulation of the cooling solution at a concentration within its range of flammability; and
5. There must be ignition source (gas flame) present.

If any of these conditions are not present, a release of the cooling solution will not result in a fire.

In April of 1997 Dometic modified the design of the affected refrigerators by increasing the wattage of the heating element from 325 watts to 354 watts. All production of the affected units from April 1997 through May of 2003 utilized the 354 watt heating element. In May of 2003, in order to improve the operating life of the refrigerators, Dometic returned to the use of the 325 watt heating element which it continues to use today. It is now believed that the use of the higher wattage heater contributed to abnormal fatigue in the boiler tube.

The products in question are all refrigerators used in the original manufacture of recreation vehicles or as replacement equipment for recreation vehicles. The total population of refrigerators potentially containing the defect is 926,877. Dometic estimates a potential maximum incident rate of 0.01% related to boiler fatigue cracks that leak and may result in a fire. There have been no incidents of injury or death related to the affected population of Dometic refrigerators.

Dometic became aware of the occurrence of fires which may have involved their products and retained an independent engineering testing laboratory to fully evaluate and investigate any potential defect in their refrigerators which might result in a fire. A number of returned units were analyzed and microscopic fatigue cracks which could release coolant into the area of the burner were identified in the boiler tube metal in the area of the weld between the heater pocket and boiler tube. Tests simulating the cracks were conducted the week of August 18, 2006 and confirmed a possible cause of fire in the refrigerators under certain conditions. These test results prompted the preparation of this notice.

Dometic continues to gather information on the potential defect and will forward additional relevant information as it becomes available.

Dometic has not yet identified a proposed remedy for the potential defect. Dometic will continue a testing program designed to identify and evaluate possible remedies. This evaluation will take place both in the United States and in Sweden. Once a remedy has been identified, Dometic will initiate or participate in a remedy campaign initiated by the original equipment manufacturers and aftermarket suppliers who have purchased, sold, and distributed these products. A list of original equipment manufacturers and aftermarket suppliers to whom Dometic has sold the potentially defective refrigerators is being prepared and will be provided to the NHTSA upon its
completion.

The following is extracted from the NHTSA response on 9/18/06:

Please provide the following additional information and be reminded of the following requirements:

Dometic must provide an estimated dealer notification date as well as an owner notification date including the day, month, and year. You are required to submit a draft owner notification letter to this office no less than five days prior to mailing it to the customers. Also, copies of all notices, bulletins, dealer notifications, and other communications that relate to this recall, including a copy of the final owner notification letter and any subsequent owner follow-up notification letter(s), are required to be submitted to this office no later than 5 days after they are originally sent (if they are sent to more than one manufacturer, distributor, dealer, or purchaser/owner).

Dometic must file a sample of the envelope which you intend to use to mail the recall notice to owners. The words "SAFETY", "RECALL", "NOTICE" in any order must be printed on the envelope in larger font than the customers name and address.

[keithbennett]

Tim:
Your comments are appreciated and they are also comments that Dometic should hear as folks like you have significant influence over folks like me(consumer).

I think that the people at Dometic should hear what you have to say. If you want I will send you the email address of the person that called me back. I think the cc on the email to investor relations may have resulted in a callback the same day. I have little doubt that they will not respond until it get white hot and right now it is lukewarm.

If you ever move your business to Colorado, let me know - you will have a new customer.

Regards,
Keith

[timsrv]

Yes, Norcold ended up replacing cooling units, but not before trying a band-aid fix of their own (they tried replacing the 120v elements with new ones that distributed the heat differently). That band-aid didn't work, so they eventually ponied up and replaced cores. This protective shield idea is something new and in my opinion is only a cheap attempt to limit their liability.

The bigger concern I have is future refer sales. I really like the design and function of the Dometic refers, and want to keep selling them, but I need to believe in their dependability to sell. Unfortunately I can no longer recommend these Dometic products in good conscience......at least not until they address the actual problem.

As for Norcold, I don't like them mainly because of past negative experiences I've had dealing with their warranty dept. I have also experienced a higher failure rate with Norcold's electronics & have also seen more than a normal rate of insufficient cooling issues (that ended up being units). I can't speak for all service centers, but this has been my personal experience as a technician.

For these reasons I don't normally recommend Norcold to my customers, but unless Dometic straightens this out soon, this will change as I am quickly losing confidence in Dometic's quality and commitment to deal with this in a responsible manner. Let's hope I'm wrong. I guess we'll see how they handle this. Tim

[Dusty_R]

timsrv wrote:
I had message on my answering machine this morning from another customer that had this problem. I had replaced his refer (RM2862) Nov 06. He said on the message it's not cooling and there's yellow stuff all around the burner area. This is just great. I'm a mobile service and Dometic won't pay for service calls. Last refer I changed under Dometic Warranty took 2 1/2 hrs. Dometic paid only one. How can I live with myself charging the balance to the customer? How can I afford to work for less than half my normal fee's.......and not make any parts sales? Oh yeah, and then there's the 60+ day wait for them to pay what they agree to.

I'd feel much better about this if they were fixing the actual problem and not attempting a band-aid fix. Does anyone know if this problem has been addressed on the refers they are manufacturing and selling today?

I already don't trust Norcold (because of similar issues), now there's this with Dometic. I sure wish someone would start making a quality refer that would fit correctly in these cavities. Sorry about the rant, but this is very frustrating. Tim

Go here http://www.norcold.com/recalls.cfm
If I read this right Nordcold is replacing the whole cooling unite, and as of a few weeks ago giving a $50. gas card to those who have not had theirs replaced yet.

Dusty R

[red_ranger]

even with the "band aid" fix they are not proposing to do it right. the samsung microwave people sent the maytag repairman TO the unit. dometic is going to have us drive to a select repair facility. this could be a drive of hundreds of miles for some.

[timsrv]

I had message on my answering machine this morning from another customer that had this problem. I had replaced his refer (RM2862) Nov 06. He said on the message it's not cooling and there's yellow stuff all around the burner area. This is just great. I'm a mobile service and Dometic won't pay for service calls. Last refer I changed under Dometic Warranty took 2 1/2 hrs. Dometic paid only one. How can I live with myself charging the balance to the customer? How can I afford to work for less than half my normal fee's.......and not make any parts sales? Oh yeah, and then there's the 60+ day wait for them to pay what they agree to.

I'd feel much better about this if they were fixing the actual problem and not attempting a band-aid fix. Does anyone know if this problem has been addressed on the refers they are manufacturing and selling today?

I already don't trust Norcold (because of similar issues), now there's this with Dometic. I sure wish someone would start making a quality refer that would fit correctly in these cavities. Sorry about the rant, but this is very frustrating. Tim

[keithbennett]

Don't hold your breath on the April date - Oh wait.... they did not say which year! Here is the response to my email.

Keith,

I appolgize for the inconveniences that this recall has caused for you and our other customers. Dometic is still working in conjunction with The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to launch the release of the rework kit which we hope to be available during the first week of April. There are still several factors which we need to resolve before this release. Dometic will need to make sure that the kits are readily available to our authorized service centers and that they are properly trained on how to intstall these rework kits. Both of which could take considerable time. Once again I do appologize upon Dometics behalf for the inconvenice of this recall. Dometic does strive for customer satisfaction and if you have any further questions feel free to contact me.

Thank you,

Errik Lemler
The Dometic Corporation

[Moose_Nugget]

Hi
Just got off the phone with Greg Sergeant (sp) tel (574) 294-2511 of Dometic regarding the recall. I explained to him that I lived in Alaska and was planning to drive down to Baja in early February and that I would like to know if my local RV Service center could fix this at my expense then Dometic would reimburse me later. The answer was a big NO. I would have to wait as everyone else. And that I would have to follow their instructions. No help, no maybe, no nothing. I agree this is a large corporation and they for the most part don’t really care about someone with a truck slide in camper but if enough of us called and just raised hell with them maybe they would. Their timing is bad as the camping season starts in April.

[keithbennett]

I have just sent an email to Dometic and their investor relations. I know it will not change their actions or timing but I wanted them to know that I will vote with my dollar and tell all who will listen about their poor customer relations.

Once again I feel that the almighty dollar is above what's right and taking care of customers. I shudder to think about a fire where someone was hurt. I would not want that on my mind.

Dometic is a large international company with many stockholders to answer to, but my small and insignificant dollars will go a different direction in the future.

Thanks for letting me rant & vent!

[PSU1999]

I thought what Keith Bennet got from the Dometic folks was interesting. Don't operate the fridge on gas, if it must be operated on electric shut it down at night...so basically it isn't usable until the recall work is done...that's if it works at all. And by the way we weon't start making recall repairs until April when the camping season is getting started and all the repair facilities are getting really busy so expect your RV to be out of commission for camping during the first month of the season!

[Desperado359]

seatrout46 wrote:

Desperado359 wrote:
Thanks for bring this up, my 2003 Cougar has had some problems keeping the frig. cool now I think I know why, I have made the call to the 800# and have check out the two camper we have and they fall under this recall now I hope that they replace the frig. and not just try to put a band-aid on it.

Forget about it, they will defintiely do the band aid fix.

For what I paid for this thing they should give me 2 of them.

[seatrout46]

Desperado359 wrote:
Thanks for bring this up, my 2003 Cougar has had some problems keeping the frig. cool now I think I know why, I have made the call to the 800# and have check out the two camper we have and they fall under this recall now I hope that they replace the frig. and not just try to put a band-aid on it.

Forget about it, they will defintiely do the band aid fix.

[Desperado359]

Thanks for bring this up, my 2003 Cougar has had some problems keeping the frig. cool now I think I know why, I have made the call to the 800# and have check out the two camper we have and they fall under this recall now I hope that they replace the frig. and not just try to put a band-aid on it.

[keithbennett]

FYI

Dometic Recall Information
Your refrigerator is affected
The information that you entered indicated that your refrigerator is affected by this voluntary recall. Please do the following:

Turn the refrigerator off immediately if you notice any of the following indicators:
Leakage or staining at the back of the refrigerator.
Yellow residue at the back or sides of the refrigerator.
The smell of ammonia.
Refrigerator does not properly cool.
Any unit found to have one or more of the characteristics mentioned above MUST be shut down and not operated until the unit is fixed and the recall rework administered.

For any unit that does fall within the recall population, but does not exhibit any of the four indicators mentioned in #1, consider the following:
Do not operate your refrigerator on LP gas. Switching to electric power lowers the incident rate associated with LP gas. If you own a 3-way refrigerator, running the unit on 12-volt power carries the least risk of all. 3-way refrigerators have model numbers that end in "3".

Dometic recommends that the unit not be operated on electric unless absolutely necessary until your unit has been serviced. If you choose to operate your unit on electric prior to the recall rework, you must inspect the burner area weekly for any of the indicators referenced in number 1 above.
Dometic recommends that you turn off the gas valve at the back of your refrigerator. DO NOT, however, attempt to disconnect the gas supply. For instructions on how to turn off the gas valve, click here.
If you must operate your refrigerator on electric, DO NOT operate your refrigerator while in transit or while asleep.
The rework kit will be available in early April 2007. At that time, call your preferred service center to set up an appointment. For help in locating a service center, or for the most up-to-date recall information, call 1-888-446-5157.

Please do not simply go to a dealer or service center without an appointment, since some facilities will not be performing this work, and the ones that are doing the work will need to obtain the appropriate parts from us.
If the repair facility fails or is unable to remedy this noncompliance without charge and within a reasonable time, please contact us at the number provided above so we can attempt to resolve the problem. You may also submit a written complaint to the Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590; or call the toll-free Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY: 1-800-424-9153); or go to http://www.safercar.gov.
If you previously paid to repair or replace a Dometic refrigerator that failed due to this defect, you can be reimbursed for your costs pursuant to Dometic´s Pre-Notification Reimbursement Program. To be eligible for reimbursement under that Program, you must complete and submit the required form and provide the necessary documentation. The Program and form can be obtained by calling 1-888-446-5157.

RECALL 06E-076
© Dometic Corporation 2007 Phone 574.294.2511

[timsrv]

That's nice to hear. I called the number listed, but only got a recording. The automated system had me enter my name, address, and phone number. Then the recording said they would send me out an information packet as soon as it became available. So I guess now it's just wait and see. I'd love to get some compensation sent to this customer. He's a really nice guy and has been a real trooper throughout all these expensive repairs. I can also think of 5 or 6 more right off the top of my head. Lots more in my file box, I'll have to start looking them up and making calls. I'm sure they'll be interested in this too. Tim

[MELM]

Thank you for posting the link and the info on old failures.

I've updated the first two entries on this thread, and put the info in the other sites with Stickies.