SeaDawg

I have induction at-home, but from what I have read, these dometic/ smev cooktops are similar to home ranges. The gas jet technology was pretty much state if the art when we got our 2008. Tried, and true, now. And. I do have serious envy of your continuous grate. That'd really nice. My skinny wire 2008 grates work, but not "grate." Lol.

How, and when, and where, is it leaking? Before I went any further, I'd check the aerator. If it's plugged, you'll get some backflow, maybe leaking/seeping at the base or seam between stem and base. We had a "leak" in a delta made faucet, 14 years old, recently. No cartridge. It was a ball valve with holes for cold and hot. Found a replacement at home depot. It was a very difficult job to replace , and took three hands, and several tries..Love the faucet, so wanted to keep it. It was worth the effort Can you find the service instructions online? That's what I try to do. Or, call or email Dura. Sherry

I think you probably have a little blade electrical connection for the piezo igniter. That needs to be lined up. If you can use a flashlight and mirror to see if the gas tube and jet haven't moved, you're probably good to go. The gas tube and jet are the only gas supplies. The alloy base and cap are useful, but just sit around and on top of the jet. As far as disposable, i looked around when my big burner gave me fits. The cooktop Oliver uses is (i think) smev, now owned by dometic, but still sturdy smev, and I would have ordered it if I couldn't fix mine. Probably the best available, usa. My old smev caps are screwed in, and make cleaning an issue. So, that's a tradeoff. If you travel bumpy roads frequently, take the caps off before you close the lid, and put them in the top drawer til you need to use the burners. At least, that's what I would do.

This is a great little jump box. We've used it four times this month, for the framing crew's trucks. Thanks again for the recommendation, John E Davies.

Pennie, you don't have to post to thank people, though you are very sweet. There's a little grey button (see photo) where you can add a thanks. Sherry

If your burner is like my smev, the pieces you've shown don't actually carry any fuel. There's a little gas jet, attached to a fixed gas tube, that supplies the fuel. It looks like a small, thin brass nut. (Mine is 11 mm, I think.) The alloy base plate with the ridges supplies air to the jet, "spreading " the flames. My guess is the base plate is attached by a couple of machine screws from the bottom, meaning you'd have to remove the cooktop to reattach it, like the small burner. The stainless steel cap is not fixed on yours. Mine is held on by old, stubborn, corroded and stripped screws.

A few years ago, we bought a cell phone booster and tried it in the truck. It didn't help, at all. Tmobile had zero signal in our area to boost. What gave me a significant boost in my Verizon signal was getting a new, better phone. We use my phone as a Hotspot for the tablet and my husband's phone. His tmobile phone works great in much of Canada, Europe, and Australia. And some parts of the USA. Verizon usually gives us great coverage in most if the usa, if there us any signal at all.

Did you open a service ticket yet? Someone from Oliver may be able to help you do it yourself, if you're comfortable working with gas. Or, they'll help you get it taken care of at an rv repair. Their warranty wraps Dometic's warranty.

Before you invest heavily in a cell booster, you might want to read this article. https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/guides/mobile-cellular-boosters/ With newer cellphone and tower technology , you may not need or want a booster.

I've never heard one of the new Dometic ac units running, so I can't comment on those. Our old 2008 Dometic was problem free, but, it was loud. I would not have changed ours out, even though 14 years old, but for the fact that we wanted the extra space for solar panels, and, indeed, it was 14 years old, and due for a change, anyway soon.

If eliminating it doesn't change the price, not any point in doing that. It would actually be a big negative. With the ac install, the standard 14 x 14 cut is made, all wiring run, thermostat installed. All of this makes a swap easier down the line... IF you even use the ac? We hardly ever have used ours. Depends in when , where, and how you camp. Now, if they would credit back the unit, still run the necessary wiring for the ac, and install a second but simple fan in its place (they use the same 14 x 14 hole,) that would be nice. Then, you could by a recpro or coleman ndq for an easy swap for the fan.

I don't think so. We've had our cooktop out. The area between the cooktop and drawers is sealed with plywood, at least in ours.

I'd say so!

I think it's really easy to get carried away on initial purchase, so I'm glad you're approaching this thoughtfully. I too, think solar and agm batteries are a great start for people new to camping. No maintenance to the batteries. Solar keeps them charged up unless you hit a string of bad weather, or use an inverter a lot. If you cook and make coffee on the cooktop when you don't have hookups, you really won't use that much dc power . Smaller genset for backup. As far as signal, we carry two different services, Verizon and Tmobile. If there's service available, we have signal. Maybe look at a jetpack from a different provider than your phone, to cover the bases. (Neither service works in some of the remote spots we've camped, like the Yukon, but I don't need to be connected every minute! You can buy a Spot or similar for emergency signal based on satellite for very little, and a reasonable annual contract.)

230 should be plenty, with a threeway fridge running on gas. You can add a portable very inexpensively if it's not. My sister had this generator from Costco. Pretty light, very quiet. Should run your ac if you have the soft start. A-iPower Powered by Yamaha Inverter Generator | Costco https://www.costco.com/.product.100653776.html

I agree with John. The agms are fine to start. We still have agm, and I wouldn't even look at lithium if we didn't have a compressor fridge. I may stay with agm, anyway, even with the increased draw of the fridge, because we rarely have to run the generator, with 400 watts of solar.

We've used tst out of Georgia for a decade. Reliable, great customer service. Get 3, so you have a spare. Others will chime in. There are several good brands out there.

That generator is way to big and heavy. We recently bought a Westinghouse 2500 at Lowes. It runs our saws, charges batteries, and runs our ac. At around 600 normal price, it's a nice smaller unit, with plenty of features, inverter technology, and it only weighs 48 pounds, so I can lift it. Pull cord start, but pretty easy, and I have no difficulty starting it. (If you have the strength to lift it, you have the strength to start it.) Our other generator is a Honda 1000. Very light, quiet, will charge the batteries. Won't run the microwave or a hairdryer or any tools. Champion makes a nice generator around 2000 watts that would charge batteries and run the microwave, but probably not the ac. Keep looking.

That was fast! October is usually a really nice time to camp in Tennessee and Western North Carolina. By the middle of the month, the fall colors are usually at their peak in the High Country.

We collect rainwater, from our metal roof, at home. Don't think I'd want to collect drinking water from the interstitial space of Oliver hulls. Imo

Don't the courtesy lights turn on with headlights? I have no idea. We don't have courtesy lights, other than the low yellow sidelights, on 2008 model.

We call it third tail light. Anybody have a better name? Other than "the place to look if you have a leak that looks like the rear window, but probably isn't?"

Actually, lots of sailors set up tarps to capture rainwater as freshwater. Very ingenious. 😁

Is yours led, or bulbs? On our older 2008, the bulbs sometimes worked loose. Easy fix. Five or six years down the line, replaced incandescent with led bulbs. Of you have an led fixture, I'd be looking for a loose connection.

We bought our dc danfoss/secop refrigerator, made by indelb, to replace our dometic 3way from a company named Truckfridge. Truckfridge also carries a very complete line of indelb portable fridge/freezers, under their label. Some are molded plastic. Another group is made with a steel case, like the national luna. All use the same danfoss/secop compressors used in other, more expensive brands like Dometic. Very low power consumption. About half the price of Dometic. https://truckfridge.com/collections/portable-refrigerator-freezers