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Old 07-31-2014, 12:38 PM   #81
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Sorry for leaving you hanging...all of the sites we stayed at after leaving Reno were in National Parks...with no wi-fi. Go figure.

Ok, here is what I found.

As I first posted, the fridge seemed like it was going to cool too much, but there is sooo much more to it...as you all seem to be figuring out! When we were in Reno, we had power and A/C. With the inside of the unit cooled down to a comfortable climate, the fridge preformed beautifully. I tried it with the exterior fans switched off and the temperature rose by about 2 C. So definitely having the exterior fan helps.

Here's where things got messed up for us...I hit the road from Reno and at some point, the flame blew out and after about 2.5 hrs of driving and a quick check, the fridge had warmed up to about 6 C. Switching to 12V really didn't do much other than prevent it from climbing higher. By the time we stopped for the day, the fridge needed a cool night to catch up. Keep in mind, no power so no A/C to cool the inside of the trailer, and 36 C outside. Woke up to fridge at 3 C. Ok, not bad, on we go to the next stop...but this time, I will start travelling with it on 12V. By the time we stopped at the next point it was up to around 6 C again. 12V just not strong enough. I think if I could have, I would have tried to fashion a protective cover around the burner to prevent blowout. I spoke with Dometic about my results and he groaned when I mentioned my only chance to cool was with 12V.

Results with the Fridge Fix fan? Unfortunately I did not have good success. This also played a bit in the drop in temp before we hit the road. Side note, I now had the fridge set on max and figured it will shut off when it needs to as I did not want to gamble with a lower setting. On a few mornings, with the fridge cooled down nicely, I would switch the inside fan on to see if I could get it colder, and the temp would go up. I tried leaving it on longer hoping it would reverse itself and it never did. It almost seemed like blowing cold over the themistor would make it think it was cold and shut the cooling down. I am not going to pretend that I know anything about this stuff...I just read the thermometer and pulled some more hair out! I did read that some people are having success with this fan, I didn't, and ended up leaving it off for the last few days of travel. I am now wondering if the Fridge Fix wasn't creating some of the issue as when we left Bandon and headed for the heat, this is when we were using the inside fan the most.

In summary, here is what I believe to be helpful. The exterior fan is a must in the temps above 25 C and cool cabin temperature also helps. I had a small fan inside the fridge, but I think it was too small and the large Fridge Fix fan seemed to be too much. We had good success if the fridge was cold and we left the door closed as much as possible. We would also close the trailer up tight for travelling as the interior would stay colder longer into the day than if the maxx fan and a window were left open. After that, the aftermarket thermistor may be the solution.

We are back now and it is still hot here, so I will try playing with it more.

Reace
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Old 07-31-2014, 01:56 PM   #82
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Thanks for the info Reace, curious minds were just wondering.

So if it looks like the thermistor is the problem what does Dometic have to say, did they get a bad batch of thermistors maybe. I'm sure that they have received complaints other then just from Escape owners.
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Old 07-31-2014, 02:33 PM   #83
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So if it looks like the thermistor is the problem what does Dometic have to say, did they get a bad batch of thermistors maybe. I'm sure that they have received complaints other then just from Escape owners.
I suspect that inaccurate thermistors are common.

In a non-Escape RV, we have a Dometic refrigerator with electronic controls and no adjustment dial - it is just supposed to maintain the right temperature as measured by the thermistor. It would routinely freeze stuff in the main refrigerator section. I was looking into devices to tweak the thermistor signal to fool the refrigerator controls into running a bit warmer, and I did have the thermistor replaced, but before I could get it sorted out the cooling unit died entirely, so we got a whole new refrigerator under warranty. The new one runs about the right temperature.
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Old 07-31-2014, 03:01 PM   #84
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I'm Celsius ignorant and find I need to convert C to F when reading these threads. If you are like me, here's a neat little free converter I've used for years, windows based. Converts all sorts of things. I keep it on my desktop.

Convert for Windows - joshmadison.com
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Old 07-31-2014, 03:12 PM   #85
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I'm sure you've all seen these poking around the Internet for solutions. It's "Snip the Tip" which is an adjustable replacement thermistor.

Haven't tried it and know nothing of its performance, but it is interesting. It would give some adjustment which sounds like is missing on newer models. I think some adjustment will be necessary.

May not help Reace as I'm pretty sure it would void the 'fridge warranty. Might help in determining if it is the thermistor though.

Thanks.
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Old 07-31-2014, 03:41 PM   #86
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About 1 1/2 years ago I played with the thermistor circuit in my 4.3 unit because I was having cooling problems. My intention was to fool the refrigerator into thinking that the internal temp was warmer than it really was so the cooling unit would keep running longer and the unit would therefore get colder. I put a potentiometer in parallel with the thermistor to reduce the measured resistance value. I don't remember the exact potentiometer resistance value that I used. (When a thermistor gets colder its resistance goes up) I was able to get the refer to get colder when the ambient temp was mild but this is undesirable because you don't want a refer that freezes everything. Unfortunately, when it got up to 90f the thermistor value change didn't help at all. I concluded that the thermistor value was probably appropriate for my refer unit and that I need a different solution for the poor hot weather cooling.
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Old 07-31-2014, 03:42 PM   #87
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I am going to order one of the 'snip the tip' units and try it out. At least it is adjustable and may be a better solution than replacing the tip with a replacement and hoping it is set correctly.

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Old 07-31-2014, 04:33 PM   #88
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robert, see here http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f7...gain-4259.html
but thanks anyhow….
You're welcome anyhow...lol
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Old 07-31-2014, 05:49 PM   #89
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I'm having trouble buying the thermistor idea. How does the thermistor know the difference between a cool night and a hot day while measuring the temperature inside the fridge? If there was some measurement of outside conditions that was used in a control circuit, I could understand. But if the thermistor is at 45 degrees F, it should be causing the controls to light the fire to get things cooled off, no matter what the outside temperature. The problem we're trying to solve is related to hot days. If it was the thermistor inside the fridge, wouldn't we be seeing failure in a more random fashion? Something having to do with high ambient temperatures is causing our problem....either we've hit the upper limit for the cooling cycle, or some other component exposed to high ambient temperatures is causing the problem.
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Old 08-01-2014, 12:58 PM   #90
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how about the ice man delivery
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Old 08-01-2014, 07:17 PM   #91
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Well, today we drilled four 1/2" holes in the bottom of the freezer shelf in an attempt to 'share' some of that nice freezing cold air in the freezer section.

We will see.

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Old 08-01-2014, 07:57 PM   #92
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Well, today we drilled four 1/2" holes in the bottom of the freezer shelf in an attempt to 'share' some of that nice freezing cold air in the freezer section.

We will see.

Reace


I'm glad I drink room temperature beer.

Let us know how it goes!
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Old 08-01-2014, 07:58 PM   #93
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Hope you have lots of cheese.

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Old 08-01-2014, 09:21 PM   #94
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Well, today we drilled four 1/2" holes in the bottom of the freezer shelf in an attempt to 'share' some of that nice freezing cold air in the freezer section.

We will see.

Reace
I take it the other things you have tried didn't work or is this one of those just wondering things...

Doug
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Old 08-02-2014, 12:58 AM   #95
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Good idea Reace. I read in the manual if you want more cooling power in the refrig section to remove the 'removable' freezer box. But then you have no ice cubes! The cold air will naturally drop so a few holes may balance the system better.
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Old 08-02-2014, 07:04 AM   #96
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This was one of my ideas, in fact I already bought some rubber plugs in the event it did not work. How did you drill the holes, Reace? Pictures…will help. With the top interior fans it should really circulate that air now. Here are the plugs I ordered
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Old 08-02-2014, 10:08 AM   #97
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Dometic 8 series refrigerators

I have a good friend that is Amish. His primary occupation is installing wiring and appliances at a trailer factory. His second source of income is selling refrigeration units to households that do not have electricity. The cooling units are LP fueled absorption refrigeration systems. He is a authorized Dometic dealer and service technician. The Amish rely heavily on freezers and refers for food preservation. Here are some of his observations:
The household absorption refrigeration systems are better insulated, have more heat exchange area, higher volumes of refrigerant gas, are much heavier, and cost much more that RV refers but work well.
Concerning RV refers:
The Dometic 8 series of frig are the latest production models that supposed to be ultra efficient and weigh 10% less than the previous 7 series refers of the same size dimensions. He is aware that costumers are unhappy with the 8 series frigs but cannot suggest a strategy to improve the cooling. The company he works for directs the costumers to Dometic. So, we should appreciate Reace for trying to improve a design that is probably faulty.
In conclusion: Kenny says that the older RM755X models have better insulation, more heat exchange area, and a larger volume of refrigerant than the current RM855X model refers.
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Old 08-02-2014, 10:34 AM   #98
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Well that's mixed, if not depressing information. So I should assume my RM8551 4.3 is a series 8, lighter, more efficient, but a faulty, poorer cooling design for which Dometic has no answers? My Data label has no reference to "series 7 or 8".

Oh wait, I get it: Rm7... series 7, Rm8... series 8. Never mind.
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Old 08-02-2014, 11:05 AM   #99
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Model numbers mentioned above are wrong. ETI's current: RM8555. Older unit: RM7555.

Specs for RM7555:

Total volume (l) 117 Freezer volume (l) 12 Height (mm) 821 Width (mm) 525 Depth (mm) 596 Weight (kg) 30 Number of shelves 2 Total racks at inner door 3 Energy consumption gas (g/24h) 432 Max input 12V (W) 130 Max input 240V (W) 135 Max input gas (g/h) 432

Specs for RM8555:

Door type Single door Total volume (l) 115 Height (mm) 821 Width (mm) 525 Depth (mm) 624 Weight (kg) 29.5 Max input 12V (W) 130 Max input 230V (W) 135 Max input gas, oven (g/h) 18.3

If the older one really works better and is still available, it appears there would be no problem installing into same space as current model. The current one looks jazzier, but personally would prefer function over form.
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Old 08-02-2014, 11:15 AM   #100
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Many of us are still under the two year warranty. I can't help but fantasize about the idea that there must be some published spec somewhere that these fridges are not meeting, which should result in a solution directly from Dometic. From personal experience, I can say that a likely first response from your local RV service place will be that these fridges are not installed according to Dometic instructions regarding clearance on the back side. It's my understanding that Reace has already established with Dometic that this is not the cause of the problem (which he has also recently demonstrated). I'm not sure what to do next other than continue to drag a cooler along.
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