Defrost a Dometic refrigerator ..........

[araucano]

Hello everyone:
Kindly bear with me......
I have a 2008 5th W with a Dometic refrigerator that over freezes.Kindly advice how to defrost,clean and using a hair dryier make in a quick one day chore.
A step by step guide will not offend me
Many thanks for your time!parigi.

[Skip426]

I'd advise against the hair dryer , the internal plastics of the fridge could easily be damaged .

We spend 5 months in our coach , and I defrost every 5/6 weeks.

Turn the fridge off , pull everything out into coolers .
Place a towel on the top rack under the cooling fins, second towel on the bottom of freezer compartment , have a small rectangular bin that will slide under the cooling fins ; to catch the ice chunks .
After about 45 mins. with the door open the ice will be falling off .
Use a plastic knife to pry off any chunks BE VERY careful around the sensor , be aware of it's location ( up/down ) on the fin as it needs to go back where it was if you move it .
Dry the fins with a small towel.
Wipe down the walls of the fridge .
Load the fridge items out of the cooler back into the fridge, close the fridge and work on the freezer compartment . Small plastic windshield scraper to knock off loose ice. With all the ice out dry the compartment with a towel.
Load the freezer and re-start the fridge.
Under 2 hours , once you've done this a few times.
Key is the time frame ( 5/6 weeks ) the longer you go between defrosting,
the longer it will take , because of the ice thickness.

[Jlo11111]

Originally Posted by araucano

Hello everyone:
Kindly bear with me......
I have a 2008 5th W with a Dometic refrigerator that over freezes.Kindly advice how to defrost,clean and using a hair dryier make in a quick one day chore.
A step by step guide will not offend me
Many thanks for your time!parigi.

I have the same problem with my Dometic.

Turn fridge off. Take everything out. Put towels underneath the fins. Use a hair dryer to melt the ice off the fins (it won't hurt anything, but use low heat if you're worried). Dry off the inside (doesn't have to be completely dry). Put everything back in. Place a bag of ice in the fridge section to help cool everything back down quicker. If you had ice trays with ice in them, they should still be frozen and should go back in the freezer. Should only take a half hour or less to do all this. I've done this dozens of times and all is fine.

[mokurt]

I guess no different than the Norge freezer I bought in 1988!

[450Donn]

If you getting excess ice build up its one of two problems. Either door seals bad or your opening the door too much. To test the door seals open the door, place a dollar bill and close the door. If the bill pulls oit easily you need to replace the door seals.

[TB673]

Originally Posted by 450Donn

If you getting excess ice build up its one of two problems. Either door seals bad or your opening the door too much. To test the door seals open the door, place a dollar bill and close the door. If the bill pulls oit easily you need to replace the door seals.

I thought I read that Dometic doesn't offer door seals as a replacement part.
I wish I could remember (CRS).

[Bob_C]

That's why Steele Rubber Products is in business......

[bddadles]

I just remove the stuff that will get wet and use a hair dryer. The fins in fridge I put a plate under and pull off the ice one fin at a time as the dryer breaks it loose and for the freezer I use the hair dryer and a wooden spatula and just melt and scrape gently then soak up the water and done. I can do both compartments in 20 minutes. Not a big job.

[Teamfoxy]

If the fins in the fridge are icing up, then you probably over pack it, spend too much time with the door open, and/or need to reposition the thermastor. Once we figured that out, we have not had the issue again. We still have to defrost the freezer occasioally, but again, not over packing and not keeping the door open for a long time cuts down significantly on the issue.

[Mudfrog]

If possible, empty the freezer and frig both. Put the cold stuff in cooler(s), leave the doors open, and have towels ready to soak up the water. I would not have any qualms using a hair dryer to speed things up but I would be careful not to focus hot air to any one place for very long. Even if aimed at ice, hot air can still deflect and hit another area that you don't want overheated.

Since we don't full time, our Norcold rarely accumulates ice build up. After shutting it down, removing food, and leaving doors ajar,,, the light frost is gone within half an hour with no additional assist from me.

[waterman480]

I use these fans:



https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1



along with a ARP Fridge defender to control them. No more defrosting, and increased protection from fire as well. I used double sided tape to mount them up top, and about 6 inches away from the fins.

[Jlo11111]

Originally Posted by Teamfoxy

If the fins in the fridge are icing up, then you probably over pack it, spend too much time with the door open, and/or need to reposition the thermastor. Once we figured that out, we have not had the issue again. We still have to defrost the freezer occasioally, but again, not over packing and not keeping the door open for a long time cuts down significantly on the issue.

I've checked the seals. I open the doors as little as possible. There is no thermistor to move. I've wired in a fan for the fins. Perhaps over fill on occasion, but it doesn't matter, full or empty it still ices over every few weeks. Absorption fridges just suck. Never again.

[waterman480]

Originally Posted by Jlo11111

I've checked the seals. I open the doors as little as possible. There is no thermistor to move. I've wired in a fan for the fins. Perhaps over fill on occasion, but it doesn't matter, full or empty it still ices over every few weeks. Absorption fridges just suck. Never again.

The first set of fans I wired in didn't cut it. These fans (combined with the ARP to control them) eliminated frost buildup on the fins. They also keep the temperatures more even (which we know these fridges are bad at)

[Bob_C]

Fridge in a slide?......