My turn to rant

[B47]

I joined this forum in January of 2012 and have listened to other owners both praise and curse their units, but being a new guy I decided to hold my ranting back for awhile, but now I decided to post some of my own.

We purchased a new 2012 29rk FW eqipped with what the salesman called an "outdoor kitchen" which is located on the units right aft side aft of the axles. We really liked that feature as it also contains a two burner propane stove and Danby DAR 259BL refrigerator.

After we took the unit out on our first trip, I decided to check the refrigerator's thermostat setting. I got the Danby Owner's Manual out and on Page 6 it stated "The temperature of the refrigerator is controlled by setting thermostat knob. (ceiling of the cabinet) to a desired setting."

Sounds simple enough - guess what -there is no thermostat located on the ceiling of the cabinet!

My wife and I looked 3 times for a thermostat on the cabinet ceiling, on the cabinet inside walls and even on the inside floor. We thought no one would ever located a refrigerator thermostat where you couldn't reach it.

Long story short - Danby had for some reason relocated the thermostat for our model to the outside rear wall of the unit and had not revised their manual. Our unit model was one of the first deliveded with the thermostat relocated.

You cannot reach or even see the relocated thermostat in its new location because the refrigerator is hard mounted in the unit under the inside sink and behind the panel that goes from the floor to the bottom of the counter where the sink is located. The plug for the refrigerator is also mounted in an unaccessable location behind the indoor sink.

After calling the FR rep and telling him our story (and he didn't believe what I was telling until he went on the factory floor and saw it for himself) the factory contacted our dealer and shipped them a matching interior cabinet door and hardware so the dealer could cut out an access panel in the inside panel so we can now reach the thermostat though the panel (still awkward, but you can now reach the thermostat). The plug was also relocated.

Yes we are still pleased with our FW, but you have to wonder why the factory and the workers that installed the refrigerator didn't stop and ask why this was the way it was.

So if any of you try to reach your outdoor refrigerator thermostat after reading your Owner's Manual this is the reason.

Wait until I tell you about what the dealer did when they installed our washer/dryer unit.

[caper]

The person installing the refrigerator might not have notice the change to the unit while being installed. They might have thought that the knob was inside the fridge.
FR must be upset themselves if the refrigerators were changed during the season. They will have to redesign the unit in order to make it easy for the end user to change the temp in the fridge. I bet there rant is greater then yours.

[B47]

Originally Posted by caper

The person installing the refrigerator might not have notice the change to the unit while being installed. They might have thought that the knob was inside the fridge.
FR must be upset themselves if the refrigerators were changed during the season. They will have to redesign the unit in order to make it easy for the end user to change the temp in the fridge. I bet there rant is greater then yours.

caper - maybe you are correct about the factory workers not noticing the relocated thermostat, but where is the Quality Control/Assurance? And wouldn't you think that Danby would revise their manual as well as notifing their customers? Maybe I was in aviation too long.

And no one has yet explained to me why a refrigerator thermostat is located outside of the refrigerator cabinet.

As far as redesigning goes - I am told the new units will have the top 1/4 of the panel that is under the inside sink cut off to allow access to the thermostat.