Dometic tower Fidge/Freezer/oven (1 Viewer)

Norm

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Nov 27, 2014
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I'm just purchasing a new Motorhome and it's fitted - as they all seem to be these days! - with this combined fridge freezer and oven.
No problem with the fridge/freezer but the oven is on top and inaccesible for a normal sized lady and it's tiny. Looks only good for toast!
How do other people manage and what do you cook in it? Is there any solution/alternative?
There seem no option ??
 

Allan & Loren

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Dec 8, 2014
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We've a combination convection oven/microwave/grill. Cooks great. I can cook most things in it and big enough for 4 of us. Took some time to get used to it but its great.

If yours is too high for you it could be dangerous for burns etc. Maybe look at re-siting it.
 

maz

Jan 26, 2011
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I'm just purchasing a new Motorhome and it's fitted - as they all seem to be these days! - with this combined fridge freezer and oven.
No problem with the fridge/freezer but the oven is on top and inaccesible for a normal sized lady and it's tiny. Looks only good for toast!
How do other people manage and what do you cook in it? Is there any solution/alternative?
There seem no option ??

I've got one of these high ovens and have to stand on a step stool to use it. Health & safety, huh? :RollEyes:

When on hook-up, I use a separate microwave/grill and a Remoska. But off hook-up I use it for cooking all kinds of things. Main problem is that because it's so small there's not much thermal mass - and opening the door causes the temp to drop considerably (I use a digital oven thermometer to keep tabs on what it's doing). Because of this things take longer to cook than you would expect.

My oven doesn't have a grill inside it although I think that some of the later versions now do. While a gas grill would be handy it reduces the oven capacity even further. Off hook-up I do toast on one of those mesh box jobbies that sits on the hob. :Smile:

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Debs

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Jun 9, 2014
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Hi, we have a TEC tower, all I can say is be very careful putting stuff in/out of it.

I'm 5'6" and can reach it ok but have added a silicone shelf edge as I kept catching my hands lifting things out:eek:

Ours doesn't have a grill either (I know some do) and it's quite a small oven......apart from that it actually cooks really well:)

In the absence of being able to get hold of a double skillet that lots of folk recommend on here I bought a shallow cast iron casserole dish from Aldi last week. Reduced to £12.99 - I haven't used it yet though:D
 

Lenny HB

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We have the Tec Tower the grill is not much good although better than the old model, the oven is high but usable & the boss is only 4'10", ours gets mainly used for part baked bread when we are far from civilisation. Use one of the mesh things on the hob for toast, the grill is far too slow.
 

Jaws

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We took out the oven in the Miller and replaced it with a microwave..
Disadvantages are no grill, and only of use on hook up
But as, like the OP, the oven was too high to use safely and for two years it was never even turned on, the swap made sense for us

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Feb 24, 2013
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If you have the same tower as us, the oven controls are actually on the fridge section under the oven, might make removal and swapping for a microwave complicated

The oven does work but is not very efficient, don't put things in bottom and hope they will even get warm

But we cope, not tried the hob toaster option, sounds interesting
 

Mikey RV

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We have the tri tower, grill in there also and the wife cooks everything including full roast dinners etc, sometimes I am amazed that she manages to cook normal meals just like having a full size oven in the house. Yes it's a bit tricky getting things in and out due to the height sometimes but she does well.
 
Apr 30, 2012
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Seems to be a cultural difference, mainland Europe favours kitchens without ovens, whereas UK manufacturers suggest their customers demand full oven/grill and hob appliances. We have the Dometic TEC tower and while I expressed concern, SWMBO said she wasn't bothered :) In the end, those clever people at Southdowns fitted a microwave in the cupboard above the sink so we haven't yet used the little oven. Of course, it just depends on how you'll use your new Burstner, with EHU a microwave does most and the little grill/oven is a backup, but when you're out and about sample the pubs and restaurants, after all you are on hols! (y) Enjoy your beautiful new MH. Cheers. Terran
 

Lenny HB

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Thanks for your comments. Seems no-one has a good word for these ovens so why do almost all manufacturers fit them ? Ridiculous!
Space and not a lot of call for ovens in Motorhomes, Germans & French don't bother with them and they account for 40,000 - 45000 Motorhomes brought each year compared to around 7000 in the UK.

The Tectower is not ideal but better than nothing, microwave not much good to us as we never use EHU.
 
Apr 27, 2008
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One advantage of a french mh. As standard they don't have an oven, so we have one fitted under the hob. The space over the freezer now has a microwave, running on inverter or ehu (if not restricted to 4amp)

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Lenny HB

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These ones work well, the upright ones that take 4 slices aren't much good.


$_57.JPG
 
M

Madwife

Deleted User
Our new MH also has the TEC tower and the oven is without a grill. Have used it the last couple of nights and things turned out ok. I have got some silicone shelf edges protectors at home and will be putting one on the shelf edge Asap as bound to burn myself otherwise. Like any oven it will take some time to work through what temp it's actually at and an oven thermometer is a good idea.

Kath
 

Lenny HB

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Mine is like this one - it's called a Kampa Crust. I got it at one of the motorhome shows a few years back.
Broken Link Removed
Yep I've got one of those as well can't seen to get them anymore.

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Wobby

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Aug 26, 2007
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We've had Tec Towers in two vans the present vans Tec Tower is better that the old one. We pondered long before ordering it with the van, but the alternative was no oven, as we wild camp a lot we needed something. However they are not very well made, poor shelves that jam and very slow to cook, as for the grill, well the less said the better. My wife won't use it because it so difficult to put food in or take it out without getting burnt, so that's my job. I can't understand why it is that after so many years in business company's like Dometic still produce such poor quality equipment with huge price tags, their R&D must be full of single men! who never cook.

Wobby
 

Lenny HB

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We've had Tec Towers in two vans the present vans Tec Tower is better that the old one. We pondered long before ordering it with the van, but the alternative was no oven, as we wild camp a lot we needed something. However they are not very well made, poor shelves that jam and very slow to cook, as for the grill, well the less said the better. My wife won't use it because it so difficult to put food in or take it out without getting burnt, so that's my job. I can't understand why it is that after so many years in business company's like Dometic still produce such poor quality equipment with huge price tags, their R&D must be full of single men! who never cook.
Wobby
On this van & the last one threw out the roasting pan/shelf apart from being a wedge fit all it did was restrict airflow & heat transfer around the oven. Like you say they charge enough for it €590 I think.
Latest Hymer Exsis they offer a Thetford cooker option the hob has 3 gas burners & an electric one, separate grill & oven.
upload_2015-3-30_21-2-11.png

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Norm

Norm

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Lower Froyle, Alton, Hampshire Surrey borders
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Thanks everyone for your input. Most helpful. We have now bought a "Bright Spark" toaster for £6.99 and thanks to your reccomendations we re going to buy a Remoska. Having read a lot of reviews it seems these cook/bake as well as any oven. Do it quicker and only burn 400watts and so can run off the Inverter. Problem solved!! Shame we have to do this when buying an expensive new motorhome! We now take delivery of our new Burstner Aviana 727 on 23rd April from Southdowns at Portsmouth who not only offered the best package but have also been the most helpful. Thanks again for all contributions
 

makems

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I had cause recently to remove one of these towers from the housing to clean the flue for the fridge as it wasn't working properly on gas.
Two things I noticed:
Firstly the oven seems to be bolted well and truly to the oven so I'm not sure if it could be removed to make wY for a microwave.
Secondly the label on the back of the oven (it's a Smeg by the way) says propane 37mbar. Now given that all recently built motorhomes have gas regulators set to 30mbar, could this be why these ovens never seem to work properly?
 

Lenny HB

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Secondly the label on the back of the oven (it's a Smeg by the way) says propane 37mbar. Now given that all recently built motorhomes have gas regulators set to 30mbar, could this be why these ovens never seem to work properly?
That has always been my theory why the grills never work, I have an old butane bottle in the garage I might try coupling it up and see if the grill actually works as we always use to run butane at 28mb.

Smeg is just one of Dometic's brands these days.
 

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