Dometic rm1350 - need help!

[jimtoo]

Hi Howard,

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

If your fridge is in a slide, that seems to be where most are giving problems. Your in the right thread right here. So it will take a little time, but it gives lots of ideas and repairs that were made. Just start at page 1 and read.

Depending on what is behind your fridge, you may need to make changes to force the air to move over the fins. And I think there is even someone that did buy and install a household fridge listed in this thread and what they did to make it right.

Enjoy the forum. (and I think some dealers would even take your Mobile Suite on trade)



Jim M

 

[cookie]

Howard, there is plenty of reading here on this forum about the RM1350.
I changed out the fans to 5 inch fans. They can be found at computer stores for under $10.
Have you verified that the fans you have are working. They are controlled by a thermostat.
Also, use a dollar bill or other piece of paper to check the seal on the doors. That has been a problem for some.

Peace
Dave

 

[mikeandconnie]

I have seen a post on residential refrigerators being installed to replaced the 1350. I will try to find the link and post it tonight. I have seen one in person and it looked good installed.

 

[danemayer]

Howard, see post 169 in this thread. Also, when the cooling unit is replaced, there's a thermal transfer compound that's critical. If the tech didn't use it, it won't matter how many cooling units are replaced.

 

[rick_debbie_gallant]

Good luck with the rm1350. It may make a good boat anchor for someone. Or perhaps an arrow backstop for archers. I am happy with my little bitty fridge. When I get my new unit I will be trying for two small ones rather than one big fridge.

 

[billnsue]

Third cooling unit was the charm for us! (Knock on wood) This one has been in and working the best the RM1350 has worked in 2 years. Now we can't run it on #5 or it will bring the fridge down to 32 degrees. I did make sure the tech really put the transfer jell to it when he put in the last one. Not sure if that was the issue but I couldn't be happier.
hang in there, the BH is our home and other than the fridge and one ac (which was covered) all I have had to do is replace one light bulb.

 

[bdunker]

A year ago I had very similar problem, the rig was three months old and in February in Florida the refer went above forty and would not go below, the freezer worker fine, after several days of talking to the technician and he to Dometic, he installed a secondary thermistor, no help, Dometic discussed this for several more days and then authorized a new cooling unit ($900), during the replacement the technician found that the factory had not used Mastic (A thermal transfer gel) during the build up of the refer. The refer now works fine to include 112 degrees and in the direct sun and maintains 34 degrees. Makes the beers taste real good.

 

[darlinshere]

If so many people are having the EXACT same problem with their newer model RM1350s...why have they not expanded the recall further? I have a 2009 model that has the exact same issue and stopped working about a month after the warranty expired. A CSR for Dometic said they havent heard of any issues and basically said...too bad so sad. So I have a $3000 refrigerator in excellent condition other than the refrig...which makes the whole thing worthless.

 

[cookie]

Darlinshere, welcome to the forum. Lots of good information here.
You asked about expanding the recall. I have not heard of a recall. Don't think there is one.
It seems that the most effective fix was the application of the thermal transfer paste.
You might want to do a little research on that.
Along with that you might also check into adding a baffle and check that the cooling fans are working.

Peace
Dave

 

[yepuhuh]

I bought one of those 12v fans off of ebay to circulate the air. It mounts to the fins and connects to the always hot side of the fridge light. Seems to circulate the air very well. i wonder if a smaller fridge with the slide out pantry has a better chance of cooling in the Louisiana heat. Not sure what type of mod would have to be made to do that. I'd give up the space in a heartbeat if I could be "guaranteed" to have a fridge that gets and stays cold. Steve A. Dagro

I bought one of those fans as well and can't figure out how to wire into the light. Can you give me some photos of how you did that?

 

[yepuhuh]

Wolfrat1,

I don't know if you've read the many, many comments in this very long thread, but many people who have had problems have resolved them.

To cool properly, there are only a couple of things needed:
1. The rig has to be level. The refrigerant won't flow properly when the refrigerator is off level.
2. The cooling process begins by heating the refrigerant, so the temperature of the heating elements has to be right. Since the refrigerator has separate lp gas and electric heating units, if it cools well on one but not on the other, that would indicate a heating element problem.
3. Heat transferred out of the refrigerator and freezer compartments has to be moved to the outside. Airflow behind the unit does this, but sometimes doesn't work effectively enough.
4. The cold air in the refrigerator has to stay there and not leak out either through bad seals, poorly adjusted doors, flaps that don't move into position when the doors get closed, or by leaving the doors open for a long time while loading food or trying to decide what's for dinner.

If the refrigerator cools ok on LP but not on electric, or vice versa, you may have a problem with the heating element.

If your freezer is cold enough, but the refrigerator is not, you may be leaking air out of the refrigerator. There is a flap on the left refrigerator door. When you close the left door, it rotates into position sealing the gap between left and right doors. If this binds, the refrigerator loses cold air quickly. You can check the seals yourself with a dollar bill. Trap the bill when you close the door and pull. There should be some drag.

If the refrigerator runs a lot without successfully cooling, you may not have adequate airflow on the backside of the refrigerator. The air flows from the bottom louvers on the outside of your kitchen slide, up and out the top louvers. If it passes by the fins that exchange the heat to the outside, the heat transfer doesn't occur and the cooling is sub-optimal. Your unit is new enough that the baffling inside the louvers should take care of this, but maybe it's out of position. Also, Dometic has a ventilator kit that adds a fan to that air to increase the air flow - it's thermostatically controlled so the fan runs primarily in hot climates. Many people have added locally procured fans to increase airflow.

If you keep the doors open like we all are used to doing with home refrigerators, you'll find the temp climbs and takes a very long time to recover. The fix here is to close the doors quicker.

There can be other problems - I just recently had a problem with a loose fuse that was affecting inside lighting and fan operation.

Don't despair. They should be able to get things working well.

Can you tell what fuse it is, my light blew and I put a new one in and it will not work, so I think the lamp blew the fuse as well. PM me if you can!

 

[danemayer]

Can you tell what fuse it is, my light blew and I put a new one in and it will not work, so I think the lamp blew the fuse as well. PM me if you can!

Back side of the frig has a circuit board. There are several fuses back there. I think the one involved with the lamp is a 4 or 5 amp small spade lug type on the left side of the circuit board. It also provides power to a relay that powers the backside cooling fans and water dispenser if you have one.

 

[KENNY COCHRAN]

I have a dometic rm1350, (serial #646-00001) in a 2010, #3670rl bighorn rv(mfg. 3-5-2009)
the 2 outside fans on the back of the refrigerator are not working. I have 12 volts going to the top left side of the cooling fins. Looks like it plugs into a heat sensor(disk?) and there is no voltage coming out on the other side of this sensor on this wire. Does this mean this sensor is bad, or is there something else i need to be checking.
Thanks,
kenny cochran


GEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IS THIS DEJA VUE OR WHAT? Seems i started this post in 2008 and now i am back with the same model in another brand and guess what! it don't work either.

DOMETIC!!!! I now have a Tiffin 36LA motorhome, 2013 model and the fridge has worked for a little over one year. now it is not cooling either. the saga continues...............................

 

[jassson007]

Lol sorry Kenny. My norcold is working fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Kbvols]

You may want to look up dave1oa on this forum. Based on his post from another thread he seems to have a connection to the CEO of Tiffan

 

[hcriddle]

I have a dometic rm1350, (serial #646-00001) in a 2010, #3670rl bighorn rv(mfg. 3-5-2009)
the 2 outside fans on the back of the refrigerator are not working. I have 12 volts going to the top left side of the cooling fins. Looks like it plugs into a heat sensor(disk?) and there is no voltage coming out on the other side of this sensor on this wire. Does this mean this sensor is bad, or is there something else i need to be checking.
Thanks,
kenny cochran


GEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IS THIS DEJA VUE OR WHAT? Seems i started this post in 2008 and now i am back with the same model in another brand and guess what! it don't work either.

DOMETIC!!!! I now have a Tiffin 36LA motorhome, 2013 model and the fridge has worked for a little over one year. now it is not cooling either. the saga continues...............................

Kenny,

I believe that is a thermistor that you are talking about. Mine did the same thing and I just bypassed it and wired the fans straight. Here is Texas all summer the fans need to be running all the time anyway to keep it cool. So far it has worked fine. I did unplug them during the winter months.

 

[wdk450]

Kenny,

I believe that is a thermistor that you are talking about. Mine did the same thing and I just bypassed it and wired the fans straight. Here is Texas all summer the fans need to be running all the time anyway to keep it cool. So far it has worked fine. I did unplug them during the winter months.

Just to be a little more precise, the temperature sensing device is a thermal SWITCH, which turns a circuit on-off depending on temperature. A thermistor has a varying resistance as temperature changes, but conducts electricity all the time. The thermal switch on the fins may not be hot enough to switch on. Carefully heating the switch with a hair dryer will give you a good idea if it is working.

 

[danemayer]

Guys,

I know you're all trying to help Kenny, but what's not obvious is that he copied the failure info from the 1st post of this thread, which he made several years ago. I don't think he was saying that he's having the same problem now.

 

[joey1]

Re: Dometic rm1350 - need help! We have 1350 also

Third cooling unit was the charm for us! (Knock on wood) This one has been in and working the best the RM1350 has worked in 2 years. Now we can't run it on #5 or it will bring the fridge down to 32 degrees. I did make sure the tech really put the transfer jell to it when he put in the last one. Not sure if that was the issue but I couldn't be happier.
hang in there, the BH is our home and other than the fridge and one ac (which was covered) all I have had to do is replace one light bulb.

We we have had two cooling units and ready for third really would like regular ref and take this one out. But have warranty what is transfer jell