Dometic Refrigerator

[.kristinebac]

I am a recent widow, living in my 2004 5th wheel. The problem I am having is with my Dometic Refrigerator. It had been running on electricity, but it quit working last week after 6-7days of outside temperatures in the high 90°'s. Now it will only work if I use propane (which I'm afraid will be quite expensive) . I've looked at a few sites that lead me to believe my 'heating coil' could be bad. I've gotten. ahold of a technician that will charge me $45.00 just for a service call. I also contacted an RV parts store that said the coil should only run about $5.99. My question is basically how much should I expect to pay to have the electrical part fixed? And will running it on propane be expensive? Any help would be appreciated immensely! Thank you.

[.kristinebac]

Someone, please, please, please give me some advise.

[Mr_D]

Propane use will be very low, maybe a gallon a month. The heating unit should run about $30 going from the two I bought over the last 13 years. Then there's the service call on top of that. But I did them all myself too.

[jesilvas]

It can be many things, but a heating element is one of the more common pieces. $5.99 is too cheap. More like 40-50 bucks, and maybe 45mins labor or so.

But, it could be other things. Your electrical outlet behind the refr, a GFCI tripped in the trailer, a blown fuse on the control board, a tripped 120V circuit breaker, a bad control board, and maybe a few other things. It's not straight cut and dried answer as to what it is.

As for your LP question: The refr uses 1500BTU/hr of LP. There are roughly 91000 BTUs of energy in 1gal LP. That means it will burn for roughly 60hrs on 1gal LP. If you have 7gal (30lb) cylinders, that means the refr will run about 424hrs on one 7gal cylinder. So, not expensive at all.

[.kristinebac]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Propane use will be very low, maybe a gallon a month. The heating unit should run about $30 going from the two I bought over the last 13 years. Then there's the service call on top of that. But I did them all myself too.

Thank you so very much for responding to my my refrigerator issue. You've eased my mind immensely! Kristine

[Northern Gir]

Hi Kristine,

I too am a single woman living in my 5th wheel. One thing I have learned is to start checking for the simplest, least expensive things first.

Start with fuses, they are simple to change, then check the outlet, is it a GFI, if so reset it. If you have a friend who is handy with electrical have them check it out for you. You can also take the "board " into an RV shop and they will test it for you. Always have it tested before you replace it, they can be expensive.

Good luck

[.kristinebac]

Thank you so much for the information you provided. I had no idea there would be so much advice out there just for the asking. TYVM!!!

[.kristinebac]

Thank you so very much!