Dometic rm1350 - need help!

[wdk450]

GO SAINTS!!!!WHO DAT!!! Favre should have retired for good the 1st time he retired.

Anyway, enough of that. Kenny, my fridge ran all day outside in the sun, slides open with a cute little 10" box fan hanging on the outside in front of the top vent. 35-37 degrees in fridge and 0 in freezer. I will call Dometic tomorrow and tell them they need to duplicate the 10" fan in the inside compartment in the upper area. Why should air sucking from the top have a better cooling effect than air blowing from the bottom? Keep it clean y'all. We are talking fans and fridges here!! Perhaps the 4 little fans behind fridge need a little help. Not hardly any more room back there to add any. Would be nice to put 4 fans at the top vent on inside but with the baffle there is no room. Will post more tomorrow after Dometic conversation. Steve

Steve:
I can't give you an exact reason why the fans work better mounted above the cooling fins, but the info that I have read online about RV adsorbsion refrigerators says that the outside fin cooling air should be a DRAFT (not forced air), much as in a fireplace chimney. Read the paragraph on "Fans" in this link and you will see it states exactly what you experienced. http://www.rvmobile.com/tech/Trouble/vent.htm . Also note the clearances and baffles specified at the end of the venting page in the illustration for side vented refrigerators.
BTW, I consider this RV Mobile.com to be a great source of RV refrigerator info. Just look at this troubleshooting index page:
http://www.rvmobile.com/tech/Trouble/Index.htm

 

[sdagro]

Tail gated for 4 days at LSU this weekend. Here is my refrigerator history for the 4 days. Left home on Thursday, fridge was 34 and freezer 0. Arrived in BR 1hr 10min. later(10:30am) and fridge was 38 and freezer 10. 2 hrs later fridge had dropped to 34 and freezer back to 0. Friday afternoon at 3pm the temp began to rise to 40 and 15. Hooked up my "redneck fan" that I was told to hang from top vent and temp dropped again. Saturday was a B-L-U-R-R-R.
This morning with outside temp around 70 degrees, the fridge was at 40 and freezer at 12. No consistency. Even when the temp spikes it is not always in the hottest part of the day, just as the coldest temps are not always in the coolest part of the day. Will call Dealer and Heartland tomorrow and see if they can bypass the thermostat on fans to make them stay on 24/7 as I am always plugged in to either truck or 50A. Hope Kenny is having better luck with his diagnosis. Steve A. Dagro

 

[KENNY COCHRAN]

Steve - no info on mine yet, it has been in the shop 2 weeks come this tuesday. I will call monday and see if they have a game plan yet. I really don't expect much after watching your problem. Still no solution in site in my opinion.
We went to new orleans for the weekend and got to watch the lsu game. The qb was awol in the 1st half. Hopefully they can find one asap.
Kenny

 

[KENNY COCHRAN]

Fridge is working better after several modifications by my dealer. I will defer judgment until later.
I am having problems when i unplug from 120 volts and drive down the hwy. After a few minutes on lp gas, the fridge, flashes "lp" off and on. It is not working as the temp. Goes up pretty quick in the fridge. We normally are not traveling that far & that helps. But it does run the temp. Up in the fridge. What does the flashing lp mean and how do i fix it? Thanks everybody.

 

[wdk450]

Kenny:
Regarding the flashing LP message. See page 26 of the manual, URL follows: http://manuals.heartlandowners.org/...ic_Refer_Install_&_Operating_Instructions.pdf

BTW, I found this on the Heartland Tools/Manuals tab at the top of this page.

 

[newbie]

I think on of the biggest factors that has not been considered in this thread is the left hand bottom door not sealing (closing) at the bottom. I have all the same symptoms described in this thread and the culprit seems to be the door does not close all the time at the bottom. It looks likes it is closed and the lock will engage but if you run your hand under the bottom door where the seal should seal, you can feel cold air leaking.

It seems that any object either on the door or shelf that interferes with the door closing will cause the left hand door not to seal and the temps rise and will never come down to the low 30's.

I think this, along with poor rear ventilation are the two main reason we have so many problems with this unit. The ventilation can be resolved but the mullion is another story.

John

 

[wdk450]

It seems that any object either on the door or shelf that interferes with the door closing will cause the left hand door not to seal and the temps rise and will never come down to the low 30's.

John

Maybe this would be another good use for an Infrared Thermometer, besides checking your tires for uneven heat gain on the road. You could scan around the door edges looking for cold spots.

 

[sdagro]

YIPPEEEE!!!!!!! Got my 3760 back on Monday with the brand new RM1350 Fridge. The auto door lock even works on this one. My problems are over now...MAYBE. The jury will remain out until the weather heats up again next spring. I really wish I could be more optimistic but I am just a little shell shocked. Kenny, hope you get your gaskets soon. Have fun in Hammond. Call me if you get into anything you can't get out of. I KNOW PEOPLE!!! Steve

 

[newbie]

What does the auto door lock do? I read in the manual and posted on this forum a while ago that the manual states the refrigerator is supposed to lock automatically when the camper is rolling down the road. The forum administrator posted that that feature was for motor homes not 5th wheels. So I figured they were not supposed to auto lock. Interesting.

 

[boatto5er]

Ours has the auto door locks. Approximately 3-5 seconds after any of the doors close, the auto door lock activates. The doors cannot be opened without manually engaging the unlock slide. It's great for ensuring the doors don't come open when travelling, but can be a bit of a pain in the a.. when at a campsite.

 

[KENNY COCHRAN]

1. You are right about the door seals, i'm still waiting on a new set to come in for mine. I think that will hopefully fix mine. Seems the wife is cleaning mildew around the gaskets and the dealer said my door seals failed the dollar bill test.
2. Steve - come by in hammond friday night or saturday during the day. Call me before you come in case we are running around.

 

[newbie]

The seals on the bottom of my fridge wouldn't pass the finger test. Last night I opened and closed the door several times cheking the seal each time. I noticed the when the right door was opened and then closed, just the air pressure would push the left door open about a half an inch at the bottom. You cannot tell just by looking at the doors that it is not sealed at the bottom. When I am midful, I always push both doors closed after opening the fridge. If I religiously do that (and Mrs. Newbie) the fridge will stay in the low 30's.

John

 

[KENNY COCHRAN]

My fridge "computer board" went out last week and dealer changed it. It is now on 34' and set on #4. I think it may be working fine, however, the outside temp. Is no longer 98 and 98% humidity in south louisiana. I'm still waiting on new door seals from dometic for the last month or so. Hopefully with those, my problem will be fixed during the winter months. Crossing my fingers to see how it works in the heat of la.

 

[KENNY COCHRAN]

Update #391
computer board on fridge went black today. Still had ice in freezer so it was not off very long. Brought to dealer and he put a man on it. Found out we only had 6 volts or so at the computer board. On the outside of the fridge we had 12 volts. Went back inside and it was working. Repair man said it was most likely a bad wiring harness from the back of fridge to the computer board. Got it back running and hopefully it is working now!! Will try to get a new wiring harness from dometic if they will spring for it!
Kenny

 

[KENNY COCHRAN]

Hopefully last update on this dometic unit. Brought back to dometic dealer within one week of the november post above. Fridge went dead again. Dealer ordered the wiring harness. Have been waiting on it to come in since n o v e m b e r of 2010!!*!*!*!*!* evidently dometic is not very good in getting parts from sweden, norway or somewhere in europe or china. Brought to dealer and they kept it a few days and i have it home now. Seems to be working, but when the ambient temp. Is below 50, the fridge works pretty good. Will find out this summer when it gets to over 90', or maybe sooner, if it crashes again.

 

[KENNY COCHRAN]

Update #393 - after one week having the dometic fridge home, it is dead again. Put in shop on tuesday...................... The story continues.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

I just read this entire thread from the first post and I must say Kenny, you are a patient man. I think at this point I would have measured the opening and shopped for a residential type fridge to fit the hole. We had some problems early on with our 10 cu. ft Dometic but since the cooling unit was replaced it's been fine. Over the last few months I have talked with several owners of the 1350 and some have had issues while others have had none. Go figure. Maybe it has to do with the location of the install, weather it's in a slide or not???
Anyway, hang in there. I really hope this saga will be closed in your favor soon.

 

[mrcomer]

YIPPEEEE!!!!!!! Got my 3760 back on Monday with the brand new RM1350 Fridge. The auto door lock even works on this one. My problems are over now...MAYBE. The jury will remain out until the weather heats up again next spring. I really wish I could be more optimistic but I am just a little shell shocked. Kenny, hope you get your gaskets soon. Have fun in Hammond. Call me if you get into anything you can't get out of. I KNOW PEOPLE!!! Steve

So you have a 4-door RM1350 Dometic refer with Auto Matic door locks? Could you please take some pictures for me. Earlier versions of this model did not come that way. I for one forgot to lock my doors and when they flew open while traveling I got a nice new dent in the stainless steel door from the countertop. If these auto locks really work I may look into replacing mine. That would be awesome.

Mark

 

[mrcomer]

Well I might habve my model numbers mixed up. I just went to the Dometic sight and downloaded this catalog. Apparently mine is DM1350, I will double check when I get home.

 

[sdagro]

Hi Ray,
My feelings are hurt that I was not included in you comment about Kenny being patient with Dometic. With my 3rd RM1350 installed since my 2011 purchase in 4/22/10 and still not working, I have considered LEMON LAW as well as finding a residential 110V fridge that I could use with a converter while traveling. Ridiculous. Yes mine is in a slide in my 3670. Will see in a few months as the weather heats up. Some have them in slides with absolutely no trouble at all. Kenny and I both live in Louisiana where the summer heat and humidity are extreme. Will give a report from my weekend trip on the temp of fridge. Steve

I just read this entire thread from the first post and I must say Kenny, you are a patient man. I think at this point I would have measured the opening and shopped for a residential type fridge to fit the hole. We had some problems early on with our 10 cu. ft Dometic but since the cooling unit was replaced it's been fine. Over the last few months I have talked with several owners of the 1350 and some have had issues while others have had none. Go figure. Maybe it has to do with the location of the install, weather it's in a slide or not???
Anyway, hang in there. I really hope this saga will be closed in your favor soon.