How do Dometic get away with it! (1 Viewer)

[Paul F]

Some of you may recall my woes with the RCD 10.5XT compressor fridge/freezer and its terrible freezer performance last summer;

Dometic Compressor Freezer Query

I am just wondering if anybody else has experience of the RCD 10.5XT compressor fridge/freezer. The fridge adjusts from cold to very, very cold just fine, but no matter what setting I use, the freezer only just does the job - and my ice cream is 'only just' firm (first world problems I know!)...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Anyway, I now have my new warranty unit. Morelo kindly upgraded me to a 10.5XET and although it took 4 months to arrive, it is now fitted. This is a brand new model that is hardly even available yet, and has a 200 litre capacity rather than the old 177 litre.

All looked good intially, with much better cooling performance, until I noticed the day after fitting that the control panel did nothing - no temperature adjustment, no access to different modes, literally nothing! Now, three days later I have a fridge and freezer sitting at room temperature and no control over any of the settings, its just pretty dead. It looks like the control panel was faulty on arrival.

My old 10.5XT and this upgraded replacement are both high end models that retail at £2,500 ish and it astounds me that Dometic let them out of the factory clearly without the most basic of testing. Just switching the thing on for 5 minutes would have identified this unit as faulty.

On a positive note, Premium Motorhomes have been fantastic and have been super helpful and understanding over the whole thing - but they are hindered by the products they are working with. My old control panel will be back with me very soon and hopefully it will bring the new unit back to life.

I just hope somebody from Dometic is reading this, and if so, I invite their comments to a significant proportion of the UK motorhoming community!

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Have to agree . Dometic fridges are not very good and the control panels or any other parts have extortionate prices.

 

[Peavy]

Incredible, a leading brand in its category, with such high prices and no quality control. Surreal.

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[StillGoing]

Does the new 10.5XET have two thermostats - one in the fridge and one in the freezer - or is it still designed so that once the fridge reaches temperature the freezer stops cooling?

 

[Paul F]

Does the new 10.5XET have two thermostats - one in the fridge and one in the freezer - or is it still designed so that once the fridge reaches temperature the freezer stops cooling?

I believe it is still one thermostat, as most domestic fridges are to be fair. I think they have hopefully just got the balance of the cooling better. The 10.5XET has no exposed deflector plates so a completely different design.

 

[StillGoing]

I believe it is still one thermostat, as most domestic fridges are to be fair. I think they have hopefully just got the balance of the cooling better. The 10.5XET has no exposed deflector plates so a completely different design.

With only one thermostat I don’t see how Dometic could ever control the temperature in the freezer.

Thetford seem to have have the right idea by having two thermostats so the fridge and freezer are independently cooled. They are cheaper too!

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[Coastal Cruiser.]

Luck more than anything I think I have not had any issues with my fridge and have been in places with high 30s last summer.
Different ballgame with the completely useless lump of scrap called the oven thought the only thing it has to do is get hot and stay hot? Nope useless at both.

 

[pagey]

With only one thermostat I don’t see how Dometic could ever control the temperature in the freezer.

Thetford seem to have have the right idea by having two thermostats so the fridge and freezer are independently cooled. They are cheaper too!

But still a problem the main boards are faulty and blow fuses and tracks on the pub, now the board is unobtainable and this is on a 4 year old fridge

 

[Brize]

We also have a Dometic compressor fridge, and the van is only 4 months old. We have an Accurite temperature monitoring system and found that over a 24hr period the freezer temperature varied between -2 to -22, and this after 3 days on EHU. Our understanding is that a freezer should not be higher than -8. We had to throw some stuff away.

I contacted Dometic and after some to'ing and fro'ing was speaking to a technician at Dometic Tewkesbury, where they do repairs/alterations. The freezer compartment is removable, and in fact is only a slide in shelf and door - no separate walls, roof or sides. The tech told me that Dometic have five slide in freezer shelf sizes for this fridge, but that Dometic UK had only imported one size here, and he was coming across this problem a lot. The problem being that the cold air from the freezer was escaping down into the fridge because of gaps. This explained why fridge temperatures were going into minus figures,

The answer is the insertion of rubber/neoprene seals around the freezer compartment, and we are at Tewkesbury this coming Monday to have this done. Going to be interesting (and pleasing) to see if it works.

Other than that, this is our first compressor fridge (we have been in this game for nearly 40 years) and my early comments would be that it cools down much quicker than an absorption fridge, its a little noisy but you get used to it, there is greater depth to the fridge because you don't have all the absorption gubbins (or vents) at the back, and I miss the gas option. It works on 12v only and mine is rated at 60w, so if you are off grid you need plenty of power generation. Verdict so far - not sure

Regards,

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[Paul F]

Our understanding is that a freezer should not be higher than -8

Depends on the star rating and intended use of the compartment/freezer. The table below tells you what you should be expecting;

 

[Brize]

Depends on the star rating and intended use of the compartment/freezer. The table below tells you what you should be expecting;

Splitting hairs here. I think the fact that in a 24 hr period it went up to -2 degrees, with a 20 degree swing, is the point I was trying to get over.

Regards,

 

[Just smiffy]

I just hope somebody from Dometic is reading this, and if so, I invite their comments to a significant proportion of the UK motorhoming community!

Don’t wait for them…. Contact them and tell them….

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[Paul F]

Don’t wait for them…. Contact them and tell them….

If only it were that easy! No obvious phone numbers or email address on the website and ‘Support and Service‘ just points you back to your dealer.

Dometic may be a large successful company, but they don't want direct contact with the humble end user.

 

[mitzimad]

If only it were that easy! No obvious phone numbers or email address on the website and ‘Support and Service‘ just points you back to your dealer.

Dometic may be a large successful company, but they don't want direct contact with the humble end user.

Which is the case now with almost all manufacrurers when it comes to motorhomes its a discracefull situation

 

[Brize]

Which is the case now with almost all manufacrurers when it comes to motorhomes its a discracefull situation

Very true. To be fair, I have found Dometic much better than Thetford. The issue I outlined above was arranged in a couple of phone calls, helped perhaps by having been to the Dometic workshops at Tewkesbury before.

This same van - 4 months old - needed a new thermocouple for the Thetford oven, and that was difficult Absolutely impossible to speak to a human being, and even the Thetford agent who sorted it said they were difficult, and took 4-6 weeks to agree a warranty repair.

I guess there are other major players in the motorhome trade such as Truma, Alde etc, but there is too much hiding behind the dealer and making life difficult for owners who pay a lot of money for their products.

Rant over!

Regards,

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[CazPaul]

Have to agree . Dometic fridges are not very good and the control panels or any other parts have extortionate prices.

I’ll correct that for you, modern Dometic fridges are not very good.
There’s loads of very old ones still working lovely.

 

[bobnick]

Don't get me going on Dometic fridges.
15 months now and still waiting for a new fridge door.
All the internals have arrived, waiting for the skin.
Oh how these companys must have been grateful for the B and the C and the W to come along to blame for the delays.
Bailey have been as much use as a back pocket in a vest also.
They just don't seem to care.

 

[steve69]

Whatever happened to Swedish quality control? Or anyone elses quality control for that matter.

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[bobnick]

Dometic are Swedish..............didn't know that, thought they were Italian for some reason. Everyday is a edumacashon.