[Motor31]

Yesterday we finally got the new cooling unit from dometic installed. So far it is working fine and is being set on high to allow the thing to get settled into operation. The freezer is just a tad below 20 and the fridge side is at 30.

The tech that did the installation has had some experience with rebuilt units. The last time he used one, at the insistence of the RV extended warranty company, the unit lasted 2 days. The next rebuilt unit he installed in that rig also lasted just a couple days. He finally installed a new cooling unit and that one kept operating.

My case also has a new twist. It seems that the good sam csp plan does NOT cover all of the cost of parts like they claim. They set a price that they are willing to pay then if the part actually has a higher cost, as my cooling unit did, too bad. You eat it. The price they are going to pay is not listed, they just tell the repair company they will pay "x' dollars after the purchase is authorized. They also only cover $50.00 in shipping as well. A cooling unit for the large fridge we have comes on it's own pallet. It costs more than $50.00 to ship. I am not particularly happy with good sam csp and will not recommend them in the future.

The actual part cost for the cooling unit was $1650 and good sam would only pay $1500. Shipping cost was $150. Instead of a $200 deductible I got a bill for a bit over $400. I am going to call good sam to inquire why they do not mention those limits in their customer package. The total bill not including sales tax was over $2225.00. For those of you who do not have some kind of continued service plan that is a figure you should be concerned with as the fridge that dometic makes is not something to count on to last like a household fridge. FWIW the tech said that Norcold makes a better unit that has less parts cost and is more reliable not to mention easier to maintain or replace.

You should note that the fans that are installed above the cooling unit are not part of the cost and are considered extra by dometic and good sam as is the water line to the ice maker. The temperature sensor for the fans had also been originally set on the cold side of the cooling plant fins meaning they would only come on after the cooling unit had gotten pretty darn hot. That causes additional stress on the unit. The sensor has now been moved to the hot side now to get them to go on earlier before the temp gets high.

Installation was 5 hours actual time used. That did not cover the time needed to move the center island in the kitchen. I did that before they got there. Since the fridge HAS to come out of the cabinet to the front the island must be moved. There is no room to pull the fridge other wise. That island is secured by a total of 4 small diameter (but 6' long) screws that seat into the floor. The island has a heavy gauge wire cable for the electrical socket in it that is fed up through a hole in the floor so unless you are going to disconnect that you will only be able to rotate the island to the side. That gave enough clearance to pull the fridge and lay it down flat on the floor to pull the cooling unit out the back. It's not a one person job as that is a rather heavy fridge. It actually took 3 of us to get it back into the cabinet. I would not rate this as a do it yourself operation. While there are no "special tools" needed it is a rather "busy" wiring loom (rats nest) back there and wires are not labeled. Some modification to the insulation is needed to place the water feed for the ice maker and you will need both sealant putty, tape putty and a tube of temperature transmitting putty to get the cold fro the coils to the inside of the fridge and freezer. The coils do not go inside the fridge at all and there is no direct transmission of cold inside there. The fins are screwed to the mount holding the cooling tubes in place. The putty increases the area for transmission of the cold to the inside of the box. Same for the freezer topbox too although there are some coils that go into the box there.