Dometic refrigerator

gm28

Member
Just bought a used 08 Sundace 3300SK. Having a couple of problems. One is with the fridge, its a Dometic refrigerator Model RM2852 - the top half (freezer) is working fine, but the bottom fridge part is not cooling. Any ideas on what to check? Also turned on the AC -its a Dometic Duotherm. Unit came on and sounded like compressor came on, but after running unit for about 2 hours, no cool air was coming out. Filter is clean. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.
 

jimtoo

Moderator
HI gm28.

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and Family. We have a great bunch of people here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge if needed.

I'm sure someone will be jumping in here soon with some suggestions for you.

I am also moving this thread to the Sundance area.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
Check the cooling fins in the refer section. There should be, and I don't know what it's called, a clip on thing with a wire attaced to it. There should also be a sticker with an arrow on it. Moving that thing, maybe called a thermister, will regulate the refer temp. I think up is warmer and down is colder. Starting point is that arrow sticker.
Hope that made sense.

Peace
Dave
 

olcoon

Well-known member
Cookie: Yep it's called a thermister.

gm28: We had the same problem with our Elk Ridge. I was getting it ready for our shake down cruise, and the freezer would get to around 4 degrees, but the fridge to only 55. Asked for help on here, and got a lot of help, but unfortunately nothing helped. Check here finally took it to the dealer & after about 2 days they called & said the cooling unit was out & they had ordered a new fridge. It came in & I took it back to them yesterday. Bad thing was we went ahead on our trip, used a new ice chest...it had a leak! To top things off, the fridge in the stick house also went out! Almost the makings of a country song, fortunately DW didn't leave me, my girlfriend (that I don't have) didn't come up pregnant, and the dog didn't run off with the cat! Now the 5er is in the shop, I've fixed the ice chest, and the fridge in the stick house is working, DW is still a darlin'....life is GREAT!!!!
 

ralphpam

Well-known member
We have been a year working with a tech on our Dometic 1350 refer and have learned a lot! If you have an infra-red thermometer, check the fin temps and it should be in the high 20's or 30's. If not, then it may be a thermistor as they said above. If the fin temps are OK, then it is a door sealing or center flap problem that is letting the cool air escape. Your back freezer plate should be below or near 0. They have replaced both boards on ours and we are still having temp issues although they seem to be door sealing and flap issues. There is a simple test that a tech can do to test the thermistor. The problem with Dometic is that you cannot call and talk to a tech, only an authorized repair person. The techs have to get authorization to do anything if they want to get paid, but when they call they end up on hold for a long time and then get someone who knows less than they do. It has been very frustrating. Good luck!
 

Willym

Well-known member
Check the cooling fins in the refer section. There should be, and I don't know what it's called, a clip on thing with a wire attaced to it. There should also be a sticker with an arrow on it. Moving that thing, maybe called a thermister, will regulate the refer temp. I think up is warmer and down is colder. Starting point is that arrow sticker.
Hope that made sense.

Peace
Dave

The thermistor is moved up for a cooler refrigerator compartment - think of going up or north for cooler air. Sounds like your cooling unit is working OK as your freezer is OK and there is only one cooling circuit. I've had this problem before and found that the thermistor had fallen off the fins. My fins also iced up on one occasion causing a loss of cooling.

Regarding your AC, it sounds as if the compressor is not running, maybe it is just the fan you hear. You should see a 9 or 10 deg C (16 to 18 F) difference in temperature between the air going into and the air coming out of the AC if it is cooling properly. I've had problems with the thermostat not working correctly in the past. I'm not sure what model of thermostat you have, but some of them have separate fan and compressor outputs so that you can select fan only. If it is set and wired correctly, then you have a problem in the AC itself, in the refrigerant circuit or the compressor start controls.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
If your refrigerator is on a slide out the vents on the outside are on the side rather than the roof. Sometimes this does not allow enough hot air to escape especially if the cooling fans are not working. It is also necessary to sometime air a fan to help move the warm air. A computer cooling fan is what many have added to assist with this. Be sure every thing is clear and not blocked in the back of the refrigerator also.
 

JASMAR

Have Camera Will Travel
We just took delivery of our HS2800RL, during the walk thru, we notice the Freezer was all frosted up, lots of frost, apparent it was on all weekend. I have never had an RV Frig frost up before, the thermistor slide was pust all the way to the top of the fin. Is this a problem or was the conbination have having nothing in the Refrig or Freezer, lots of moisture in the air, and also the thermistor slid all the way, the culprid?

Any thoughts on this?

Secondly, it was pretty much like slush when we got home and was melting, we took out the slush and wiped it dry. But if we did not and it all melted, does the water in the freezer a drain out the black tube on the outside panel?

We will check tomorrow, we just started the Refrig and set the thermistor slide so that the top is lined up with the top of the sticker and the bottom is linded up with the bottom of the sticker. We will be loading it with food and stuff tomorrow morning and I will check the thermoters in Freezer and Refrig and see where they are at and if there is any frost.



Tom
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Tom,

One thing to check if frost is building as such an alarming rate in your freezer is your freezer door seal. Try the dollar bill test by inserting a dollar half way into the door and closing the door on it. See how hard or easy it is to pull the dollar out. If it's real easy to pull out, that's probably a problem. try it all the way around the door perimeter.

This said, I have never tried this sort of test, but I have heard it many times. My own story is that I had a new coach with a freezer that was like a snow cone maker - tons of frost, very fast. Turns out, the ice maker was not completely installed/pushed into the freezer compartment, allowing the door to shut easily, yet made the door not seal as tightly as it was supposed to. A removal and reinstallation of the icemaker and I was good to go for the next two years.

Jim
 

JASMAR

Have Camera Will Travel
Very Helpful reply from Dometic and they were very quick to reply to my email; here is their response and I hope it is helpful to others.

As in our previous units, we have put Thermometers in our Freezer and Frig Units. We were able to follow the instruction regarding the thermistor adjustment, after two days of moving it up and down, the freezer stayed below freezing, that is okay; the frig unit was right in the correct zone.:)

Dometic's Reply (A Quote)

When you defrost your unit you will need to put a towel at the bottom of the freezer section to absorb the water. This does not drain into the fresh food compartment if you do not wipe it up it will lay in the freezer.

The thermistor is located in the fresh food section when wanting additional cooling this is to be moved up on the fins. A thermistor is a temperature sensor, this is another word for thermostat. Thank you


If you are in need of any Dometic refrigerator or air conditioner or A& E awning parts you can call us at 1-800-544-4881 or purchase from any dealer or Camping World location.

If we can be of any future service do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you for choosing Dometic product lines.

Customer Support Center
Dometic LLC

To ensure an accurate response, respond by 'Reply'-ing to "customersupportcenter@dometicusa.com". The e-mail address that this reply came from does not accept incoming e-mail. Also, please add prior correspondence to all future emails.
 
Top