Dometic Refrigerator Fan

[Blondeegal]

Our Dometic 2852 has a small fan for cooling-it is now making a high pitched humming noise. In speaking with Dometic, they right away knew what the problem was, and said the fan needed to be replaced. Has anyone else had this problem? I am concerned it will not make the noise when we take it into the dealer to repair under the warranty, and they will not replace it. Has anyone ever replaced this fan on your own, and if so, is it difficult?

[Festus2]

If you have a new or near new RV, Dometic has its own limited 3 year warranty (3 on parts and 2 on labor) Check the documents you received with your unit, find the Dometic User Manual and read what it says in the Warranty section for details about how to proceed with a claim.

[SteveC7010]

We had a discussion about this last fall. A major part of the problem is keeping that fan clean. As soon as there is a dirt buildup on the fan, it gets noisy. The following threads pretty much covered the whole issue:

http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3971

http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3911

FWIW, replacing that fan, if it is the one in the pics I posted last fall, is a real easy DIY job if you are comfortable with simple 12vdc wiring.

[Blondeegal]

Great info so far-thank you!
Our unit (Cougar 327RES 2012), has the refrigerator in the corner-but not part of the slide out.
My husband did not see the mentioned fan, but will check again as soon as the storm stops.
If the fan is not visible in either of the two side vent covers, does anyone know where the fan might be located?
Thanks again!

[SteveC7010]

Originally Posted by Blondeegal

If the fan is not visible in either of the two side vent covers, does anyone know where the fan might be located?
Thanks again!

If the trailer has a roof vent for the fridge, it may be just below that. The cover for the roof vent comes off with 4 screws.

It has to be somewhere on the backside of the refrigerator, so it should not be much of a task to locate it.

[Handysam]

In the 327 the motor and fan are located behind the vent panel at the bottom of the frig. Pretty easy to access. Ours started to do the same thing this weekend at the end of our trip, will have to check it out this week. Happy Camping, Sam

[Blondeegal]

Originally Posted by Handysam

In the 327 the motor and fan are located behind the vent panel at the bottom of the frig. Pretty easy to access. Ours started to do the same thing this weekend at the end of our trip, will have to check it out this week. Happy Camping, Sam

Sam-Are you referring to the outside lower removable vent panel?

[Ron]

Yes Sam is referring to the lower vent panel you can shine a light upward and see the fan. Our 327 we traded in did make fan noise also and drove me bonkers. Good Luck should be an easy replacement.........Ron

[cougarpelt]

It cost me less to install new fans myself than to take it to dealer; the original fan made enough noise that after 2 trips we decided we had to do something; after reading all the forums I opted for:
1. replaced the original noisy fan with 2 Silenx EFX-09-15 fans; there are holes for two 92mm fans to be installed; don't know why Dometic didn't use 2 quiet fans instead to one noisy one.
2. installed 2 120mm fans on lower vent door, wired into the thermostate for the upper two so they work together except that the lower ones will not run if temp is not hot ( they have their own thermisters) Silenx EFX-12-15T
All these fans are rated at <15 dBA and their combined CFM far exceeds the original fan.
Now you can stand right next to fridge and not hear a thing while the fans are all running ... it is great. AND the fridge gets cooler faster and has a faster recovery time from when door is opened of ice trays are filled.
Cost less that $30 total; After reading the input from a owner who had been through 5 fans and still had unexceptable noise (repair under warranty just puts in the same fan that comes original resulting in the same loud noise), I decided to take matters into my own hands; I will admit that I have lots of electrical repair experience with amusement games and therefore was not scared in the least to tackle this relatively easy task.
For the less skilled owner I recommend just replaceing the upper two fans with those described. This is simply a matter to hooking wires red to red and black to black to the same wire that powers the single fan; I believe anyone could do this.
The hardest part was removing the plywood that directs the fan air up through the fins on the pipes up top that get real hot. I replace the plywood with a piece of plexiglass so I can see if the fans are working like they are suppose to without having to remove and reinstall the plywood.
Hope this helps someone
ches

[cougarpelt]

I got what boils down to a warning from Henry Sears of Keystone that I will not be welcome for warranty work if I modify the cooling fan on my Dometic 2852 fridge; so I thought I better pass it on to anyone who is inclined to fix a minor problem that costs less than the gas it takes to take it to a dealership. Anyone who puts in different fans better keep the old noisy one and reinstall it before expecting any warranty work should something else go wrong with the fridge. With the mod I outlined, it will NOT be for cooling problems as I have increased the circulation to twice what it was with the noisy fan.
Unfortunately, what I did NOT see in his email was that Keystone has come up with a quite fan to replace the noisy one; so anyone who is expecting the noise to go away by taking it to a dealership will probably be disappointed.
I hope that Keystone will in future demand that Dometic come up with a replacement fan that is not noisy to the point of irritation. These fans retail for less than $6 so you think that it would be a given that any replacement would be quite but you will find owners who have tried repeatedly to use the warranty to get relief only to find the same original noisy fan installed when they pick up their from the dealership.
I would have probably bought the gas to bring it to a dealer IF they would have acknowledged that the OEM fan is too noisy; but all the dealer said he could do is put in the fan that Dometic specifies for my fridge = NOISY. The dealer that does warranty work is not authorized to replace the fan with one that is quieter, he can only put in what Dometic specs call for!
This problem effects such a small number of RVers ... those with fridges in a slide; Dometic model 2852; so there is not yet any real concern by Keystone to actually solve the noise problem.
KEEP YOUR OLD PARTS; you may need them.