Trailer 'Fridge Broken

[kevin_standlee]

Lisa called yesterday with bad news: the refrigerator in the trailer at Fernley is broken. When she realized it, the perishables in the 'fridge were dead. Anything that was still salvageable she moved to the big refrigerator in the house; however, it's very inconvenient not having a refrigerator in the kitchen. Lisa says she will look into getting it repaired if possible, but we might have to buy a new one. On the bright side, Dometic still makes the model RM2510, and, lo and behold, it's made in the USA to boot. But it will probably cost between $800 and $1000, so Lisa would rather look into repair options first.

Removing the 'fridge is very inconvenient, because it's plumbed in to the propane system. (It's a dual-mode electric/propane model.) As she puts it, if she has to pull the 'fridge, she can't use any of the propane-powered appliances — like the furnace and stove — until a fix is in place. This is not something you want to do when the overnight lows are still below freezing.

Comments

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

Having owned several, I'd respectfully suggest checking the owner's manual for user level maintenance, especially cleaning the vents and verifying operation of the fan. I'm assuming you've been running it on electric and the settings on the Dometic are correct -- most common error I've found is to think you've got it in 110 electric mode when it's really in 12v or gas mode.

If you don't have this book, you may want to get it: http://www.amazon.com/RV-Repair-Maintenance-Manual/dp/0934798702

It contains detailed maintenance and troubleshooting for virtually everything on an RV, including fridges.

There are mobile RV repair services that will come to you and fix a fridge -- a quick Google showed at least one in Reno, plus several RV shops who probably prefer that you bring the rig in. The one repair I've had to pay for myself was a bad controller board.

If the items kept in the RV are less perishable, a plug-in thermoelectric cooler may be an option and is much cheaper than a fridge, as well as a lower power draw more practical for travel.

If you don't plan to travel extensively with the RV, you can pull the Dometic and install a consumer refrigerator (<$200 at Costco) which is 110 only instead. Many RVers choose to use an icebox for travel anyway, and a dead refrigerator is an OK ice box.

Best wishes.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Lisa is pretty savvy with this stuff. We've been running the 'fridge on propane one day a month to make sure the mechanism works, so I think that's probably not the problem.

The trailer is currently the only fully-habitable portion of the house right now as we work on renovations, so we want a fully-working refrigerator here, and Lisa is pretty clear that she wants an RV model, even though the trailer doesn't travel that often. She's been living in this trailer for more than fifteen years now, and lived in a different trailer before that, so I tend to defer to her on matters mechanical.

Good to know there are mobile RV services out of Reno. Thanks!

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

It's got risks of its own (obviously) but you might want to try Freecycle or Craig's List for something used-but-cheaper.

Heaven knows, I've unloaded a few BIG appliances that way...

[bemused-leftist.livejournal.com]

For a temporary substitute, I found a camping 'ice chest' that runs off AC or DC. It keeps things quite cool; the problem is, sometimes too cool, they freeze but there's a workaround. Cost about $80.

Bought it in the camping section at Walmart. Iirc it's by Coleman. It can be postioned chest-style or upright on its end.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

We already have one of those. We take it with us to Reno when we go grocery shopping so that we can buy perishables without worrying about them. We also take it with us to conventions when we have room so that we can have a refrigerator in our room. Yes, it's a temporary workaround, all right, but it does work.