Worth reconditioning 3 way fridge ?
Submitted: Wednesday, Feb 15, 2012 at 17:51
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barry22
Hi,
I have been investigating the replacement of my 13 year old 90 litre Dometic fridge. I have decided that the new Dometic has poorly designed controls and flimsy top plastic trims etc. The sales guy told me that there are problems with the some of these plastic trims breaking, (too honest perhaps). I was not impressed overall, and dont see $1349. I get the impression after reading the
forum that I should NOT consider Thetford.
I am now wondering if members have experience in reconditioning a RM2310. I am aware that my thermostat is a bit dicky, and the door is twisted somewhat. What is the general comment on what I am thinking of doing ?
Any suggestions of a good workshop in
Adelaide.
Thanks Barry.
Reply By: racinrob - Wednesday, Feb 15, 2012 at 18:09
Wednesday, Feb 15, 2012 at 18:09
In a word NO Barry, you've done
well as the rule of thumb lifespan for a 2310 is ten years.
I tried to get a bit longer out of a twelve year old fridge as I was selling my caravan van, but it died anyway, in retrospect I should have put a new fridge in the 'van and added it to the price.
rr
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Reply By: timothy - Thursday, Feb 16, 2012 at 07:42
Thursday, Feb 16, 2012 at 07:42
I had the same dilemma as you last year and opted to buy a new dometic T rated 3 way fridge (RM2350?) to replace my old dometic RM360. I installed it in the same space as the RM360 and took it away over summer. Unfortunately it didn't perform nearly as
well as the RM360 (before the RM360 died) and on hot days it didn't work at all. I also took the van on some mildly corrugated roads and found the tabs on the fridge that are screwed through to hold it in place simply
broke off. In addition to the tabs breaking off the door sagged to the point the latch no longer held it closed. Dometic deemed these faults as "wear and tear" and didn't want a bar of it, since then I have screwed through the fridge frame to hold it in place and re drilled the fridge door hinges in place. I have also installed fans behind the fridge to help it cool and it is now working about as
well as the RM360 did.
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Follow Up By: kman1 - Thursday, Feb 16, 2012 at 11:34
Thursday, Feb 16, 2012 at 11:34
Hi Timothy,I was told by a Dometic service agent that the RM2350 is only ST(sub-tropical) rated.
regards frank
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Follow Up By: barry22 - Thursday, Feb 16, 2012 at 15:11
Thursday, Feb 16, 2012 at 15:11
Hi Timothy,
Thanks for the input. As kman posted, the RM 2350 is the 90 litre model, which is the replacement for my RM2310. The guy in a very
well known
Adelaide caravan
shop told me that the "T" rating does not really mean Tropical. He told me that Dometic were looking for a marketing advantage, and (perhaps deliberately) tried to link the performance of their fridge with the tropics. I noted that the label says "ST", not sub-tropical. There current brochure says nothing about "sub-tropical" performance, but simply that their fridge has been designed for harsh Australian conditions. Maybe Dometic are pulling all of our legs. I was also told the Dometic trims at the top are falling apart. After looking at one, I think the design is very poor, and nothing like the sturdy looking Thetford.
I note that most
forum comments are scathing of the Thetford performance. Thetford told me that their 90 litre out performs the "ST" rated competition (I guess they are referring to the Dometic). They also advised that a camper manufacturer has switch to Thetford, after doing comparisons against the (Dometic ?) . He was not able to supply me with any performance data for his fridge. Not sure why he wont release this ??
I would like some one to convince us all that "T", really means Tropical performance !!
Thanks again, Barry
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