Dometic RMD 8505 Fridge/Freezer

[nomade690]

In January this year, the fridge would not light on gas. Tried the reset button to no avail. Removed the electrical control unit at the rear of the unit and there were signs of overheating with a discoloured area. Fitted a new unit and everything worked as it should. In February, went off on a 7 week tour of Spain and all was good with the fridge. After experiencing 8 days of complete lockdown in Spain, we headed back to the UK. The fridge worked normally on 240V and 12V but became difficult to light in gas mode, having to resort to the reset button. After 10 weeks of lockdown in the UK, decided to prepare the motorhome for better times ahead. The fridge would not attempt to light on gas despite repetitive use of the reset button. After much head scratching, I went on the Dometic website and e-mailed Dometic customer support, giving details of my problem. The next day, I was contacted by a Dometic engineer on my mobile. He asked me to operate the fridge while staying on the phone and was extremely helpful. He deduced that it was probably a fault on the control panel on the front of the fridge. I thanked him for his help and found a replacement panel on e-Bay. Fitted the panel and fridge lit first time. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to inform everyone who has had problems with their Dometic fridges, and given the number of posts on this forum there are a lot, to contact Dometic directly, they are very helpful.

 

[Two on Tour]

Unfortunately that was not the case when I tried to get some simple technical information from Dometic.
First off I phoned customer support to be told by some stroppy bitch that their technical department do not and will not talk to the public directly and that I was to email them which I did.
After two weeks and no rely, I resent the email and after another two weeks I again resent the email. A week later I received 3 replies, all the same within a minute of each other, not answering my question just a standard reply of most common quires. I then sent another email asking if they would please reply with an answer specific to my question. Two weeks later, you guest it, I received a reply email exactly the same as the previous 3, so in my view they are bloody useless.

 

[Lenny HB]

Appears to be pot luck on who answers the phone. Everyone says how good Truma's customer support is, the one time I phoned them they were completely unhelpful and refused to give any advice.

 

[jockaneezer]

Camper fridges really are rubbish aren't they ? Considering it's just 3 different heat sources to warm up a liquid which turns to a gas and thermally syphons it's way around a bit of tubing, they give too many problems ?
There have been a rash of fridge problems on here recently and the things in common with them seem to be poor quality electronics and wiring, no weather proofing of the back side components and flimsy hinges and catches. Any improvements in fridges over the last thirty years seem to be either cosmetic or to make them electronically more complicated, they still have the same old rust prone condensor and no consideration made for the fact they are fitted into a moving vehicle.

 

[nomade690]

You are quite right to say that the recent fridges fitted to motorhomes are quite unreliable. Given that a replacement unit will cost around £2K fitted, they should be much more reliable. My original problem manifested itself when the fridge was just 2 years old. The price of replacement parts are astronomical and the circuit boards are completely sealed meaning that it is impossible to replace any faulty component that may only cost 20p! The motorhome manufacturers should be demanding better reliability from their fridge suppliers as it does reflect back on them. Dometic fridges are fitted to motorhomes costing from £50k to £350K, we do deserve better.

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