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Dometic Refrigerator Not Working


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Maniac-no it doesn’t work at all. We can’t get any of the buttons to engage. We took it to an RV shop and they determined that the eyebrow board was not working. 
Mountainoliver- I definitely don’t want a whole fridge but might be interested in the eyebrow if we have a match. 

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Kim and David Thompson Nomads' Nest 2018 LE2 #366 2018 Toyota Tundra, 4x4, 5.7L

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Thanks everyone for help with this issue. We just got a call from the RV shop we deal with and they finally got an eyebrow panel from Dometic. So we won't be buying Mountain Oliver's old Dometic fridge after all!

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Kim and David Thompson Nomads' Nest 2018 LE2 #366 2018 Toyota Tundra, 4x4, 5.7L

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  • 2 months later...
17 hours ago, zoelakin said:

I needed help ventilating my camper fridge. Before when it reached 90 degrees or higher outside my fridge couldn't keep up.

I think this is typical . . . . I once heard that the rule of thumb is that Absorption fridges will cool down to 40 degs below ambient temperature.  One thing you can do is deploy the awning so it shades the wall where the fridge is installed.  It should also help if you can keep the cabin temperature below 80 degrees.  We have a small battery operated fridge fan that we use to circulate air, thus helping with cooling; it is also important to not pack the fridge so tightly that air can't circulate.

When we camped in our travel van, we would keep ice packs in the freezer and place them in the fridge when outside temps were extreme - basically using it as an ice box!  This was a larger Dometic model 8555, that had to be set at the highest cooling setting to keep the temperature around 40 degrees. I hated that fridge; our Oliver's Norcold seems to work much better, though we haven't camped yet where temperature got above 50.  I have high hopes for the Norcold.

 

Ray and Susan Huff

Elite II Twin "Pearl" - Hull#699; delivered December 7, 2020

2013 F350 6.7l diesel Super Duty 4x4 long bed crew cab

1UP-USA Heavy-duty bike rack

2017 Leisure Travel Van Unity Twin Bed (sold)

AZARCAIDNVNMOKORTNTXUTWAsm.jpg

 

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On 1/10/2021 at 3:59 AM, zoelakin said:

I needed help ventilating my camper fridge. Before when it reached 90 degrees or higher outside my fridge couldn't keep up.

What brand refrigerator were you using? Are you running on propane or AC. What's the average temperature this time of year in Bac Giang, Vietnam? That may be your problem.

Edited by ScubaRx

Steve, Tali and our dog Rocky plus our beloved Storm, Maggie, Lucy and Reacher (all waiting at the Rainbow Bridge)

2008 Legacy Elite I - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #026 | 2014 Legacy Elite II - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #050 | 2022 Silverado High Country 3500HD SRW Diesel 4x4 

 

             801469912_StatesVisitedTaliandSteve08-23-2021-I.jpg.26814499292ab76ee55b889b69ad3ef0.jpg1226003278_StatesVisitedTaliandSteve08-23-2021-H.jpg.dc46129cb4967a7fd2531b16699e9e45.jpg

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey Everyone-we are having ongoing issues with our Dometic fridge. We are working with a local RV repair shop who has diagnosed the issue as a faulty eyebrow circuit board, as mentioned above in the previous posts. When I wrote last, we thought the issue was resolved with Dometic sending a new board to the repair shop. Well, unfortunately, Dometic sent the wrong board and is now saying that they are not sure when they can send a new board. We are trying to figure out how to proceed, and have looked at replacing the fridge with a different brand. We are not keen on this, since the board that is faulty is only about 100 dollars and a new fridge is quite a bit more. Seems wasteful to just replace the fridge. We have: looked online, checked dinansour, looked at RV salvage yards and are simply unable at this time to locate a replacement eyebrow. We looked at the Norcold but that would require quite a bit of modifications to our Oliver. Oliver Service has been great, of course, and has helped us in trying to locate a replacement circuit board and could replace the Dometic with a Norcold, but it would be quite an expense. All of the above leads to 2 questions: in the absence of a replacemnt Circuit board, what fridge could replace the Dometic, without major modifications to our Oliver in other words is there a replacement fridge that is simple and easy to swap out? In the absence of a fridge swap, does anyone have any ideas about how to get an eybrow circuit board? For reference, we are looking for a Dometic Eyebrow Circuit board model number 4450007134. We were hoping to go ahead and replace the lower control board number 4450020612, if we can get it. Our Oliver is a 2018. Thanks in advance. 

Kim and David Thompson Nomads' Nest 2018 LE2 #366 2018 Toyota Tundra, 4x4, 5.7L

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If you still have your old PCB you can reflow the solder joints to determine if the problem is a cracked or cold solder joint.

I have repaired a number of boards over the years doing this. Poor quality cold solder joints eventually crack resulting in intermittent or no continuity.

Use a solder iron (with magnification if necessary) to touch each joint. You'll see the solder melt and flow. Don't dwell but a second or two...just enough for the solder to reflow.

It's worth a try on hard to get or expensive boards.

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It you attempt this, insure you touch the soldering iron to the component lead to allow the heat to transfer through the lead to melt the solder. This will result in a good bond. If you just touch the solder and not the lead you'll recreate a cold solder joint. There should be some good youtube soldering videos for reference.

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  • 11 months later...
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@thompsonkd, how did you resolve your issues? Just curious,  as someone with a similar date trailer is also having problems.

Thanks.

Sherry

2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4

2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12

Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes....

400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries .  Life is good.


        
 

 

 

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Our Dometic went out about one week after the expiration of the warranty. Dometic would not extend the warranty, nor did they have a replacement board. We looked everywhere for a replacement board. We had a local RV repair shop look as well. I was able to locate a board that was close, but never the exact one. And, because we were never able to get an upper board, we were not confident that it wasn’t the lower board, or a combination of the two since they apparently work together. We ended up having to replace the entire fridge, for lack of a $100 to $200 part(s)! We got lots of help from Oliver service, and zero from Dometic. We now have a Norcold and are happy with it. The thermistor did go out, but Norcold paid to have our local RV shop replace it under warranty. The Norcold is a better design than the Dometic; if the fridge goes bad, it has a backup mode that keeps the fridge cold right above freezing to help prevent food loss. And Norcold service is exceptional. Wait times to talk to someone are reasonable and they actually offer help. I now know why Oliver switched to Norcold away from the Dometic. 

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Kim and David Thompson Nomads' Nest 2018 LE2 #366 2018 Toyota Tundra, 4x4, 5.7L

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On 1/9/2022 at 3:49 PM, thompsonkd said:

Our Dometic went out about one week after the expiration of the warranty. Dometic would not extend the warranty, nor did they have a replacement board. We looked everywhere for a replacement board. We had a local RV repair shop look as well. I was able to locate a board that was close, but never the exact one. And, because we were never able to get an upper board, we were not confident that it wasn’t the lower board, or a combination of the two since they apparently work together. We ended up having to replace the entire fridge, for lack of a $100 to $200 part(s)! We got lots of help from Oliver service, and zero from Dometic. We now have a Norcold and are happy with it. The thermistor did go out, but Norcold paid to have our local RV shop replace it under warranty. The Norcold is a better design than the Dometic; if the fridge goes bad, it has a backup mode that keeps the fridge cold right above freezing to help prevent food loss. And Norcold service is exceptional. Wait times to talk to someone are reasonable and they actually offer help. I now know why Oliver switched to Norcold away from the Dometic. 

Who replaced the refigerator; you or your RV shop or Oliver?

Did modifications to the refrigerator opening need to be done or was it a simple remove the old and slide in the new?

Thanks

2018 Oliver Elite II, Twin Bed, Hull #354 

2024 RAM 1500, 4 x 4; Gas. 5.7L V8 Hemi MDS VVT Torque; 3.21 rear axle ratio

Maine 

 

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