# Dometic fridge/freezer



## Hatikvah (Nov 22, 2007)

Could anyone tell me how much it costs to have a fan installed to help the fridge cool more efficiently in hot weather, although it really does annoy me why on earth they are not fitted in the first place, after all when do you need a fridge to work properly, when its hot.


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

I have to say, I have had Electrolux, Dometic, and now Thetford fridge freezers, and never had a problem with them not working except last year when the Thetford totally died.

I have seen threads on here that talk about £25.00 to do a DIY job.


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## PeterandLinda (Feb 21, 2009)

Hi

We got Dave Newell to fit fans for us. There are two and there are three settings; on, off and thermostatically controlled. We just leave it on thermostat and it has been working brilliantly for three or more years.

P&L


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

Are we talking about the fridge with an internal freezer or one of those Dometic AES fridge & freezer (separate freezer).


cabby


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## Hatikvah (Nov 22, 2007)

It is a separate freezer, AES model, however it has a problem at the moment, an ongoing problem, I don't know if there should be, but where the doorlock mechanism is placed, inside the door mine has a gap and you can see the mechanism or part of after 3 days of running the whol mechanism freezes up, and the push buttons to open the door wont operate, hence the door will not open unless I defrost, I have now had the fridge freezer on at home for 2 days and I can see in the gap ice forming on the metal part, the door has been changed once, but just as bad. I need a fan as when we were in Spain and it was e34 degrees fried was on 15 degrees. I do keep ringing my local approved Dometic engineer but he does not reply either by telephone or e-mail.


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

Can you post a picture please, just to confirm that we understand the problem.As the mechanism on ours is on full view and if it is stuck there is a button you press that defrosts around the door edge only.

cabby


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## Hatikvah (Nov 22, 2007)

Hi, my freezer door after 3 days of running, is now locked solid, I had this problem before and had to waste food, as the only way it will open is to defrost, after one day the pushbuttons that operate the catch start to get stiffer and stiffer until eventually the mechanism freezes up. I have found one other person who has had this problem. There is a gap betweeh the casing , which contains the mechanism, and the freezer door, part of the mechanism can be seen and I think condensation is getting in here and forming ice. I rang Dometic today, they said someone technical would ring back but they didn't. I have posted a picture . The casing is on the inside of the top freezer door and there is a gap between the casing and the door, it does not fit flush to the door.


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## teensvan (May 9, 2005)

Hi.

Go to a maplins shop and they have loads of 12 volt fans from 50mm dia upwards. We strapped two 90mm fans to our fridge 3 years ago and they would get used up to 10 hours a day for 3 months at a time. About £7 max each. Strap them to the top cooling fins. You just need to run a 12 volt feed from the leisure battery via a 3 amp fuse. Have a look on their website under computer fans.

steve & ann. ---------teensvan


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

I think I understand your problem, the mechanism/release button on the door handle freezes up and stops you opening the door.
Looking at the photo, I ask, have you checked that the sealing rubber actually is the correct one or is improperly fitted, as the door should close onto this rubber surround and prevent cold air getting to the lock.
can we have a photo of the inside of the door and the outside please.

who changed the door for you last time and did it make any difference.
are you still under warranty.

cabby


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## Hatikvah (Nov 22, 2007)

The white casing does not seal onto the black rubber' there is a gap of just over a quarter of an inch' as I said, I think condensation is getting in the gap because it is not sealed onto the black rubber. The door was changed by domestic engineer Phil of Derwent Technical, he is my nearest. There is a question hanging over warranty the book says the consumer rules of that country apply where you bought the product' in addition an extra 2 year warranty in Europe which I think means altogether 3 years' but not sure. I am sure Phil said it was 3 years when he came. Having said that according to consumer rights if a problem existed before the warranty was out it should be put right even if the warranty has ended' it has been an ongoing problem and I have had to waste a lot of food in the freezer having to defrost to get door open' not usable really. I will put a picture of the outside of the door tomorrow. The model is RMD 8555, the large fridge freezer' in a 2011 Auto trail Cherokee. Someone Elsa had the same problem and said that when they saw ice forming in the gap they put a hairdryer on it, I don't think this is a practical solution.


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## Hatikvah (Nov 22, 2007)

Thanks Cabby, you are correct the mechanism freezes up, the buttons wont push up, day by day you can feel them getting stiffer and after 3 days door is locked solid. How would I know if they are the correct seals on the actual door, it was a new door fitted last July, the seals seem ok. But the white casing you can see on the picture, inside the freezer door , there is a gap between that ahd a black rubber surround, I think that is where condensation may be getting in to the actual casing, have wondered is I should just seal around it with something as Dometic are being less than helpful and I cant seem to get anyone out, I am at a loss what to do, it is very frustrating.


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

Have seen this in the instruction manual, could this be the problem.

If the vehicle is parked for a longer period of
time, the locking hook may be clamped by
means of a lockbar. The door may now be opened
by just pulling it without need of pressing
the locking button.
Fastening
this is the link.
cabby
http://www.waeco.com.au/documents/3313_RMD8551_Operating_289011109AUS.pdf


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## jonse (Nov 2, 2008)

*fridge door*

just looked at the instructions and it seems that the lock is just when on the road , but don't think you should see any of this locking unit when the door is shut, so is this just a bad seal otherwise looks quite simple idea


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## philoaks (Sep 2, 2008)

Just had a look at mine and it looks identical to yours.

As Cabby says you can disable the lock mechanism. This is done by lifting the metal hook upwards and then pushing up the piece of plastic that is directly below the hook. This locks the hook in the up position so that when you close the door it just uses the magnetic strip in the seal to hold the door shut. If you do this don't forget to release the hook before you start driving again or you frozen peas will be everywhere. :lol:

The one thing that concerns me is that you can see a gap around the seal as mine just holds tight to the frame of the fridge by virtue of the magnetic strip. The only time you can see a gap is when the lock mechanism is set to its ventilated position which is only used when the van is laid up. The lock hasn't been set to it's vent position by any chance has it? I'll try and photo mine to show what I mean.

Phil

edit: I've just re-read the your earlier post and realised that the gap you are referring to is between the lock assembly and the door itself. Mine looks exactly the same with no seal, just the gap. I haven't experienced the same problem although I haven't had to use it in extreme conditions yet. I have however notice condensation forming on the outside of the door where the lock mechanism is, which would suggest that the thermal insulation isn't perhaps quite as good as it should be.

What setting do you use for the fridge. Just wondering if a lower setting would still be cold enough but reduce the chance of ice building up on the mechanism.


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## Hatikvah (Nov 22, 2007)

Phil, thanks for you reply, I am going to put some more pictures, yes there is a gap between the white plastic casing, which holds the door mechanism/catch and the black seal which fits to the white plastic of the door. \if you look in the gap closely , you can actually see the metal part of the mechanism. When I went into the van yesterday, I pushed up the buttons, they were really stiff and ice broke off the catch in the gap and fell onto the floor, before it gets to this stage water drips out of the push buttons that operate the door and I end up with water sitting on top of the buttons underneath that operate the fridge door or dripped onto floor. Like you, last year condensation was forming on the outside door of the freezer, just in the area where the locking mechanism is placed. The engineer said that some of these freezer doors were produced missing a strip of insulation down the side where the door opening mechanism/locking mechanism is, he tried to put the strip of insulation in, but no one , not even Dometic could,instruct him on how to take off the front decorative panel to get the insulation in so a new door was fitted, but the freezing up of the lock /catch mechanism still exists, although I don't have the condensation forming on the front of the door anymore. I must stress it is nothing to do with the actual door seal , it is the fact that the gap between the white plastc casing and the black rubber, whatever it is, is getting ice forming in there. When I rang Dometic, they came up with the silly question, do I know there is a button to defrost the frame, well of course I do, had it on my last fridge /freezer which never had this problem and I do use it, but tha gets rid of condensation on the fridge frame and is no where near the freezer door. I understand that I don't need to have the door in the locked position all the time, but I prefer to in case I forget when we move on, although if I did not have it in the locked position, I don't know if this would stop the freezing up of the mechanism as the gap is still there and in my mind that is the problem.


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## rotorywing (Jul 19, 2010)

These would do the trick
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PACK-OF-2...pt=UK_Computing_Case_Fans&hash=item416ef9c3f7

Along with one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rocker-Switch-BLACK-20mm-Blue-Dot-10A-12V-/160710551037

And an inline fuse

Martin


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

this sounds really frustrating, I will not ask how your beer supply is coping, however can I ask you to just try leaving it unlocked and see if it makes any difference and also what setting have you got it on.
should neither of these ideas work then it is a case of dometic fixing or replacing as far as I am concerned. 

cabby

edit, where are you in the UK and was it Dometic in Blandford st. Mary Dorset, you contacted to complain


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## Hatikvah (Nov 22, 2007)

I am between S****horpe and Doncaster, the Isle of Axholme, I did complain direct to Dometic in Dorset, first telephone call, got no reply 2nd telephone call, got a name and reference number, they were supposed to ring back on Friday but did not. Derwent Technical are no longer replying to my phone calls or e-mails, I assume they do not know what to do. I do have to run the fridge/freezer on maximum 5 leds on most of the time as it wont cool to what I regard a safe temperature. I have had contact from another person on this forum saying their fridge does not cool efficiently unless running on maximum as well. Most people say they are cooling efficiently, but does everyone have a good thermometer in theirs, we do, one in the freezer and one in the fridge. I must say if you type in Dometic RMd 8555 and get sites up that sell this fridge/freezer the specs say that the fridge will cool to 7 degrees and the freezer -12, I don't know how Dometic get away with that because the safe temperature for storing food in a fridge is 5 degrees. As I said earlier the freezer door was replaced last year, it has made no difference, so I think they are probably at a loss as to what top do. Someone on Motoehome Fun has had the exact same problem of the mechanism freezing, they were advised to put Vaseline in the gap, or he said he kept periodically heating it up with hairdryer to thaw the ice that was forming on the mechanism between the gap. For some reason Rapido had fitted their fridge/freezer in a way that the door could not be removed. using the door without it being locked, problem with that is , if the mechanism then freezes, I wont be able to move to the lock position when we move off. Thanks for suggestions , I am now in the process of writing to Dometic, as it has been an ongoing problem I am sending pictures, as they do not seem to understand the problem and I will be sending by recorded delivery. This particular fridge/freezer retails at about £1500, not a cheap item. I would just like to add that the model we had previously to this in our last van, the one just the same but with the controls on the outside, so you don't keep having to open the door, was far superior to this latest model and we never had a problem with any aspect of it, that's progress I suppose.


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

I think it is time you went to the Trading Standards .stop messing about.

cabby


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## Hatikvah (Nov 22, 2007)

My husband says I should try the polite , reasonable approach first, so I will, it doesn't usually get me anywhere though.


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