Hot water heater, fridge, furnace... update

ipso_facto · 07-23-2006, 02:08 AM

Had a RV dealership look at my issues, here is his verdict:

1. The hot water heater - someone jerry-rigged it and he suggested replacing the whole thing. He said it was real dangerous and I could have had a fire. It looked bad, some wires were burned.

2. The fridge. He suggested replacing the whole thing with an electric. I had the same issue for about a year now. 3 days cold, 2 days so-so, then 4 days completely off, then repeats itself.

I can dump a few hundred into this old (1995) Dometic and still have an old fridge which is troublesome. Or I can get a new Dometic, which is expensive, but I won't ever take advantage of it. It seems getting a normal fridge is just so much more cost-effective in my case.

3. The furnace. He said it's the PC board that's bad. I read the forums and they said the same thing. I wonder if it makes sense to replace the whole furnace.

Anyway, where can I get:

ATWood G6A Direct Spark 6 gallon hot water heater

Suburban N130 S furnace

Fridge which will fit into the space of my Dometic.

overlander63 · 07-23-2006, 06:43 AM

Here are the answers to your questions about locating replacements:
1- Camping World
2- Camping World
3- Home Depot, or Sears, for an apartment-size fridge.
Here is a photo of the fridge:
http://www.homedepot.com/cmc_upload/...91075868_4.jpg
GE® 11.4 Cu. Ft. Top-Freezer Refrigerator
Model GTR11AAPRWW
Price: $449.00/ea

ipso_facto · 07-23-2006, 08:41 PM

thank you, I will check it out.

FOB · 07-23-2006, 09:23 PM

I don't know your intended application but... I just purchased a rebuilt dometic 2820 for 545.00 on ebay with warranty from RV refrigeration services. If you are getting ready to park it in a long term slot with 110v, the 110v fridge may be the best bet and you may want to look at a residential under sink water heater. You should be able to pick-up a 6 gal model for under 200.00.

SafeHarbor · 07-24-2006, 02:10 PM

Well, my two Dometic fridges are 31 and 27 years old, and they're both still working. What I believe is that if you leave them plugged in all the time, they'll keep circulating the fluid and will last forever. I'd have to know what's wrong with your fridge, but replacing the burner or the coils is far cheaper than buying a new one.

About the water heater, is it going camping? If so, RV water heaters are pretty good at what they do, but residential waters heaters are for those who park. I had a dangerous looking water heater on the Excella that made me nervous every time I lit it. For less than $500 I replaced it with a spark ignition Atwood. It would be hard to say how much better I like this water heater. It's cool flipping a switch and hearing that whoosh out there instead of in front of my nose. :-)

As for the furnace, it's easily enough inspected by the dealer, and I'd think that replacing the board (maybe with a Dinosaur board from what I've read here) may be the economical and still safe solution.

I worry about dealers who would rather replace everything on a trailer as recent as your's instead of detailing what it would take to fix the devices that you have. That smacks of parts changing rather than diagnosing to me.

Lamar

overlander63 · 07-24-2006, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ipso_facto

thank you, I will check it out.

I was at Home Depot yesterday, and they had a Magic Chef double door fridge almost the perfect size to replace your Dometic for $299.

bhayden · 07-24-2006, 06:54 PM

It's not clear if you plan to park the trailer as a long term live-in arrangement or still plan to haul it different places but always stay where you have full hook-up. If you intend to travel with it I'm not sure an apartment refridgerator will hold up to the vibration and constant cycling on/off. Home style referigerators are best left in one spot running. Then there's the hassle of not being able to keep anything cool while you're on the road. "Blue Ice" or bottles of frozen water only go so far.

Same concern using a home style hot water tank. And on top of that you'd be giving up a lot of space. If you are planning to use this as a permenant home then presumably you'll have higher hot water demands than what you can make do with for camping. Might want to consider one of the in line water heaters.

My thought would be to stay with RV appliances. For one thing it will protect your investment as far as resale on the trailer.