Engle Dometic Whytner ???

[Everyroadleadshome]

Have you looked through all the manuals that came or are supposed to come with your trailer?  I have a big folder that came from the dealership on my used one that includes the instruction manual for all the individual components used in it....Fridge, stove, microwave, water pump, hot water heater etc.  

Everything I'm seeing online looks like Dometic offers a 3 year warranty.  

Here's a Dometic warranty pdf I found online

It has a two year warranty according to my paperwork, but in the fine print it says I need proof that it was serviced one year after the sale date, which never happened, for the second year of coverage. So I don’t know. I’ll try to deal with Dometic.


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They probably won't cover it then.  Same thing happened to my Aunt on a much larger scale......She had a 2009 Jeep liberty and the  motor blew.  Came with a lifetime warranty from Jeep, not even an extended, it was a manufacturer's warranty, so she thought no problem.  She didn't get the 60k mile inspection at a dealership so her lifetime warranty was void.  The catch being Jeep offered that 60k inspection for free so that's how it's legal.  She had 63k miles on it, and the 3.7 liter engine she had is a huge known defect, they're all blowing before 100k.

[sternwake]

These absorption fridge circuit boards are know to go. They do not like voltages over 15.3v, and sometimes transient spikes when turning off loads, or the starter motor, can cause very brief spikes into the 20v range.

It is Cumulatively damaging to the magical devices on the circuit board containing the magic smoke.

They sell replacement circuit boards. I have never swapped one in, and not familair with the process, and can;t be sure that is what failed on your dometic.

however here is a link to a company that makes them, and perhaps contacting them they can put you in touch with someone who can install the proper one in your fridge.

Those with Absorption fridges, and compressor fridges can also benefit, is to NOT SHARE any grounds or positive Busses but hook the + and - directly to battery terminals, or as close as possible, as the battery is a big electrical filter and will knock down the transient voltage spikes which proves damaging to circuitry exposed to them tima and again.

http://www.adventurerv.net/dinosaur-repl...ce=Froogle

These replacement boards are apparently built better than what the fridges left the factory with. If you do not smell ammonia, and have not run the fridge off level for a significant amount of time, replacing this board in the fridge even with the labor to do so would be the cheapest option.

But then you stil have an absorption fridge that takes forever to cool things down, might not be able to maintain sub40F in hot ambient temps, and cannot be run off level.

A chest style 12v compressor fridge can basically be run indefinitely with 80 watts of solar added to the recharging system. Some can certainly get away with less and those in cloudy tree lined areas obviously need not apply.

Expect the ~50 liter 12v compressor fridges to consume 1 AH each hour or 24Ah per 24hours in 75F average ambient temps. The basic 12v group 27 flooded marine battery has about 100AH, and if starting out fully charged, could run the fridge for 2 days before dropping below 50%.

Best of luck

[rvpopeye]

All is not lost yet !

The mfg's of failing RV fridges have had to issue recalls and it is possible yours is covered by one.
Repair or replace may be in your future .
#1 Find the serial #.
#2 duckduckgo (or , google) search the mfg name and serial # with the word recall.....? ya might get lucky!!!

(I guess you already are ........a lot of RV fires are caused by the fridge !
,,,there's something to think about if you decide to fix the old one..
If it does turn out to be a cheap fix , think about a fridge dedicated automatic fire extinguisher system --yup they make 'em.)

[Blanch]

The Engel has a three year warranty. That is encouraging.

I’m broke, but I will have some $$ soon enough. I think the Engel is the way to go. I am tired of cheap shit that breaks.


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[Scott7022]

As I posted in another thread The Engel is a performer.

Dragged all over Africa by Doctors without borders for medication and vaccine preservation. With NGO groups like this BUDGET doesn't enter into the equation. They buy what works and what will last and don't look at the cost. As I said on the other thread I saw one in an African village powered by an old truck battery and a solar panel. The magic icecream box as it was called.

Sitting out exposed to the elements and with zero maintenance if I know villagers.

I think you'll be happy. Dometic makes a good product but they label a lot of products too. If rig manufactures use it then the budget is the top of the list for consideration. I prefer to see what people buy when the budget isn't a factor. Buy it once, as buying it three times is expensive especially if the coverage people decide you are selling your meds and deny coverage for the second fridge failure excuse in as many years.

[sternwake]

I am of the opinion that the sawafuji swing compressor is more durable in a high vibration or stress environment like being dropped or rattling around in the back of a pickup on a washboarded road.

My Norcold with a Sawafuji compressor failed at the 5 year mark, and this was likely due to loss of refrigerant, and this loss likely was aided by my attempts to isolate compressor from frodge body and fridge from cabinet, as mine was a noisy vibration machine whose stainless steel door face had multiple knuckle dents in it, as I would get so pissed off at its vibrations causing harmonics to develop and set other things in my cabinet a rattling.

With a chest style one can isolate it easier.

My Danfoss powered Vitrifrigo front loader makes almost no vibrations and is much quieter, and also allowed me to better ventilate and insulate it, so I can keep cooler internal temps for perhaps 15% less electricity used, and will turn 6 years old in October.

If in the same price range, check out ARB chest style units. They use Danfoss and are meant for the 4x4 market and should be more stoutly built.

https://www.amazon.com/ARB-10800472-Frid...B002Q1INDM

[Blanch]

The EdgeStar has a 90 day warranty.
The Whytner has a one year warranty.
The Dometic has a two year warranty.
The ARB and Engel have three year warranties.

My experience, ordering IT equipment through Dell, is that the longer the warranty the better the equipment. If you pay for the upgraded Dell three year warranty you get upgraded parts as part of the build. So, with that in mind, the Whytner and EdgeStar are not worth buying. I have already had an issue with Dometic and the bLEEps had to have theirs replaced in the first year. The Engel and ARB will cost more than I can afford, but I believe will be worth the effort to obtain.

So I am narrowing this down to two.


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[tx2sturgis]

What about National Luna?

Expensive...but highly rated:

https://www.equipt1.com/c/fridges

[Blanch]

What about National Luna?

Expensive...but highly rated:

https://www.equipt1.com/c/fridges

I am barely going to be able to scrape together the $800 or $855. The smaller ones only have a one year warranty, but a nice price. I’ll do more research. Thanks!


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[Cammalu]

Blanch I’m pretty sure you can get one around the same size as your current fridge so it will fit in the same space