Dometic Refrigerator Fires?

[golddigger]

We had an incident at our rally this past weekend where the refrigerator of one member overheated so severely that the plastic melted between the two compartments. I saw it first hand. And this was in a brand new 27ft Airstream... It was pure luck he caught it.

[HowieE]

Tinsel Loaf

You should be able to stop at any RV dealer and have the fix done in about 20 mins. No reason or need to go to an Airstream dealer. I called a local RV shop and went in the next day. Airstreams are about the easiest ones to work on because of the large cavity behind the refig.

$40.00 to a small RV shop has much more value than it does to an Airstream dealer so why not help them out.

[HowieE]

Golddigger

Please explain a bit more. Are you saying the plastic between the freezer and the refigerator box melted? There should not be any heat source there.
A picture from your friend would be great.

[lewster]

OK Gang,

Here is what I promised you . Sorry for the delay....I couldn't find it because it was filed away in of all places....THE DOMETIC FILE!!! I tried to scan it but the type is too small to be readible.

"1. Federal regulations declare that NHTSA may fine any installer $5000 per violation for charging end customers for the SBH Kit installation. (their bold type)

It is against federal law to charge the customer for installing the SBH Kit.

NHTSA may fine the installer $5000 per incident of an end consumer being charged for recall work. This is a federal law for all producs in all markets-not just for Dometic's recall. The maximum penalty for multiple violations is $16,050,000. Customers have filed official complaints with NHTSA, indicating that they were charged for the installation of the SBH Kit. If your company has been charging customers fir this fix, you must cease doing so immediately to avoid a federal penalty. "

So there you have it!

[Fyrzowt]

Good find Lew.

[codybear]

Thnx Lew..glad you found the info..luckily, the repair shop did everything right for our fix!

[jcanavera]

I've woken this sleeping thread to let you all know that the Dometic recall has been expanded. If you thought you were off the hook, (I thought I was), check again.

Here is a link to their recall site. You will need to plug in the info to see if your fridge is part of the recall. I don't know why they expanded it. I'll need to do a little more research.

Official Dometic Recall - DometicUSA

Jack

[jcanavera]

Dometic Corporation refrigerator Model numbersNDR1062, RM2652, RM2662, RM2663, RM2852, RM2862, RM3662, RM3663, RM3862, RM3863

Certain DOMETIC 2-door refrigerators manufactured between April 1997 AND May 2003: with serial #’s:
001XXXXX THROUGH 052XXXXX;
101XXXXX THROUGH 152XXXXX;
201XXXXX THROUGH 252XXXXX;
301XXXXX THROUGH 319XXXXX;
713XXXXX THROUGH 752XXXXX;
801XXXXX THROUGH 852XXXXX;
901XXXXX THROUGH 952XXXXX;

New serial numbers have been added to the Dometic Recall for the above model numbers
320XXXXX THROUGH 352XXXXX;
401XXXXX THROUGH 452XXXXX;
501XXXXX THROUGH 552XXXXX;
601XXXXX THROUGH 639XXXXX;


These refrigerators were installed in certain recreational vehicles as original equipment and sold as aftermarket equipment. A fatigue crack may develop in the boiler tube which may release a sufficient amount of pressurized coolant solution into an area where an ignition source (gas flame) is present. This release of coolant under certain conditions could ignite and result in a fire.
There are potentially 926877 units affected

The vehicle manufacturers will notify owners of recreational vehicles that had the refrigerators installed as original equipment and Dometic will notify the owners of the aftermarket refrigerators. Dometic will install a secondary burner housing free of charge. Owners may contact Dometic at 888-446-5157[/font]
Customers may also contact the NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY: 1-800-424-9153); or go to Safercar.gov

[Silvertwinkie]

Just what everyone needs....thanks Jack for posting this. I had not know about any expansion of the recall. Just got mine done last fall. Fairly painless. When I got mine done, it looks like an in-line fuse is also added.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by Silvertwinkie

Just what everyone needs....thanks Jack for posting this. I had not know about any expansion of the recall. Just got mine done last fall. Fairly painless. When I got mine done, it looks like an in-line fuse is also added.

We weren't in the recall last time but I've got a feeling we may not make it this time around. I'm picking up the trailer from its storage garage this weekend to get ready for Moraine View. I'll know once I get down to the garage. I'll cross my fingers. I'd rather not have to schedule it up at the dealer's for this.

That recall now covers almost a million refrigerators. This is probably costing Dometic a bundle.

Jack

[Fyrzowt]

Thanks for that info Jack.
It looks like my trailer is affected, but as the 3rd owner I haven't been notified.
I guess I better get it scheduled.
Dave

[Aage]

If I buy a trailer manufactured between (and after a while, I guess) the dates of the models in the recall, how would I know if the upgrade had been done?

Compare it to the photo on this page, or does the tech put a sticker somewhere to indicate the work is done?

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by Fyrzowt

Thanks for that info Jack.
It looks like my trailer is affected, but as the 3rd owner I haven't been notified.
I guess I better get it scheduled.
Dave

And as the third owner, unless you informed Dometic of your ownership, they may not even know about you. Other than the original notice, which I did receive by mail (even though I didn't need the fix), I've not received any further word. I don't know the timing of this expanded recall, but I think it is very recent so the paper trail probably hasn't caught up at this point.

Jack

[Silvertwinkie]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

We weren't in the recall last time but I've got a feeling we may not make it this time around. I'm picking up the trailer from its storage garage this weekend to get ready for Moraine View. I'll know once I get down to the garage. I'll cross my fingers. I'd rather not have to schedule it up at the dealer's for this.

That recall now covers almost a million refrigerators. This is probably costing Dometic a bundle.

Jack

The worst part was waiting for the parts to get to the dealer. Outside of travel to and from the dealer, I think the whole repair/recall work took about 15-20 minutes. They had been doing it all season before I had gotten there and they had LOTS of exp, by the time they got to mine.

Now that the recall has been expanded to nearly a million units, I can only guess how long the wait for parts might be. It was pretty bad first go around and that was for fewer units.....

[jcanavera]

I just got off the phone with the owner of our local dealership. He wasn't aware of the further recall at this point. He noted that it takes about 15 minutes to do. He gets paid $20 from Dometic for performing the service. He did a lot of trailers last year. Right now he averages about one trailer a week.

Interestingly enough he noted that at a WBCCI regional rally last year, a dealership came in and offered to do the upgrades for $30 a trailer for those at the rally site. Apparently Dometic got wind and warned the dealership that they could not charge for that service since it violated the Federal law on vehicle recall repairs. So bottom line don't pay anyone for the fix, it's against the recall statutes.

I asked him further about the nature of the repairs as to whether the cooling systems were defective and he replied no he is not aware of a defect. What has happened is that the newer systems have an in line fuse which cuts off the gas flow if there is a cooling system rupture. These ruptures have always occurred before. What has happened is there is a liability issue now and the voluntary recall will address the refrigerators built before the cutoff's became standard in all new refrigerators.

Jack

[lewster]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

I just got off the phone with the owner of our local dealership. He wasn't aware of the further recall at this point. He noted that it takes about 15 minutes to do. He gets paid $20 from Dometic for performing the service. He did a lot of trailers last year. Right now he averages about one trailer a week.

Interestingly enough he noted that at a WBCCI regional rally last year, a dealership came in and offered to do the upgrades for $30 a trailer for those at the rally site. Apparently Dometic got wind and warned the dealership that they could not charge for that service since it violated the Federal law on vehicle recall repairs. So bottom line don't pay anyone for the fix, it's against the recall statutes.

I asked him further about the nature of the repairs as to whether the cooling systems were defective and he replied no he is not aware of a defect. What has happened is that the newer systems have an in line fuse which cuts off the gas flow if there is a cooling system rupture. These ruptures have always occurred before. What has happened is there is a liability issue now and the voluntary recall will address the refrigerators built before the cutoff's became standard in all new refrigerators.

Jack

HI Jack (et al)

Here's some straight dope from a guy who actually DOES these installs......ME!

First off, a dealer is re-imbursed $40 for each recall kit that they install by Dometic Corp.

Next, there is NO SHORTAGE of recall kits! I order mine via a computerized order phone line set up by Dometic and get up to 24 recall kits by UPS in a matter of a few days (they are sent from regional warehouses in Atlanta, Indiana and on the west coast.

Aage, when you open your refer access door at the back of the unit, you will see a flat piece of sheet metal covering the boiler tube of your refer. This means that the recall was completed. If you look directly at your boiler tube...it was not done yet.

IIRC, I have mentioned this before, but I'll post it again here.

The purpose and function of the recall kit is to contain.....NOT PREVENT a fire in the unlikely event that your boiler tube ruptures and the hydrogen in the refrigerant mix ignites.

This is accomplished by adding a substantial amount of galvanized sheet metal shielding to isolate the boiler tube to contain any potential flame. There are 2 safety devices that are added to this sheet metal: the first is a thermal fuse which is screwed into the back section and the second is a thermostat which is placed directly onto the boiler tube.

The 12VDC control voltage is re-routed for this recall from the terminal block straight to the t/stat and then to the thermal fuse before it enters the
control board. This will effectively remove the power from the board in the event of an over-temperature situation and will shut down the unit and theoretically remove the heat source that can cause the fire (I use the term 'theoretically' because I have never personally seen this unit in operation).

To date, I have done upwards of 50 recall installations and have not seen one fire or overtemp problem.

Also, if you look at the photo previously posted, the thermo-disc on the boiler tube has a little red re-set button right in the middle of it. If you can't get your refer to turn on, it's a good possibility that this t/stat needs to be re-set. You have to remove the 3 screws at the right side that fasten the flat front shielding panel to access this.

Let me know if you have any other questions about the recall.

[genearnold]

On our recent trip to Nebraska when we came home from church at Lincoln on May 4th we were greeted by an overpowering ammonia smell when we opened the door (fridge was on AC at the time). After allowing some time to pass with the door open, I sucked a big breath and went inside and opened a window. I repeated this until all windows and vents were open, then sat down outside to wait until I felt safe in entering (about two hours). We lost most of the food in the refrigerator (Dometic) and some of the non-perishables that were elsewhere in the trailer (ammonia sure makes red apples look different. Purple-black with green highlights).

I tried one RV service place in Lincoln but they had no replacement in stock. Since we’d planned to return to Grand Island anyway, we went on and I was able to get a replacement on Tuesday. Since our trailer is sixteen years old it is long out of warranty so I coughed up the nearly $1600.00 and felt fortunate that we’d not had the event in the middle of the night. I’m not sure if the smell would have awakened us or if we’d be walking on golden streets.

Although we thought of what would have happened if the leak came at night it didn’t dawn on us until a couple of weeks later how blessed we were. Shanell, our college age granddaughter had lived with us for two and one-half years before returning to work in Nebraska. We agreed to keep Shasta, a beautiful Russian Blue cat, until she got on her feet with her own place. We had Shasta for a year and one-half. A few days before the above incident we had delivered Shasta to her new home with Shanell. Had Shasta been in the trailer she would have not survived. My wife and I agree that we would never have gotten over the horrible experience had the cat been killed. So, every cloud has a silver lining!

[Aage]

Thanks very much, Lew.

[Fyrzowt]

This photo is from an RV fire that I responded to yesterday, and may or may not be related to the recall. I was unable to ID the refer due to damage.
I post it here to motivate those that need to have this upgrade done. Hopefully, this won't happen to anyone here. Or anywhere else...
Be safe.
Dave

[Fyrzowt]

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