Our 21' Escape Trailer purchase issues

[cdmixer]

Ok a call today to Escape revealed that you should not drive with the Fridge fan on or it can blow the thermal fuse. So this is know by the company.

They neglect to mention ANYTHING on orientation and guess what it’s left in the on position by the factory.

This is why the Fridge does not work. Great work.

[Greg and Kathy]

So really your power switch and sink leak are your only issues with the trailer. Now work with ETI to resolve the switch issue and enjoy your retirement. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff. Go camping and enjoy the rest of your life and thank those on the forum that helped and gave positive feedback to get your trailer issues resolved

[steve dunham]

Our Casita has a refrigerator / Texas fan ( Dometic # 2554 refrigerator )
On numerous occasions we have left the fan in the on position while traveling and have never suffered any negative consequences. I havi often wondered if this problem is unique to certain model refrigerators , or due to fan placement or how the refrigerator is vented ?
I would like to add one on our Escape because of our good experience with having one on our Casita but am leary due to the problems reported on this forum ..
No sense in making a bad situation worse .

[cdmixer]

Yes a retirement trip of a lifetime that I found out today was partially ruined due to a neglect to tell me about this Refrigerator fan switch.

I don’t understand why a member of this forum has to tell me about the fan being left on. Thank you to him for his help.

Then when I call escape today I am told that it should be off.

Why if it should be off was it left on.

I did not get the electric water heater on Jim’s recommendation to save me any issues. I never would have gotten this fan.

Why when the fuse blew the first time did they not tell me to check it.

[Rossue]

Steve- that Casita fridge is a different animal than the Dometic Americana series ETI now uses. Even my RMD8555 has an external fan with no risk of blowing a "fusible link" they are now using on these Americana fridges as mine doesn't have such a fuse.

[cpaharley2008]

I do not understand why you have the fan and I do not? Did you add the fan as an option? We both have the same trailer, correct?

[MyronL]

My RM8551 came with two fans in back, governed by a thermistor, as seen here. Funny thing is I never hear them running, have no idea if they ever do. I upgraded the thermistor that is supposed to govern them to one that's supposed to kick on at a lower temperature, but have no idea if that did anything. At least I can say the fuses never blew.

OOPS... this is an old picture, taken before I later eliminated the wires to a manual on/off switch I temporarily installed on the front.

[cdmixer]

The only diff was I added high lift and the fan.

Thank you.

[cdmixer]

Is this the help that I have requested in this discussion. Really I am not amused.

I will no longer add to this. I understand some were interested the only reason I posted.

Feel free to PM me for those who cared. Thanks for all the help.

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I do not understand why you have the fan and I do not? Did you add the fan as an option? We both have the same trailer, correct?

I believe there were several Dometic factory changes made in some models of their refrigerators, in addition there were numerous owner modifications made. The combinations and permutations probably rival my limited probability education. We spoke with Leon out in shipshewana Indiana about modification of our 8555 to get more consistent performance. His analysis was that some important components were undersized and that there was little he could do that would guarantee better cooling on these units. Some trips are diamonds, some trips are coal but a cooler with Ice guarantees me of reaching my goal. Cold beer. Seemed strange the first time someone said how’s you thermistor hanging? I’m not much of a boondocker sometimes, other times we go days off the grid. It’s all fun to me and I’m reminded of staying in a “rustic” cabin on a river fishing excursion when I was a kid. It rained hard that night and the two old Czechs I was with kept saying “they don’t have it this good in Prague”. My first experience with perspective. Had a nice rain this afternoon and the temperature went down from 92F to 72F. My grass is green and the apples are sizing up.
Iowa Dave

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by cdmixer

Is this the help that I have requested in this discussion. Really I am not amused.

Just a helpful hint to assist us in following you. If you hit the "Quote" button on a post you want to respond to - it will help us understand the subject you are replying to.

Thanks!

ps. If you need help on anything trailer related, there are some good people here that love to help others - all you have to do is ask.

[CADreamin]

Looking on the white wall in the background, you can see part of one of the wiring schematics: colored felt pen lines, with nails at the bends, for making up the wiring looms for each trailer, with notes indicating differences to accommodate the options. Hard to photocopy!

I figured there were plans somewhere. Thanks.

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by cdmixer

Why when the fuse blew the first time did they not tell me to check it.

Some trailer fridge installations are helped by adding an external fan and some are harmed by it. The Escape 21' is one of those that has an excellent installation of the fridge per the Dometic installation instructions and does not need the external fan. In fact, as you have found out, operating an external fan on the 21' can cause it to fail.

I do most of my travels in the southwest where temps are commonly over 100 deg F - I do not have an external fan and have never seen an instance where one was needed. I have camped in temps of over 117 deg F and the fridge was working fine.

Casita's are helped by an external fan, Escapes (other than the 21') are helped by an external fan - the 21' should never have an external fan. Do yourself a favor and leave it off.

Getting off soapbox now.

[MikeS]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I do not understand why you have the fan and I do not? Did you add the fan as an option? We both have the same trailer, correct?

I’m also confused about this. When we ordered or 5.0 last summer the fan was not a listed option and I thought the general consensus was it caused more harm than help. Is the fan an unlisted option at this point? If that’s the case I’m not sure how much we can expect ETI to go over the details of non standard items at orientation.

In a perfect world this would be noted on the build to be discussed at pickup, but in reality I fear this will just lead to less willingness to do unlisted options.

[dsbc]

I've decided to evaluate the "Escape 19" I ordered ... and make my decision after a detailed inspection.
Thanks to everyone for info and comments in this thread.

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by cdmixer

Yes a retirement trip of a lifetime that I found out today was partially ruined due to a neglect to tell me about this Refrigerator fan switch.

I don’t understand why a member of this forum has to tell me about the fan being left on.

Did your trailer not come with this label in the main cabin, right above the refrigerator?



The parking brake in my car doesn’t even have such clear labeling to turn it off before driving.

[Rossue]

Originally Posted by dsbc

I've decided to evaluate the "Escape 19" I ordered ... and make my decision after a detailed inspection.
Thanks to everyone for info and comments in this thread.

[CADreamin]

Just looked at our 'blank' build sheet vs. our final and it seems the fan is not indicated on the original. I remember asking about it and then it was added on ($175). On our old 19', we never turned off the fan and never had a problem; however, this time, we were aware of the requirement so keep it turned off unless necessary and we are stopped. Last month we arrived in Redding, CA, when it was 107º outside and the refrigerator was creeping up to the 'red' on our thermometer. I remembered the refrigerator fan and immediately turned it on. Within a short time, the internal refrigerator temperature dropped to a 'safe' level (the freezer was always fine). Happy we added it.

[cdmixer]

No it did not have any sticker or warning. Actually they had a homemade sticker on my rear camera to turn lights on when using. I think I would have seen it Impressive thanks /sclifrickson

[steve dunham]

For years the texas refrigerator fan was an option on Casita trailers , then the option was dropped because Dometic no longer recommended using a fan
Now the newer model Dometic refrigerators that Casita uses come with a fan as standard equipment. It’s hard to know what to do when Dometic keeps changing their mind .