# Safety recall on Dometic fridge/freezer 2004-2007



## Briarose

Hi I apologise if this is covered elsewhere ( I can't see it anywhere) but today we have had a letter it is from Dometic and is entitled 'precautionary measures for the examination of 2 door Dometic fridge freezers.

It says dear caravan and motorhome enthusiast

and goes on to say that has a precaution they are pointing out a *possible * hazard that may lead to gas leakage on some of their 2 door fridge freezers.

From the letter the models concerned are all of the following models of Dometic fridge-freezers manufactured during the period 2004-2007:

RM-7601 
RM-7605 
RM-7651 
RM-7655 
RM-7801 
RM-7805 
RM-7851 
RM-7855 
The reason for the recall is that screws holding the cooling-unit to the appliance's rear housing have been found to be sub-standard and require replacement.

I thought it worth posting about this for anyone it may affect as any vibration whilst the a vehicle is being driven may cause the screws to fracture and result in a gas leak.

The letter goes on to say that the precise product designation as well as the Dometic product and serial number can be gathered from the rating plate thaat is located at the bottome left of the rear wall in the fridge interior.

It also says if you are affected you should no longer use it on gas until you have had an appointment with a specialist dealer and recommends you close the corresponding gas shut off valve on the vehicle side............it goes on to say it is still safe to use your fridge on 12 volt and 230 volt.

If you are affected you can get more help on +800 366 38 420 it says call immediately and have your vehicle registration certicate and the product and serial number of the fridge.

As I say we had the letter this morning.............it doesn't affect us as it is for the caravan we have just sold rather than our motorhome but I wanted to post this info as it may help someone out there, if you need any more info from my letter I will be happy to tell you anything else that is says.

Briarose


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## Motorhomersimpson

Hi Briarose,

just noticed this and thought it worthy of bringing it up again, some members may have missed it along the way.

Thanks for the info :wink: 

Edit: I have also made this thread a sticky to help all members see the recall  

MHS...Rob


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## Telbell

THanks BR- I presume by "!two door" the letter means two "external doors" to the fridge as opposed to one door which opens and leads to a fridge and then a separate freezer compartment....if you see what I'm getting at :roll: ......but then it's not a fridge/freezer is it?.............oh forget it-I know what I mean :lol:


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## Biznoz

Thanks Briarose for the info,

I spoke to Dometic HO in Luton and they told me that as it effects so many they are letting customers know in rotation so as they can manage things. On saying that as I had phoned they arranged for the local Dometic engineer to look at mine which happened to be at a dealer being serviced local to where the engineer happened to be.


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## Briarose

Telbell said:


> THanks BR- I presume by "!two door" the letter means two "external doors" to the fridge as opposed to one door which opens and leads to a fridge and then a separate freezer compartment....if you see what I'm getting at :roll: ......but then it's not a fridge/freezer is it?.............oh forget it-I know what I mean :lol:


Hi yes I know what you mean LOL the recall was for our new caravan which we had bought this year in June (now traded in for MH) and the caravan fridge did indeed have two doors on it.

HTH


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## Wytonknaus

If it had not been for this forum we would have been none the wiser as to this problem with the fridge.

Ours is one of the ones affected and I have rung the dealer who has not notified me yet and all they wanted to know is how we had heard of the fault. Nice to know that it is only a gas safety issue and we should not use the fridge in gas mode!!!!

They will obviously let us know at some point about the problem.

Thanks MHF it is worth every penny being a member.

Tim


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## Briarose

Wytonknaus said:


> If it had not been for this forum we would have been none the wiser as to this problem with the fridge.
> 
> Ours is one of the ones affected and I have rung the dealer who has not notified me yet and all they wanted to know is how we had heard of the fault. Nice to know that it is only a gas safety issue and we should not use the fridge in gas mode!!!!
> 
> They will obviously let us know at some point about the problem.
> 
> Thanks MHF it is worth every penny being a member.
> 
> Tim


Hi Tim we got a letter direct from the company rather than the dealer, maybe they are contacting in alphabetical order or something.

The other thing is our letter asked us to advise if we had sold the caravan........obv so that they could contact the next person, I wonder what happens in a situation where the vechicle/caravan has been sold and no one notifies them esp as this goes back a couple of years.


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## Wytonknaus

Thanks for your putting the info on here Briarose.

I have spoken to a couple of local dealerships who are listed on the Dometic website and they think that dometic are doing the work themselves instead of using the dealerships, you would think they would find out where everyone lives first so they could do the sweep and catch everyone, in our case we have moved house and I have informed the MH dealer of this but not the component manufacturers! 
It never crossed my mind to do so, moving house is hectic enough!

Tim


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## Telbell

> maybe they are contacting in alphabetical order or something.
> 
> .


Yeah looks like it- Briarose comes before Wytonknaus in alphabet(sorry! :roll: )


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## Suenliam

We fall into the faulty range so I phoned the number Briarose gave. Eventually got through (luckily a freephone number in Netherlands) and spoke to a charming man who did not have our dealer on his repairs list, but has given us full info. to get it rectified at a local firm. This was despite not having the full product number as it had been rubbed off.

I do so wish more companies dealt with such things so helpfully and efficiently. It almost makes you think it doesn't matter there is a fault if it can be dealt with so well!

Sue


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## GEMMY

Hi all, 

Thanks to Briarose I went out yesterday afternoon to check mine.It was one of the affected ones,tried the freephone no.it only operates until 4pm.so I rang the supplying dealer(Hymer Uk)was told it only affects the "S" class---wrong--- but he did give me Dometics uk no. 

Very helpful guy located my nearest repairman,phoned immediately,booked in for today.Just got back,20 min. job,10 mins to find the right size drill bit,5 mins to to the job,5 mins to do the paperwork.All this done from the outside grill vent.Very easy to check yourself if you are wating, and of a nervous disposition. 

All the best tony.


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## 98212

Thanks Briarose, we are about to go fulltiming the week after next and our is affected. It would have been a worry to find this out whilst away. 

Rang a local service agent who will do the fix for tea and cake.

Thanks again


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## Briarose

Hi I am glad I have helped you all and that you can go away with piece of mind.


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## kipperkid

Well I am now totally confused - phoned the 00800 no. and was told 7655 is not an affected model - in that case why is it listed on the recall list on their website????


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## UncleNorm

*Dometic Fridge/Freezer*

Hi Briarose.

Thanks for the notification regarding the "precautionary protective measures... being initiated by Dometic." 

Thanks also to the Mod Motorhomersimpson for making it a sticky. I had clearly missed it first time round. 

I've just been on the Dometic.com website and have found the same message as received by some MH owners. Yes, my model number is there! :roll:

It looks like phone calls are needed next week! (Well, I don't for one minute suppose that ONE call will be all that is needed! :lol: )


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## MalanCris

*Dometic Fridge Freezer Problems*

Hi All and a Happy New Year to you.
I read an article in the December issue of the CC&C magazine saying the Dometic have found a problem on some of their fridge freezers - mine being one of the affected models. Has anyone else seen this/been intouch with Dometic? I rang them last week but could only get through to an answerphone and they have not replied to me yet.


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## Briarose

Hi there is a previous discussion on this on the following link
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopict-35951-dometic.html

Moderators edit:

The topic referred to has now been merged into this topic.

HTH


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## geraldandannie

Information on Dometic's website:

:: LINK ::

Gerald


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## Suenliam

No doubt they are on hols. as the man we spoke to was in the Netherlands (perfect English). He was most helpful and we are just awaiting an appointment with the local "fixers". This appointment could have been much earlier if we had insisted or had gone further afield.

Once you get through I am sure they will look after you well.

Sue


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## MalanCris

Many thanks for the replies, I have been in touch with Dometic and have booked an appointment for next Wednesday.


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## gaspode

I phoned the Dometic helpline earlier today and got through to the Netherlands centre where the operator took all my details and asked me to contact their local service agent, Aztech Services Ltd at Fleet Hant's to arrange for the remedial work to be done. They even gave me the name of the chap to speak to - Mr Smith.

On ringing Aztech however I was told that they were unable to carry out the work on behalf of Dometic but would give me no reason why they couldn't do it, they said I should call Dometic again and ask them the reason???? They admitted to being Dometic service agents but were very unhelpful otherwise. Seems a strange state of affairs. 8O 

Anyway I've been trying to contact Dometic again for the past hour or so but am unable to get an answer. I've left my name and number and asked them to contact me urgently but they haven't yet done so.

Anyone else had this problem?


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## javea

Hi Gaspode,

I had the same problem with the Norweigan contact. Found the Luton number on one of the threads but can't remember which one it was!! phoned them and they gave me the number of a local agent immediately, had the job done last week, took all of 15 minutes. Have a browse through the topics on the recall and I am sure you will find the LUTON number.

Regards,

Mike


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## DABurleigh

"Anyone else had this problem?"

Ken,

In a word, yes :-(

In my case the issue was that Dometic agreed a supplier to fill a geographical hole in their network, and sat back thinking "problem solved". (How many times do senior managers think problems are solved merely be nominating someone ....?!). The supplier, on the other hand, had non-Dometic work coming out of their ears, and so attending the requisite Dometic training course never got to the top of their in-tray. 

To this day the Dometic network seems utterly riddled with this. It looks good on a website, until you actually try to get something done, and find you either have to travel a loooong way, or pay someone oodles for a lengthy travelling call-out.

Dave


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## gaspode

Thanks for that info Dave, in the meantime (whilst waiting for Dometic to ring me back) I've been doing a bit of research on behalf of MHF and myself.

It seems that the Dometic website http://www.dometic.com doesn't work very well. If you try to find a service agent you get no results, also trying to find a UK phone contact number on the site is impossible. So following a suggestion in the earlier thread I googled Dometic Luton and found a couple of useful numbers, the most useful being the UK Aftersales Manager (Hugh Lamberton) on 01582 496866. I suggest any members wishing to get a Dometic problem sorted give him a ring on his personal number. I have had a chat with him this afternoon and he was most helpful.

Prior to speaking with Mr Lamberton, the Dometic team in Luton directed me to another agent, CMR Ltd in Yately Hant's who were able to give me an appointment to get my fridge sorted out next week. Unfortunately this means a 30 mile round trip for me as they were unwilling to travel here to carry out the work. Apparently Dometic will not pay for the repairers to travel out to site. At least I can now get the work done but I don't really see why I should have to make a 30 mile round trip with the van just so they can replace a couple of screws. It isn't my fault that they fitted the wrong screws is it so why should I be inconvenienced by wasting a couple of hours of my time and use a few litres of diesel in the process?

As I said, I spoke to Mr Lamberton who told me that Dometic would not allow repairers to travel out to repair units due to the cost. It doesn't seem to be a problem with Dometic that their customers have to bear the cost does it? I suggest any members who have to travel any considerable distance to have the work carried out should ring Mr Lamberton and request either a home call or reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred.
Unfortunately Mr Lamberton was unable to answer satisfactorily why the Dometic helpline were giving out incorrect agent details or why their number appears to be unavailable for so much of the time although he apologise for the unacceptable level of service. I also suggested that it would be a good idea if the Dometic website gave some UK contact names and numbers. He did promise to make enquiries and ring me back so if he does I'll let you all know. In the meantime you have his number............... :wink:


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## Leapy

I tried ringing the helpline and there was no response-I then rang Dometic and was given a different help number-this didn't work either
I rang back and was told they would look into it
A message on my answer machine suggested I took my van back to the dealers- a 116 mile return trip but also gave me a number of a moble repairer-I rang this and left a message but have had no reply.
Why should it cost you for someones shoddy/cost cutting work?


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## linal

Hi thanks for the info regarding 7 series f/freezers I also have one but to my knowledge no one has contacted me and as this is a potential gas/fire/explosion problem you would think Dometic would put a high priority to contact customers/manufacturers/dealers to correct said problem.

Alex.


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## meld3

Dometic directed me to 3 dealers - all of whom will not help as I didn't buy the vehicle from them !!!

Managed to track down a mobile Dometic guy who will help but only if I go to him - he is only being paid £10.80 + no travelling expenses by Dometic to fix the lethal problem.

This is disgusting and probably explains why dealers are reluctant to help when they have already full workshops !!


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## Spacerunner

Although it took me several phone calls spread over a couple of days Dometic did work for me. After I did manage to get through to the Netherlands number they gave me the number of a local dealer. Within an hour a Dometic agent phoned me to make an appointment for four days later. he announced his arrival in my driveway by phone, completed the job in 15 minutes answered all my queries on running the unit, did the paperwork and was gone. So let's not get into name calling too quickly, after all this is a major international recall and will take a lot of organising. Also it is not helpful for Dometic agents to be unhelpful if not downright obstructive.


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## linal

Hi phoned Dometic today they gave me the address of a caravan service agent couple of miles up the road who happens to be a friend of mine I only wish I was allowed to get my Hymer serviced by him as at least know it was done correctly.

Alex.


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## ed786

Hi All
I found out about Dometic problem from CC mag. Tried phone no. indicated and left answerphone message. I was then contacted by Dometic the following day. I supplied motorhome details + serial no. of fridge/freezer and was then given three options to visit an agent. (Preston, Todmorden or Halifax). I chose Halifax as nearest which turned out to be Richard Baldwin Motorhomes. They were very helpful and have "fitted me in" next Monday. With Truma boiler re-call I finished up travelling to Truma in Derbyshire as lack of interest from nearest agent (Chelston) as we had not purchased our motorhome from them.

Ed


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## JohnsCrossMotorHomes

linal said:


> Hi phoned Dometic today they gave me the address of a caravan service agent couple of miles up the road who happens to be a friend of mine I only wish I was allowed to get my Hymer serviced by him as at least know it was done correctly.
> 
> Alex.


Hi Alex,

Is there any reason why you should not get your habitation services carried out by a qualified service agent of your choosing?

As far as I am aware it is your choice under the 'Unfair Contracts' or some legislation to go where you want to go as long as they are qualified and Vat registered (for some unknown reason) and it should not affect any warranty or other implied rights that you have.

Regards


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## wobby

2 weeks old and the gas wouldn't work on my Dometic fridge rang Lowdham Leisureworld who gave me the telephone number of the local Dometic engineer. Rang the man and he said it was one of three parts faulty two of which he had in stock the other he would order and ring me back. Six day later he rang and the following day he came and replace the control panel, first class service. While he was with me I ask him about the recall and he said it was down to the wrong length of screw being used and that Dometic was not paying them to make a home visit, rather one has to take the van back to the dealer and they rectify the problem --- strange. 
Wobby


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## 96299

kipperkid said:


> Well I am now totally confused - phoned the 00800 no. and was told 7655 is not an affected model - in that case why is it listed on the recall list on their website????


Hi

Phoned Dometic today with the same recall number as you.The van goes in tomorrow to be looked at,so I dont understand why they haven`t booked you in.

steve


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## JohnsCrossMotorHomes

Briarose said:


> Wytonknaus said:
> 
> 
> 
> If it had not been for this forum we would have been none the wiser as to this problem with the fridge.
> 
> Ours is one of the ones affected and I have rung the dealer who has not notified me yet and all they wanted to know is how we had heard of the fault. Nice to know that it is only a gas safety issue and we should not use the fridge in gas mode!!!!
> 
> They will obviously let us know at some point about the problem.
> 
> Thanks MHF it is worth every penny being a member.
> 
> Tim
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Tim we got a letter direct from the company rather than the dealer, maybe they are contacting in alphabetical order or something.
> 
> The other thing is our letter asked us to advise if we had sold the caravan........obv so that they could contact the next person, I wonder what happens in a situation where the vechicle/caravan has been sold and no one notifies them esp as this goes back a couple of years.
Click to expand...

If it is a MH, the current MH owner or keeper is traceable through DVLA and if it is in a dealers stock, before sale, the dealer if he is worth his salt, should have done the modification himself as it is a simple job.


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## gaspode

Hi Everyone

In order to keep discussion on this important subject in a single thread I have merged the two separately running threads together into a single thread.


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## Bubblehead

Hi

Ive just had the recal done on my fridge, quick job which took about 20 - 30 mins to do. The engineer was from Spire Leisure services (Mr Armstrong 01903 715121) who is happy for owners to contact him re the recall. I think hes from the Chichester area.

He told me of 3 failures that he knew of 2 where the screws failed and the fridge had to be repaired and one when the owner was driving with the gas on and its resulted in fire damage to the side of his MH. Underlines the importance of switching the gas off before you move off.

Bubblehead


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## 96299

Hi all

I took the motorhome in today for the Dometic recall.They discovered that the problematic screw which is the recall,was infact loose and wouldn`t tighten back up.they replaced the screw and the whole process took ten minutes.For anyone in the Essex area..I took it to Cranham caravans on the A127 in upminster.

steve


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## Spacerunner

Bubblehead said:


> Hi
> 
> Ive just had the recal done on my fridge, quick job which took about 20 - 30 mins to do. The engineer was from Spire Leisure services (Mr Armstrong 01903 715121) who is happy for owners to contact him re the recall. I think hes from the Chichester area.
> 
> He told me of 3 failures that he knew of 2 where the screws failed and the fridge had to be repaired and one when the owner was driving with the gas on and its resulted in fire damage to the side of his MH. Underlines the importance of switching the gas off before you move off.
> 
> Bubblehead


Didn't I read that the fault was unlikely to cause a problem in most cases. And there had only been two reported cases in Italy which had made the recall necessary. Makes you wonder don't it?


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## JohnsCrossMotorHomes

Spacerunner said:


> Bubblehead said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi
> 
> Ive just had the recal done on my fridge, quick job which took about 20 - 30 mins to do. The engineer was from Spire Leisure services (Mr Armstrong 01903 715121) who is happy for owners to contact him re the recall. I think hes from the Chichester area.
> 
> He told me of 3 failures that he knew of 2 where the screws failed and the fridge had to be repaired and one when the owner was driving with the gas on and its resulted in fire damage to the side of his MH. Underlines the importance of switching the gas off before you move off.
> 
> Bubblehead
> 
> 
> 
> Didn't I read that the fault was unlikely to cause a problem in most cases. And there had only been two reported cases in Italy which had made the recall necessary. Makes you wonder don't it?
Click to expand...

Better safe than sorry!


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## Bubblehead

Chugman

I asked the engineer if they couldnt just replace the screws, he said they couldnt as the problem would still remain as it is to do with the heads sheering off with vibration. Im sure that your screw was tight when it was put in!

The engineer fitted 2 brackets around the bottom of the fridge cooler (black pipe you can see in the bottom vent) which were then pop rivited (stainless Steel) to the rear of the fridge.

I would say that you problem hasnt been resolved - get the brackets fitted.

Bubblehead


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## 96299

Bubblehead said:


> Chugman
> 
> I asked the engineer if they couldnt just replace the screws, he said they couldnt as the problem would still remain as it is to do with the heads sheering off with vibration. Im sure that your screw was tight when it was put in!
> 
> The engineer fitted 2 brackets around the bottom of the fridge cooler (black pipe you can see in the bottom vent) which were then pop rivited (stainless Steel) to the rear of the fridge.
> 
> I would say that you problem hasnt been resolved - get the brackets fitted.
> 
> Bubblehead


Thanks for the heads up Bubblehead.Will get back on the phone to them and explain what you`ve had done.

steve


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## davesport

Has anyone got a picture they could post of the mod as carried out by Dometic service engineers :?: 

Thanks in advance, Dave.


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## LadyJ

Just been and had ours done and this is what was fitted the 2 silver brackets on the black pipe. These are riveted on instead of the 1 screw that was originally fitted to hold it took about 10 mins to do. We went to Solihull Caravans, Station Road Old Arley Tel 01676 540056.


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## Bubblehead

Lady J

Your picture is exactly what I had done, although your vent is somewhat larger than ours. It caused a few access problems for the rivet gun

Chigman

Sorry for getting your name wrong  , just noticed in my post. Nothing to do with your driving whatsoever :lol: 

Bubblehead


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## 96299

Bubblehead said:


> Lady J
> 
> Your picture is exactly what I had done, although your vent is somewhat larger than ours. It caused a few access problems for the rivet gun
> 
> Chigman
> 
> Sorry for getting your name wrong  , just noticed in my post. Nothing to do with your driving whatsoever :lol:
> 
> Bubblehead


 :lol: no worries mate :lol:

steve


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## wobby

LadyJ said:


> Just been and had ours done and this is what was fitted the 2 silver brackets on the black pipe. These are riveted on instead of the 1 screw that was originally fitted to hold it took about 10 mins to do. We went to Solihull Caravans, Station Road Old Arley Tel 01676 540056.


Thanks for the photo I'll check mine tomorrow, even though the engineer said it was all right
Wobby


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## samson

Bubblehead said:


> Hi
> 
> Ive just had the recal done on my fridge, quick job which took about 20 - 30 mins to do. The engineer was from Spire Leisure services (Mr Armstrong 01903 715121) who is happy for owners to contact him re the recall. I think hes from the Chichester area.
> 
> He told me of 3 failures that he knew of 2 where the screws failed and the fridge had to be repaired and one when the owner was driving with the gas on and its resulted in fire damage to the side of his MH. Underlines the importance of switching the gas off before you move off.
> 
> I left a message on mr Armstrong's answer phone Friday pm he phoned me on sat morning and came round on Monday morning and fitted two brackets on the back of fridge. Excellent job and very helpful as well


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## owl129

*faulty dometic fridge insatllation*

Sorry to bring this up again but I see in the new issue of the CCC mag it is mentioned again with a contact number. As normal with these type of numbers, no answer, so can not confirm if indeed this is the same fault being reported. As a matter of interest I did not know of this fault and it was only by chance that the Domtetic rep parked next to me at last years NEC show and asked if I had had the modification, he then inspected the back of the fridge and confirmed I had not, he fixed it there and then.

Paul


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## tincan

we received a snottygram for Dometic earlier this year because we had not had our mod carried out. Reason was, no bu**er had told us we had a problem. We contacted our dealer who was inundated with calls because Dometic forgot about Ireland and then tried to frighten the life out of us by all sorts of disclaimers and warnings about using the vehicle with the fridge running. It struck us as another example of businesses using spin to cover up their cockups and fear of liability

Noel


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## rickwiggans

I have spoken to Dometic today - it is the same problem - the recall is being expanded (yet again!)

Rick


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## Hymie

*Dometic Recall*

I spoke to Dometic a couple of weeks ago about something other than the recall, but i did mention i had a couple of 2-3 year old vehicles with burnt out fridge vents by the side of the road.

The Dometic lady was quite defensive and disputed that it was possible for a fire to start if the mod has not been carried out.

She was quite taken aback also when i said that i could not believe that there was no mention of the recall on their website for any owners who never received the original letter or for owners of s/hand vans purchased since the letters were sent.

I hope they do make sure to chase up outstanding vehicles needing mods.

Happy Travels


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## time-traveller

samson said:


> Bubblehead said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi
> 
> Ive just had the recal done on my fridge............. snip .............
> [*U]Underlines the importance of switching the gas off before you move off.[/*U]............ s[/nip quote]
> 
> But the whole point of this fridge is that you leave the gas switched ON so that it can 'do its own thing' and switch back and forth as and when needed
Click to expand...


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## rickwiggans

To be fair, the recalls are actually documented on their website - I found them today when checking whether this was the same issue as previously reported


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## Hymie

*Dometic Website*

Hi Rick
Please let me know where they are shown on the Dometic website.

Thanks
Dave


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## rickwiggans

Hi Dave,

Google "Dometic recalls". It brings up the relevant page - at least it did yesterday!

Cheers

Rick


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