Fridge Repair $1,200.00

[Its Paid For]

My fridge died. I placed a 100 watt bulb by that tank on the outside, hoping to deice any liquid that might be in the tank, but it failed to work. Replacement part is $1,200. My question is, will this potentially happen again at below zero temps, and if so what can I do to prevent it? Had no problems at -25 this winter, but the sun hit that side of fiver, now that side is shaded and had some major cold days last week where I was knocking off 1 foot thick icycles from ground to roof. Any ideas would help as i'll get more cold for two months. Thanks.

[RVhauler]

Think you have other problems than a freeze up. Does it work on propane/electric? Post what brand it is for better heelp.

[Its Paid For]

I will post brand tomorrow. I have the manual. It can use electric or propane. I always run it on electric. It has 5 power settings, and always ran so efficient that ice would build up in fridge section on level 2. Then it just stopped working two days ago. I just spent $3,500 on upgrades last week, didn't really plan on a $1,200 bonus expense so soon lol

[450Donn]

1200 is way too much for repairs. You can find a new one for around 1100 depending on the size.

[Its Paid For]

The brand is Dometic RM 2811.

[Its Paid For]

I found a thread online that discussed my exact problem and says it is a problem with this model and Dometics Power Board. They claim to replace it with their P711 I believe it was and doesnt need to be rewired. Part is $145. I think I'll try that route first. Any thoughts?

[Its Paid For]

How sad. I won't name drop the repair service that told me $1,200 for the repair part because he did not know the unit. He has done great work for me thus far, and I think he just confused me with someone else. But my fridge rebuilt to replace is $750. Brand new $1,350. Reading this forum is going to not only educate me, but save me a fortune.

[Its Paid For]

Well, just to provide an update, I shelled out the $1,200. Part is 3-5 days to arrive, but the wife is tired of living out of an ice chest lol.

Grand total for the week on repairs and upgrades is over $5,000. To bad none of the work is done yet, that is just parts ordered.

[Its Paid For]

Update: They came to install new cooling unit today. The repair service was correct that the old one was bad, and totally needed to be replaced, even though he only consulted via phone and had me try a few things. Today he told me he knew because he had 6 within 2 days that all froze when it was -25 that week. If I had warmed the back tank I would have been ok, if I had turned it off till the temps rose, I would have been ok. But froze and running, dead fridge if heat tank and won't cool.

So two of them pulled fridge, switched entire cooling unit, totally professional and moved like they do this every day of the week. Taught me all about the way everything works, made some smart upgrades for free, stand unit up to reinstall in wall... Guy says "oh crap"! I walk around to look and say "That looks like a leak to me and a bad unit". It was a tiny pinhole of yellow in a joint area, and all that work was for nothing.

Guy jumps on phone, has company get another unit to ship today as UPS was there when he called and they got it on the truck. They will be back Thursday or Friday to do it all again.

All I can say is dumb luck, but I am so glad I ran into this guy because he is the most savey, hard working, informative person I have done business with. Not about to question his expertise again.

[Its Paid For]

Final Update: installed 2nd cooling unit, fairly quick process, completed install. Also installed 100 watt incandescent bulb on a Thermal Cube so it sits below ammonia tank and goes on automatically at 35 degrees or lower and shuts off at 40 degrees.

Also installed foam tube insulation to cover top row of outside door access vent and 50% of second row, leave 50% of second row and all of bottom row for venting. Will remove second row when temps hit 50's. Top row at 60's.

Fridge runs better than ever, total cost of repair $1,225.00. Worth it, warranty for 1 year, like brand new.

[wa8yxm]

1200 is likely the entire Fridge.. You can replace JUST the cooling unit, (Try the Amish Cooling units)

There are basically very few modules to a fridge,, and none are over 1,000 save for a complete fridge replacement.

The big one is the cooling unit,

Propane burner and controls
Electric element (Perhaps 20 bucks)
Control board
Ice Maker
That's about all there is.

I googled cooling units, All I found were under five hundred bucks.

[Its Paid For]

Mine was hard to find with a warranty and glad I got warranty as 1st one was bad with a pinhole ammonia leak. Cooling unit was $795 with shipping, but I also had some upgrades done and it takes 2 guys to install so $250 was labor. Well worth it for what they did, upgrades, fixed a few things for free while here and gave some very cool tips for alot of things.

Changing out your cooling unit is not a real simple process, no way I would have attempted that myself. The part cost was just one factor.

[a k]

Get a service warranty. That would have paid for itself first time.

Sounds like you picked a pretty good service company that knew what they were doing.