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Old 07-19-2015, 11:05 AM   #1
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New Dometic refrigerator with blue LED light model DMr702 Renaisance PROBLEMS

Well here's the saga. I bought the rv new last October. At PDI everything worked fine, or so it seemed. We never did use the rv after taking delivery and put it away for the winter. This spring we uncovered it and prepared for a trip to Myrtle Beach. After starting the fridge we noticed it didn't seem to cool properly. The temp in the freezer was 28 - 32 degrees and about the same in the fridge part. This was on the high setting. Yes the trailer was level. No there is not a sliding thermistor in this model. Yes there was adequate ventilation. So, since we were leaving in a week and our dealer is 100 miles away, we decide to go anyway. We managed to get through the trip ok and I had notified our dealer of the issue and arranged to take the 5er in for service when we returned. We attempted to have Ocean Lakes RV look at it while we were in Myrtle beach but they declined. we took it to our dealer when we returned from SC trip. They discovered that a new type tool is need to diagnose the thermistor in the new fridges. Of course they didn't have one and had to order it along with a new dining table top and a switch for an awning. Table top had wood boring beetles in it!!! We picked up the 5er because we had some trips planned. We didn't realize they had disabled the fridge completely so we had to use coolers.
A few weeks later we were notified that the table top, switch and tool were there so we took the 5er back to the dealer.
Here's where it gets stupid. The dealer did the tests and found the thermistor was in fact bad along with a 3 dollar "special" fuse. They ordered them from Dometic. Week goes by and no parts. They contact Dometic and are told they will be shipped that week. The thermistor arrives a week later but no "special fuse". It's back ordered. It will ship next week.
It didn't ship. The dealer was told by Dometic it was unavailable until mid July. another call placed to Dometic and they tell the dealer no fuses will be available until August now. Meanwhile myself and the dealer are both getting annoyed as this has now gone on since MAY and it's July.
I know this dealer well and trust them completely. I heard the Parts manager literally scream at the Dometic CS rep after futile attempts to get a fuse. The service manager told me then that they would see if the owner of the dealership would allow them to pirate a fuse from a new rv on the lot. while he was considering that Dometic finally came through and decided to supply me with a brand new refrigerator. Wonderful you say. Well supposedly it was shipped last Tuesday. No fridge yet!!
We've missed most of the season so far and we don't have a date to get it back even now.
I will say this with NO reservation, the dealer, Wilkins Rv in Bath NY has been great from sale to service. This is the 2nd rv I bought from them and they have been incredible to work with all the way around. They have always kept their promises and have kept me informed every step of the way. They've said that the minute the new fridge arrives the tech will bring the 5er in and install it. I have no reason to doubt them.
Is there a point in here somewhere? I don't know. I vented a little. I don't feel any better.
Has anyone else had problems of this kind with the newer refrigerator I wonder? I'm happy to be getting a new one because I wouldn't have trusted the old one.
I know there are lots of woulda, coulda, shouldas but it is what it is and I have found in my 60 years that getting angry at the people working on your stuff is counter productive. I was firm and I did call. Regularly and often. They always answered or returned the calls and called me when they had info. In fact I got a call last night telling me that it did not arrive.
So we wait.
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Old 07-19-2015, 11:31 AM   #2
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Read your post with interest as I know you have issues with the refreg but the mention of wood boring beetles in table top. We had a similar experience in 2006 with one of our Cabinet doors. We noticed saw dust on the sink then saw some real tiny hole is the door. About that time our bug exterminator showed up and ask him what this was. Yep beetles and no way to cure per sa. Talk to dealer and manufacture and they told us we were nuts. So we never got it replaced through warranty. We could not even order the door as it was no longer made. So we had our local cabinet man make us one. After researching we found the part of the country where the campers are built tend to have these beetles.

Any way glade to hear that got replaced guess they found that the beetle problems exist.

Also the issues you have had with Dometic I can relate to. I've had a part on order now for 3 months and now say it will be Aug 6 before they shipped. Heard that story in May for a july 6 ship. I am beginning to think I will never see it. BTW it's a white light to replace the stupid blue light.
Later RJD
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Old 07-19-2015, 11:40 AM   #3
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The basic principle of a fuse has not changed since invented, the only thing special might be the body shape/size of the fuse. If it were my RV, I would remove the fuse holder and replace it with one that takes a standard fuse ( even if it has to be installed remotely) that you can find at any auto parts store. Even if this gets fixed so you can use it before the end of the season, You certainly don't want to have to do this again in the future.
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Old 07-19-2015, 11:41 AM   #4
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We had this refrigerator in our Flagstaff. A couple of times the lights on the panel would flash but per the instructions in the manual I shut it off and turned it back on and the problem was solved. There were times when I thought the fridge portion was malfunctioning as the temperature would go up to 50 but it never stayed there and always cooled back down. I figured since it was in a slide and did not have a chimney that it did not keep the temperatures as constant so I made sure our Forester was not set up that way. Also, I remember seeing someplace where that model is made in China whereas my new one is made in the USA.
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Old 07-19-2015, 11:42 AM   #5
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it is helpful that I'm a carpenter by trade. I found a webpage showing the beetles. The damage they cause and pictures of the saw dust they make. We left that saw dust right on the table top and left a printout of the beetle info right on the table next to the saw dust. There was no problem with warranty. Apparently the beetle lays its eggs in the open pores of untreated hardwoods. untreated is the operative word. It seems that the wood mills are putting a type of treatment on the raw wood to keep the beetles away. Apparently the one board in our table was missed. there were 7 holes bored by the larva escaping the wood. All the holes were in the same board in the laminated table top.
Isn't that blue light annoying as....well you know you're replacing it. if I ever get a fridge that works I will too
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Old 07-19-2015, 11:47 AM   #6
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You might check that they could put a white one in before they install the new frig. Later RJD
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Old 07-19-2015, 11:50 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Flybob View Post
The basic principle of a fuse has not changed since invented, the only thing special might be the body shape/size of the fuse. If it were my RV, I would remove the fuse holder and replace it with one that takes a standard fuse ( even if it has to be installed remotely) that you can find at any auto parts store. Even if this gets fixed so you can use it before the end of the season, You certainly don't want to have to do this again in the future.
Well It seems this fuse is not any standard type and it is not accessible without the removal of the refrigerator I'm told. Stupid right? I have every intention of discovering where and what this fuse is. I will relocate or make provisions to access it for sure. I will have spares also. Several in fact.
I intend to ask the dealer to see the old refrigerator so I can determine what I'm up against. It would be great to do a remote fuse holder if possible. I WILL figure something out.
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Old 07-19-2015, 11:51 AM   #8
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You might check that they could put a white one in before they install the new frig. Later RJD
I'm not pushing my luck LOL. I just want the darn refrigerator.
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Old 07-19-2015, 11:55 AM   #9
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I will also be adding fans, big fans, to help keep the air circulating in the enclosure in the back. I had the same type enclosure but not same frige in my Coachmen TT. the fan was a high velocity noisy thing. It got replaced with 3 -120mm slow moving and quiet fans. No noise and fridge temps dropped and became more constant.
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Old 07-19-2015, 12:23 PM   #10
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aquaholic3: Ya I can relate to that. Later RJD
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Old 07-20-2015, 05:10 PM   #11
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I also have this New Dometic refrigerator with blue LED light model DMr702 in my RV. The dealer can not find the problem. Its still under 1 year warranty but nobody will do anything . So i have no frigerator. Should they not give me a new one?

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Old 07-20-2015, 06:17 PM   #12
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I also have this New Dometic refrigerator with blue LED light model DMr702 in my RV. The dealer can not find the problem. Its still under 1 year warranty but nobody will do anything . So i have no frigerator. Should they not give me a new one?

Hi Snowman, what specifically is the problem with yours?
My dealer is not giving me a new refrigerator, actually Dometic is giving me a new one because parts aren't available to repair mine. If your dealer hasn't been able to diagnose your problem I think I would be looking for another Dometic repair shop. I was told by Dometic when my problem first began, that I could get it serviced at any Dometic authorized repair facility because I didn't want to take it the 100 miles to my dealer. I would look up another repair shop near you who may be more qualified or familiar with refrigerators. It just happens that my dealer is an authorized repair facility and I ended up there because one of the repair shops near me is Camping World and I'll never set foot in that place again and the other place wasn't familiar with the DMR702 . SO......back to the dealer it went.
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Old 07-22-2015, 04:47 PM   #13
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Well, the refrigerator arrived at the dealer Monday. They had given me a courtesy call the Saturday before to apologize, even though the shipping time was beyond their control, and tell me the refrigerator had not arrived yet.
They called me Monday afternoon to tell me it had just gotten there. They also told me that the Tech was bringing my 5er in as we spoke and would begin the install that very afternoon, They had made the promise to bring it in to work on as soon as the fridge arrived. They did! They told me the install would be completed Tuesday and I would be notified as soon as the job was done.
They called me Tuesday to tell me it was done and was working. they would monitor the temps and I was welcome to come pick it up at my convenience.
As I said before I'm quite satisfied with their customer service. they've been easy to work with and always kept their promises.
They pushed Dometic hard on my behalf and I got a new fridge out of it.
I have missed some time with the 5er but really some of the delays were my own doing (I have some medical issues) and the dealer has stepped up and done right by me.
Things could be lots worse. I'm going to get it after work this Friday. Hopefully there are no other issues stemming from the install, like scratches ,dings etc.....me thinks I worry too much
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Old 07-27-2015, 03:59 PM   #14
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Reading this post with interest. I have the Dometic Model DMR702 in our new Rockwood Ultra Lite 2608WS. All I did so far is to run it 5 or 6 hours to see if the freezer and frig. sections were cooling on gas and electric. Won't do the full checkout until our shakedown cruise in Aug. Maybe I should run it for 3 days or so before leaving?? I do plan on installing a Fridge-Fix unit in the frig. compartment for better cooling there.

Note: The door switch/LED light module located in the center-top of the frig. unit--- The LEDs run on approx 6VDC. The door switch supplies this voltage to the LEDs. There is a large wire-wound resistor on the circuit board that drops the 12VDC to 6VDC. If you install any 12VDC fan unit to the inside of these models, use the RED wire coming out of the frig. wire bundle near this module and going INTO the circuit board. This is the main 12VDC wire. You can tap off here for the 12VDC going to a fan unit. It is hot all the time you have 12VDC and the frig. is on.
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Old 07-27-2015, 06:11 PM   #15
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Reading this post with interest. I have the Dometic Model DMR702 in our new Rockwood Ultra Lite 2608WS. All I did so far is to run it 5 or 6 hours to see if the freezer and frig. sections were cooling on gas and electric. Won't do the full checkout until our shakedown cruise in Aug. Maybe I should run it for 3 days or so before leaving?? I do plan on installing a Fridge-Fix unit in the frig. compartment for better cooling there.

Note: The door switch/LED light module located in the center-top of the frig. unit--- The LEDs run on approx 6VDC. The door switch supplies this voltage to the LEDs. There is a large wire-wound resistor on the circuit board that drops the 12VDC to 6VDC. If you install any 12VDC fan unit to the inside of these models, use the RED wire coming out of the frig. wire bundle near this module and going INTO the circuit board. This is the main 12VDC wire. You can tap off here for the 12VDC going to a fan unit. It is hot all the time you have 12VDC and the frig. is on.
I would advise you to run it for several days and monitor the temps in both the freezer and the refrigerator. I got my 5er back with a brand new refrigerator and the coldest it has gotten is 8 degrees in the freezer and 40 degrees in the fridge after running for 3 whole days. that is with the outside air temps below 80 degrees. What will the temps be when it gets into the 90s outside. I've had 5 different rvs now with 5 different refrigerators. The other 4 all kept the freezer closer to zero and fridge section in the mid to upper 30's even in hot outside temps. I'm not really too happy with this new and improved model
I am going to install 2 -140mm 100 cfm ball bearing computer fans in the space behind the refrigerator and try to vent the hot air out. I hope that helps. Others have said it helps, I'll find out. Meanwhile I will let the dealer and Dometic know I'm not pleased.
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Old 07-27-2015, 06:33 PM   #16
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aquaholic3: I agree Domenic has gone down hill from the first couple of RVs I've had. More China Junk. Later RJD
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Old 08-03-2015, 05:54 AM   #17
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stupid blue light

Quote:
Originally Posted by aceinspp View Post
Read your post with interest as I know you have issues with the refreg but the mention of wood boring beetles in table top. We had a similar experience in 2006 with one of our Cabinet doors. We noticed saw dust on the sink then saw some real tiny hole is the door. About that time our bug exterminator showed up and ask him what this was. Yep beetles and no way to cure per sa. Talk to dealer and manufacture and they told us we were nuts. So we never got it replaced through warranty. We could not even order the door as it was no longer made. So we had our local cabinet man make us one. After researching we found the part of the country where the campers are built tend to have these beetles.

Any way glade to hear that got replaced guess they found that the beetle problems exist.

Also the issues you have had with Dometic I can relate to. I've had a part on order now for 3 months and now say it will be Aug 6 before they shipped. Heard that story in May for a july 6 ship. I am beginning to think I will never see it. BTW it's a white light to replace the stupid blue light.
Later RJD
Thank you! I hate that blue refrigerator light. I will order a white replacement bulb now so it might be in by next year camping season.
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Old 08-03-2015, 06:18 AM   #18
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Update on the fridge: Over this past weekend I installed a 140mm ball bearing, 100 cfm fan over the top of the cooling fins pointing down and out the upper sidewall vent. With it running I can feel a good bit of air flow out the top and middle vent slots in the top vent panel. I left the fridge closed up for several hours and on high setting. When I checked the temps it was at 1 degree in the freezer and 36 in the fridge area. This was with outside air temp at 82 degrees and some sun shining on the vents and sidewall of rv. Conclusion is that it has helped. I'm now running the fridge at medium setting and getting around 8 - 10 degrees in the freezer and 39 - 40 in the fridge.

We should not have to modify or rework these things to get acceptable performance, but as many have already said, as long as we keep buying these things in record numbers there's not much incentive for the manufacturers to up the quality.
Through it all my dealer has been responsive and has taken good care of me.
So I'm giving a shout out to Wilkins RV in Bath, NY.
If any of you fine folks anywhere near there are looking for a new unit, give them a chance. I never encountered high pressure from sales. We were allowed to browse as long as we wished without being molested by sales staff. We knew what we were looking for and knew they had the 5er we wanted to see on their lot. When we did fetch the salesman that greeted us at the door he was great. He answered every question, listened carefully to our needs and even showed us a few other models that were similar but had different features. Some of them were even less expensive units!! lol
His name is Rick Mess. He even pointed out the availability of the 2nd year warranty from Forest River that I would never have know about otherwise.

Lets go camping!!!
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Old 08-09-2015, 05:26 PM   #19
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Big Concern on Frig.

I have tried to research this model and can only find the Operation and Installation information. Parts? Nothing! Dometic has Americana, Americana Plus and Classic already that are known and proven.

When I talk to rep. for Forest River, I'm going to ask about getting a known good unit instead of this thing. Just the look of the shelves turned me off right away. If there is a reason for the change, it is not made available for public consumption.
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Old 08-29-2015, 11:15 PM   #20
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I have read all these posts with much interest. We bought our 5er in the USA and imported it to Australia and of course have Refrigerator/freezer problems. So while I am extremely sympathetic to you guys try getting help from Australia - it's an absolute nightmare. Our dometic tech here is going bald from pulling his hair out! Anyway good luck everyone and safe travelling.
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