Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:25:31 -0700
Reply-To: Loren Busch <starwagen@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Loren Busch <starwagen@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: One More 'Fridge Thread
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I'm not sure that the Dometic 'fridge in our Westies are that bad, when and
if they are working right.
Over the last month there has been a lot of discussion about changing over
to compressor based refrigerators in out Westies. That's what I did and
don't regret it.
BUT, hidden in all the discussion have been a number of voices of Westy
owners that are getting satisfactory, in some cases, good performance out of
their Dometics when running on propane. When I first acquired my '90 Westy
in Jan 2002 the Dometic was working great. No complaints at all. My
recollection is that that Summer, camped in hot weather for a week, it still
kept temps down in the low 40's inside the 'fridge. Others have reported
consistent 40 to 50 degree differentials between the outside and the inside.
running on propane. In my case, about three years ago now, the fan quit,
burned out. Even after pulling the 'fridge, replacing the fan, and doing
the 'routine' cleaning on the firebox, performance deteriorated to the point
that although easy to light ('90-'91's w/better ignition system) it refused
to cool on propane. BUT, after reading posts by several other owners, I'm
convinced that IF we knew EXACTLY what to do, we could restore these units
to their original performance. I've come to the conclusion that there is
some combination of internal adjustments and/or components that have to be
exactly right for the Dometic to work right on propane. What those critical
items/tollerances/adjustments are I have no idea. But too many people get
long term good service out of their Dometics to condemn them completely.
BTW, it's not only Westy drivers that complain about the propane performance
on the Dometic three way refrigerators. While camped last week and showing
a friend my Norcold install he was immediately interested. He camps in a
Chalet type towed camper and has a three way Dometic and has the same
complaint we have. After several years of use the propane isn't cooling
like it used to, best he can get is about 30 to 40 degrees difference from
outside.
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