Refrigerator failure

[Sam 4106]

Hi Don,
That is a very good idea. We attended the Midwest Bus Nuts rally at the Amana Colonies in Iowa last weekend, with temperatures in the mid to high eighties all three days. Before we left Thursday afternoon we put 2 five quart  pails of ice and 1 three gallon container of ice in our refrigerator along with the food. We still had ice in the containers, along with the thawed water, and the food was cold when we got home Sunday evening. So, I'm not sure extra insulation is needed, but if there is room I will fill up the space.
While at the rally I talked to others about our refrigerator failure and one guy said he had a similar failure recently. He had ordered a rebuilt cooling unit from RV Refrigeration Services in Maine (888-782-6665) for $420. He said that replacement was easy with the step by step instructions included. Since the rest of our refrigerator is in good condition and that price is less than 1/3 the cost of a new refrigerator, of the size we have, I called today to see if they have the cooling unit that I need. They do, and they have a five year warranty. A new refrigerator has a three year warranty, two years parts and labor and one year parts only. Their price includes shipping to me and pre-paid shipping for me to send them my old cooling unit. I think that is a great deal and will order in the morning.
Thanks, Sam 4106

[JohnEd]

Sam,

That is a superb deal for a reconditioned unit.  I was quoted that for the rebuild only a few years ago when a new unit like yours was $900.  Maube more than a few.  I suggest that you paint the heat exchanger that goes inside you box with a really goot rust inhibiting paint.  Even if the rebuilder has painted it already.  The moisture collecting on that cold plate is what rusts out the unit.  Seal the unit into the foam really well so that no air gets exchanged in the sopace around the cold plate.

BK,

Great work at the C World place.  I always look forward to payback...giving or recieving.  Sometimes I absolutely RELISH it as you must understand.

Don't want to cross swords here but the repair manuals and the RV repair shops I talked to very much prefer Dometic refers.  Not to even imply that some of those have not been lemons.  I have a 1973 vintage Dometic that will still freeze everything you put in there except Ethylene Glycol.  That little fan tames her down and she is near perfect.  Friends, that is 35 years as the crow flies.  A friend had a Norcold that he laid u[ for 6 months.  It was working gang busters when he turned the gas off.  You guessed it, when he lit it off it just sat there and gurgled.  When it was working it just sat there and got cold.  Repairman said "when they make that noise they are dead dead dead".  He also said the Norcolds don't like to be left off for extended periods.  I know others that have Norcolds in their 5th wheels and they turn the things off and on every year without problem.  I have a very old RV repair guide that says if a Norcold malfunctions to lay it on its side for an hour and retry.  For the Dometic they say to remove the refer and sit it on its side for a few minutes then the other side OR JUST DRIVE DOWN A ROUGH ROAD....all better.  You can't make stuff like this up.

For those in the NW there is a place in Portland that rebuilds ( repairs and recharges, actually) absorb. units.  I am told that they will only deal THRU a RV store but I can't confirm that.

Good luck and let us know how the refurbished unit worked out.

John