We bought our motor home new in 2003. 6 weeks ago our refer quit. The cooling unit quit. We called an RV service and they called our extended warranty and they will pay the $1500.00 cost of the parts and the labor to fix it. At first Dometic said it would be 4 to 10 days until we could get the parts. Then it was 4 to 8 weeks to get the cooling unit. I called Dometic and they told me it would be 6 months before we could get the parts. We are full time and it's not easy to live with out a refer. It seems once you pay for a Dometic product they no longer have customer care. I would say that if you buy Dometic junk you are just stuck with junk. No wonder the RV industry is in the toilet. There is no recourse, it is totally buyer beware. Of course they were willing to sell me a $5000.00 replacement refer that wouldn't fit the opening where the refer goes.

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We're always near home.

We have a 1999 Norcold 1200LRIM that went out - heating unit blew and lost ammonia. Luckly we were on electric and not propane for ammonia is fammable. We took motorhome to a place in Arkansas and they put in a rebuilt cooling unit for $600 (2007). You might be able to find a place like that close to where you live.

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Roy & Macelle Cogburn Diplomat/AWD Terrain

Some members of my local Tiffin club have been ordering a residential refrigerator when buying a new rig. Yes people, some folks are still buying motor homes. Some are also replacing their existing refrigerator with a residential unit. 3000 watt inverter and a couple of extra batteries is all you need to dry camp. The generator needs to be run a couple of hours daily when dry camping to keep the batteries charged. Compare the cost of a new residential refrigerator with a RV refrigerator and also compare the efficient cooling capacity. My next rv will have a residential refrigerator unless I decide to down size.

fishboat1 - If you're a fulltimer with hookups, a home-type refrig (compressor) makes sense. But, if you like to dry camp it could be a problem. I have a large generator, lots of batteries, and a very large charger, but it would be very difficult to supply the necessary amps that a home refrig compressor would require with just 2 hours a day recharging. Remember, a 10 amp 120v AC draw equates to a 100 amp 12v DC draw from your batteries. RVs have absorption refrigs because lots of power isn't always available. Good luck. - Dave

Our refer quit three years ago while I was deployed on a flood disaster with FEMA. I bought an apartment refer and put it in the big slide by the table as a temp measure. I did some research and found a number of places that could provide a rebuilt cooling unit (including a number of them in Arkansas) However, one day I took my rubber hammer out and tapped all around the coils on the back fo the refer and evidently dislodged the obstruction that was causing the system to malfunction. It has done just fine for the last three years. I have no illusions that my 10 year old refer will work forever but so far so good! We kept the apartment refer in the rig and use it as a big freezer.

BTW, Alfa motorhomes put household refers in their Founders edition (before they went belly up) when were were selling that product. I was never a fan of that design because when we were fulltimers, we boondocked a lot and boondockers are not excited when a neighbor fires up a genset when the solar panels don't cut it on cloudy days or short sunlight winter days.

Way too many parks have inadequate power for me to be excited about running electric appliances and we simply are not going to pay the freight to stay in resort type rv parks where the power is usually pretty good.

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Libby and John and RV the CAT www.TheRollingHome.com 1999 Fleetwood Discovery 37V Unit 38 Fort Clark Springs Brackettville, TX towing a 2005 Chevy Colorado Z71 4x4 Click here to see our current location