Dometic RM7030 Fridge

[Ins. Man]

I have been away from this forum for almost 3 years as our Airstream has been in storage. I am planning to use it this summer but think that the cooling unit has gone. Does anyone have any experience with the replacement units made by the Amish? The website looks good but I'm from Canada and will also have border issues.

[n2916s]

Just out of idle curiosity, why do you think the cooling unit has gone? It has no moving parts and doesn't actually do anything unless it is heated by the electric heater or propane... Do you have an ammonia smell? Yellow powdery stains on or around the tubing?

Assuming it is dead, we rebuilt our RM2820 with a rebuilt cooling unit from the Amish (can't remember the website) five years ago and it still works great. It is a couple of hours of effort but requires no special skills (obvious, considering I did it...)

Mike

[Ins. Man]

Thanks Mike, at this point I have just described the problem to a mechanic and this is what he thought that it might be. I haven't had it looked at yet. The last time I used it it the fridge wouldn't cool but the freezer would cool somewhat, but not freeze by any means. It didn't matter whether I was on gas or electricity. It'sa side by side if that makes any difference.

Dave

[n2916s]

Well, if you aren't getting much cooling of the freezer plate in both AC and propane, then the cooling unit certainly is suspect. If you are at all handy, you could wire the A/C heater element with a standard issue 115v plug and plug it into an extension cord. This would bypass the control board which would nail the diagnosis -- if the freezer freezers, control board probably gone, if it doesn't and heating element is hot, the cooling unit is gone.

Just a thought.

Mike

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by n2916s

Well, if you aren't getting much cooling of the freezer plate in both AC and propane, then the cooling unit certainly is suspect. If you are at all handy, you could wire the A/C heater element with a standard issue 115v plug and plug it into an extension cord. This would bypass the control board which would nail the diagnosis -- if the freezer freezers, control board probably gone, if it doesn't and heating element is hot, the cooling unit is gone.

Just a thought.

Mike

I am not really familiar with this fridge, but if it has a control board, I would think that it would be powered by 12v dc which is available all the time whether you are operating the heater with ac power or propane.

Dan

[n2916s]

Well, I am hoping that bypassing the control board by wiring the AC heater element directly (temporarily and only for troubleshooting purposes) we could determine if the cooling unit or the control board is at fault.

So with the control board bypassed, 12vdc is moot. If the freezer starts freezing then we know the cooling unit is okay and then can start troubleshooting the board, which would definitely include checking for DC power.

Definitely shade tree engineering but may point the OP towards the problem.

Mike

[TouringDan]

Mike

I understand now your approach. I am not sure how you power the heater directly. To take the control unit out of the equation, I would think that you would need to disconnect the 12v power to the fridge.

I believe there may be a trouble shooting manual available on line for this model fridge. Just a thought.

Dan

[Ins. Man]

Unfortunately, I am not that handy. I will have to take it to the dealer to diagnose and go from there. I also need tires and this trailer takes 6 so hopefully the repair is not overly expensive.