Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 06:42:35 -0400
Reply-To: Frank Goodrick <video.image@IBM.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Frank Goodrick <video.image@IBM.NET>
Subject: Re: Dometic Frig - Do These Really Work?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Well, I've had 2 Westies (90 & 91) & a 95 Winnie. Still have 2.
I'm sorry to report that my fridges all work fine & make ice cubes on
demand.
The little fan motor in the back does burn out , though, & I've replaced it
twice, once all by myself. (& I'm mechanically challenged).
Anyway, from my experience :
1) Make sure your fan is still working. It seems to come on less on AC, most
on propane.
You can definitely hear it. I've managed to get cold on AC without the fan,
but not on propane without the fan.
2)How level was the van when camping ? If your parking pad at home is level
& you were camping on much of an angle, the fridge wouldn't work in the
camping situation.. This would introduce a variable other than propane-AC.
For the record, I've found the Winnie fridge to be much more sensitive to
this than the Westy.
Try the propane at home.
3) don't expect much (nothing, actually) from the 12V on the Westy ( but
the Winnie freezes cokes on 12V - you have to keep to turning it off on a
long road trip).
4) I've also heard that the fridge won't work above certain altitudes, but
have no experience of this myself.
Good luck!
Frank
91 Westy in Amsterdam
95 Winnie in Toronto
-----Original Message-----
From: Marty Wallace <martywallace@ROCKETMAIL.COM>
To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM <Vanagon@VANAGON.COM>
Date: Monday, August 10, 1998 10:05 PM
Subject: Dometic Frig - Do These Really Work?
>Just bought a '84 Westy; Everything works perfectly, with one exception.
>
>The refrigerator works fine on A/C (when the van is hooked up to 120VAC),
>but effectively does not work at all on 12VDC (battery) or gas.
>
>We started our weekend (Friday) with the van plugged in (at home) and the
>'frig' nice and cold. We then spent the weekend camping ('frig' on gas
>mode when parked and battery mode when driving around). By the end of
>the weekend, the 'frig' was no cooler than the inside of the van. The
>pilot light was on (I could see it in the view port and by the light in
>the panel).
>
>Is this typical of this model refrigerator? What have your experiences
>been?
>
>Thanks,
>Marty Wallace (1984 Westy)
>Chico, California
>_________________________________________________________
>DO YOU YAHOO!?
>Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>
