RML8555 Replacement by Dometic

[skiman]

We just got back from our first trip since our pickup last fall. Set on 5 bars and outside temp in low 80's. Frig at 43-44. Coming back from West Virginia 90 outside 45-46 in the frig. Will be contacting ETI tomorrow to set up replacement.

[jamman]

We have had our RML swapped out with an RMD8555. They charged 3 hours of labor. Dometic paid for 1 hour so I had to pay for 2 hours of labor ($100/hour,) tax, and shop fee. (Ask your shop what their hourly labor rate is - it varies a lot.)

The installation looks good from the back. On the inside of the trailer the front side of the fridge is slightly further into the cabinets than the rear. AND there is a gap at the top - minimal on the left to about 1/2" on the right. Light coming in the top vent is clearly visible. I got some expanding foam and will seal it.

According to the 2 manuals the RMD is 2mm narrower and 3mm shallower, including the door. According to the shop the new fridge is a bit taller and deeper, and they had to remove a piece of the baffle near the top. They also removed the Texas fan and for some reason, returned it to Dometic with the old fridge. They said there wasn't room for it and it was not drawing the proper current.

The new one has plastic shelves and the old metal ones do not fit. I removed the crisper (as before) and moved the shelf up so I can sit tallish, heavy bottles on the floor of the unit, not on a shelf.

The shelves and door shelves can be moved but there are very limited alternate positions for them.

There are 3 plastic L-shaped pieces, not described in the manual. I think they go on the shelves to things from sliding around. (I won't use them, I use fridge RV bars to hold thing in place.)

We leave this Saturday - hope our fridge works as well as others have reported.

[Klem]

Originally Posted by jamman

We have had our RML swapped out
We leave this Saturday - hope our fridge works as well as others have reported.

Thank you for your report! I purchased 2 more metal shelves and hoped they would fit.

Very interested in your (and anyone's) 'on the road' comparisons.

[Chapitre]

Hi Doug,
Any chance of some photo's of what you are describing,
Thanks,
Chapi

[jamman]

I cannot find the US manual online. Here is the German/English one from Europe. It is very close to my hard copy except for 230V references. (The hard copy is English/French.)
http://td.dometicgroup.com/_pdf/2890..._b_2015_03.pdf

And here is the Australia/New Zealand Installation manual:
http://dometic3frontend.qbank.se/epi...c3285a2dc7.pdf

[jamman]

2 pix from back. No front pix right now.

[padlin]

Just starting the swap odyssey.

Found a local tech to do the job. He had no luck talking to his usual contacts at Dometic, they could find no record or authorization for swapping out the fridge.

ETI supplied the tech with the name of their salesman who got the local tech in touch with someone who knew about the swaps. Tech has to verify the fridge has issues before they will do the swap, that is in progress. Tech believes the cooling unit is no good, it won't cool down to his liking. Guess I have to let him do his thing.

[Chapitre]

Doug,
Did they have to do any alterations to the fibreglass itself in the back?
Chapi

[jamman]

Originally Posted by Chapitre

Doug,
Did they have to do any alterations to the fibreglass itself in the back?
Chapi

No .

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by jamman

We have had our RML swapped out with an RMD8555. They charged 3 hours of labor.
...

The installation looks good from the back. On the inside of the trailer the front side of the fridge is slightly further into the cabinets than the rear. AND there is a gap at the top - minimal on the left to about 1/2" on the right. Light coming in the top vent is clearly visible. I got some expanding foam and will seal it.

I don't believe that any shop should give a unit back to the customer with a gap allowing air flow between the RV interior and the back side of the refrigerator - this is an opening from a propane burner's exhaust into the occupied space, and is specifically forbidden by any propane refrigerator's installation manual that I have seen, by any reasonable standard for RV construction, and by common sense. It seems to me that the three hours of labour should include fitting the appliance into the opening so that there are no such gaps.

[tractors1]

I agree with Brian. No path should exist for exhaust from a propane device to enter the living space. Should have been trimmed out and SEALED.

[jamman]

Sealed. Wait a second - you want to apply "common sense" to an RV repair shop? I didn't think pot was legal in Alberta.

This was clearly not done to Dometic installation requirements. I had pretty low expectations and that's what I got. I needed the shop to do the paperwork - I am not an authorized Dometic service center.

I will check out the cooling and air leakage on our next trip. If things are not OK I'll pull it and reinstall it right.

Pic1 - as delivered by "authorized" Dometic service center
Pic2 - trim piece removed
Pic3 - foamed and trim replaced

[cpaharley2008]

I believe these units are sealed in the rear during installation to prevent leakage, not the front. As long as the rear was properly sealed one should not have any issues, other than aesthetically. That is not to say that since you are paying them I would expect not to see any airspace as that was the way the original was installed, correct?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by jamman

Sealed. Wait a second - you want to apply "common sense" to an RV repair shop? I didn't think pot was legal in Alberta.

No, pot's not legal here, but I have been a little high on cough medicine lately....

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I believe these units are sealed in the rear during installation to prevent leakage, not the front. As long as the rear was properly sealed one should not have any issues..

There was light from the vent coming through the gap, so unless it was sealed at the back with something transparent, it wasn't sealed.

Sure enough: although most RV refrigerators have a face frame which overlaps the face of the cabinet and seals to it, but page 12 of the installation manual posted earlier by Doug clearly shows that the back edges of the RMD8555 is to be sealed to the cabinet.

So it should have been sealed at the back, and wasn't at least on the top.

[cpaharley2008]

Brian,
Both myself and other owners with the single door have noticed light from around the top instrument panel of the RML8555, this light was due to sunlight penetrating the top trailer shell in places where there was no reflectix or places where construction did not allow the reflectix. This issue was noted way back when we were trying to find any leakage. There was no air leakage as the unit was sealed behind, just light leakage. The top instrument panel has holes where sunlight is visible, again as long as the rear is sealed there is no problem. The Dometic does not have a face frame sealing set up.

[jamman]

It was NOT sealed anywhere on the top by the repair shop. They removed some of the rear baffling at the top. They left a very nice path for air interchange between the trailer interior and the fridge vents.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by jamman

It was NOT sealed anywhere on the top by the repair shop. They removed some of the rear baffling at the top. They left a very nice path for air interchange between the trailer interior and the fridge vents.

That's clearly substandard.

[cpaharley2008]

I agree and something for others to look for in their repair.

[Rossue]

It would be helpful if Escape produced a service bulletin describing how they are doing the exchange of the RML8555 to the RMD8555 and how much time on average it takes. By doing so, owners could show it to their local shop for quotes, and more importantly help ensure the job is done right.

[padlin]

Update: Steps taken for fridge swap

Contacted local Dometics repair tech, happens to be a mobile service. 6/11

Tech unable to find anyone at Dometic with any knowledge of the swaps being done. Contacted ETI, they provoided their salesmans info. Local tech went through them to get someone that is up on the problem. Was told to troubleshoot the fridge, they won't swap it unless there is a problem.

After a service call and a couple days of temp testing proved it NG, Dometic gave tech the go ahead to replace it with the new RMD model, Dometic to pay 1 hr labor. Fridge shipping at this time, supposed to take a few days. 6/18

FWIW... Local rep tells me the single door fridge does not show up in this years catalog, look slike they have dropped the single door.