Stove grommets update

[dave6152]

Recently purchased a 2010 Thor Serrano RV and the Dometic stove grommets were all split and failing to hold the burner grills in place. Checked around and found it nearly impossible to find the tiny gray grommets and when I did it was going to cost me mucho dinero to buy 8 grommets & have them shipped to me.

Plan "B"... drill out the grommet holes and install the less expensive larger grommets my local RV store carried.

Photos show the stove top and the two burners with the old (tiny) style grommets
and the one hole not yet drilled out...

7/16 drill bit to enlarge the holes to fit the new larger grommets...

[Dutch Star Don]

Here is a little secret. Your drilling out of the holes is a good idea, but the larger ones still fail frequently, but as you know they're cheaper and easier to find.

I wanted a better solution to the cheap grommets. I replaced mine with tire valve stems. Valve stems come in several sizes. You have the larger ones that fit cars, but they make smaller ones, sold at places like Walmart, that are used on wheel barrels and other small tires. I took the smaller ones and sawed off the tube or thinner portion of the valve stem, leaving what looks like a grommet.

The material is much tougher and isn't easily destroyed by the heat of the stove. It takes a little work to cut them ( I used a hacksaw) but they last SUBSTANTIALLY longer.

[530ktm]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

Here is a little secret. Your drilling out of the holes is a good idea, but the larger ones still fail frequently, but as you know they're cheaper and easier to find.

I wanted a better solution to the cheap grommets. I replaced mine with tire valve stems. Valve stems come in several sizes. You have the larger ones that fit cars, but they make smaller ones, sold at places like Walmart, that are used on wheel barrels and other small tires. I took the smaller ones and sawed off the tube or thinner portion of the valve stem, leaving what looks like a grommet.

The material is much tougher and isn't easily destroyed by the heat of the stove. It takes a little work to cut them ( I used a hacksaw) but they last SUBSTANTIALLY longer.

Clever idea, I like to improvise with these kinds of remedies.

[dave6152]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

Here is a little secret. Your drilling out of the holes is a good idea, but the larger ones still fail frequently, but as you know they're cheaper and easier to find.

I wanted a better solution to the cheap grommets. I replaced mine with tire valve stems. Valve stems come in several sizes. You have the larger ones that fit cars, but they make smaller ones, sold at places like Walmart, that are used on wheel barrels and other small tires. I took the smaller ones and sawed off the tube or thinner portion of the valve stem, leaving what looks like a grommet.

The material is much tougher and isn't easily destroyed by the heat of the stove. It takes a little work to cut them ( I used a hacksaw) but they last SUBSTANTIALLY longer.

Great idea Dutch..! Coincidentally (I mean REALLY coincidentally) yesterday I cut
the end off a long tire valve stem to install on one of the bladders for my fishing float tube... too bad I tossed out the "grommet end" prior to reading this.

Me thinks I will update these grommets with your idea when my present ideas melt

[Hikerdogs]

Originally Posted by dave6152

Recently purchased a 2010 Thor Serrano RV and the Dometic stove grommets were all split and failing to hold the burner grills in place. Checked around and found it nearly impossible to find the tiny gray grommets and when I did it was going to cost me mucho dinero to buy 8 grommets & have them shipped to me.

Plan "B"... drill out the grommet holes and install the less expensive larger grommets my local RV store carried.

Photos show the stove top and the two burners with the old (tiny) style grommets
and the one hole not yet drilled out...

7/16 drill bit to enlarge the holes to fit the new larger grommets...

Have you contacted Dometic? We had a similar problem with our Atwood stove. We called Atwood and they sent us a bag of grommets at no charge.