Dometic

Chris429

Member
I too am having cooling problems with my Dometic RM1350 refrigerator in my 2011 Bighorn 3670RL. Seeking help from Dometic is like a brush off from people to busy to care. I don't understand why Heartland still buys their product. Order from the Japanese or Germans and Dometic will get the message. All they are doing right now is dragging down the image of the Bighorn and Heartland. And, that's a shame.
My 5th wheel is on a seasonla lot and miles from a dealer that will service it. In upstate NY getting someone to come of unemployment to work is impossible. Businesses have to close when student go back to school due to problem.
I'm legally blind and willing to work to repair the unit myself with some guidance from them. With all the problems of this same type they have to have some idea of what it must be. So, they tell me to take the unit to a dealer. Perhaps they should hire people who can READ.
 

wdk450

Well-known member
Chris:
To have an in depth understanding of these refrigerators, and my in-process fix, I would recommend you read this thread, including the links to the RVtech refrigerator website.
//heartlandowners.org/showthread.ph...l-Freezer-Fine?p=190778&highlight=#post190778
If you are legally blind, does your trailer just sit in one spot?
You might check out RV Service Reviews to find a recommended mobile RV repairer in your area. You can use anyone you want for warranty service, just call Heartland service first. Heartland won't pay mobile servicer's transportation charges, though.
Good luck!!!
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Per the manual, the refridgerator has a three year warranty. There is also a clause that states that it must be inspected/serviced annually by a qualified technician. That said, it's not a Heartland warranty, it's Dometic's, so you have to deal with them. THEY should be able to direct you to one of their "authorized" mobile technicians to get it looked at.
 

TandT

Founding Utah Chapter Leaders-Retired
Yours is like mine, in a slide. You do not have a top vent out of the coach. There are two vents on the back of the refer., outside. This setup does not allow hot air to escape as easily as the rooftop style. IMHO
Have someone pull the top vent cover off. Mine only had about 2'' of air space above a sheet metal flange that was blocking 3/4 of the opening on the back of the fridge. Apparently this directs the air up and out for a roof vent, but it doesn't work so well for the back vent style, such as we have.
The dealers' tech cut about 3 to 4 inches off of this sheet metal flange going across horizontaly to allow more hot air to flow out at the top. This seems to have done the trick, as mine seems to be staying quite a bit cooler for now. Trace
 
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JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Trace, they must have added that flange. Last time I looked at mine (first season), there was no metal flange like you describe. But there was a wad of insulation sitting on top of the fan. That got moved pronto.
 

slmayor

Founding California Northern Chapter Leader
While it's of scant comfort to those of you having problems, from an authorized service side, we would 100 times rather deal with Dometic than Norcold. We have tons of customers, including almost every one of the hundreds of houseboats here, that are are still using 15-20 year old Dometic units. By and large, the parts are still available for them and other than an occasional board or cooling unit failure, they are trouble free. Norcold changes models every few years, parts availability is a crapshoot and they issue recalls on their recalls and pay pennies to the service centers to fix their bad designs.

I will say that it's becoming hard to find someone at Dometic that knows anything about trouble-shooting as the older generation retires. If you are calling them, and not receiving the help you need, ask for someone else. Also, and I know you may not have a choice here, but make sure if you do a call-out that the tech is Dometic trained and certified. I have seen some messed up refrigerators from people who thought they knew what they were doing.

The two major issues with the Dometics is a poor cabinet design (too open) for proper airflow (and follow Bill's fix for that) and door gaskets that don't seal properly. It can take an hour to drop the temps a couple degrees after opening the doors, so make sure you think about what you need before opening the door, and make sure its pushed tightly shut when you're done. On mine, it's the second click that tells me it's shut.

The most common issues we see stem from bad batteries. Usually when the problems are intermittent, it a signal to look at power supply. The control panel uses 12 volts to operate and won't work correctly much below 9V. The on-board convertor should be producing 12V power when plugged in, but they sometimes have issues. Bad cells in the batteries can take out your convertor and cause a few issues with the 12 V system as well. We took in a coach with multiple problems last week. Of the 6 batteries, two are bone dry, 2 have a tiny bit of fluid in the bottom and two about half dry. Of the 12 item list, 10 of the issues are from the batteries.

One last possible fix, and I'm going to try it on mine this week, is an adjustable thermistor from Dinosaur that plugs in the back. (We don't know if it will work as it's made for "fixed temp" Dometics.) Only use it if you're out of warranty as it will void the coverage. Mine used to be too cold, and after a "fix" under warranty, it cools to 40 degrees. No matter what the settings are, no matter where the thermistor is, it's 40. Which is marginal in this 105 degree heat after opening the door. I'll report back with my findings.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
The other day the wife complained that the fridge didn't seem as cold as it should. Sure enough, the beer in the door was not very cold. The thermometer was reading 50 deg. inside it. But her and my evil sister had jammed it full of groceries earlier. So, I moved some stuff so the little battery fan could breathe, pushed the thermister slide up a tad, and within a little while it went back to 40 deg. and has stayed there. And it's been pretty hot and humid around here.

And the cold ones are cold again.:)
 

TandT

Founding Utah Chapter Leaders-Retired
Yes John, when I saw that setup at the back of the unit it didn't make sense. Don't know why they did that.
We have also found those battery fans in the refer do help.
 
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