Woke up to the yellow powder at heating area of. fridge. I guess 20 years is the limited. Dometic N1492
Any recommendations for a repair shop in Florida that can install new cooling kit?
Larry,
Where in Florida are you-- kind of a long state.
Well many owners have elected to just replace the back of the unit with JC Refergeration units that don't require removing a window or windshield. Not too difficult a job. They do it in their shop in about 4 hours. Us, maybe 2 days.
I actually think they work out I'd Florida in the winter?
Call them
I'm halfway between Orlando and Tampa. The online instructions from the kits look very detailed. And I understand I don't have to take out the fridge, just lay it down to get full access to the back.
My 18 cubic foot samsung went thru the door-
You can try:
Florida Mobile RV
2591 Orange Blossom Trail,(US 441) Apopka, Florida 32712, United States
407-518-6739
Floridamobilerv@aol.com
Hours: Open today
09:00 am – 05:00 pm
Ask for Dave. He can help you figure something out.
jk
JC refrigeration is currently working out of Sarasota Fla I think. They are a cooling unit in a friends coach. (260) 768-4067
I replaced the cooling unit on the Dometic fridge in my 1981 Foretravel that way. Just take your time and follow the instructions.
This was a few years ago but JC Refrigeration had a tech in the Tampa area that replaced our cooling unit in the campground. If you buy from them I bet they'd hook you up.
J C Refrigeration's tech in Florida has gone home - they said maybe next winter. I'm leaning on putting in their 12v duel compressor replacement - no propane and very good efficiency. They only charge $200 to install at the factory - but that's offset by them not paying shipping which is included in the $1,600 for the kit. So a trip to Indiana may be in my future if I can't find an experienced local installer or don't decide to do it myself. Some friends have already volunteered to help install the kit.
Any reason you don't replace with a residential unit?
I suggest this as a Foretravel owner who bought the coach after an ammonia refrigerator fire.
After two failed cooling units over the years we dumped the Dometic and bought a residential fridge. No regrets at all.
Larry, I'm glad for the Norcold 12v replacement we did last summer. I don't miss the worry of an absorption fridge in our coach. I don't have to think about being level every time we stop. The added internal size is extremely helpful. I know a number of folks have been happy with residential fridges too. Many like absorption fridges and I don't fault them, I'm just glad to no longer have one. Your coach is big enough and I'm sure already has a good inverter so a residential may make more sense than a 12 volt.
The current Dometic fridge is mounted above the IPX lights wiring and storage cabinets. As others have documented, there is no direct residential replacement without moving the wiring and losing the storage. We like the size and layout of the double door Dometic. I ordered a JS Refrigeration 12v dual compressor unit that has the advantages of a residential except no auto defrosting.
Sounds like the perfect solution, especially with the Intellitec lighting ^.^d
The Dometic 1492 is a bit of a unique size, so it's great to know there are 12V compressor "retro-mods" available for that model.
Update to installing 12v compressor kit replacing absorption unit. Getting fridge out to work on was relatively easy after building a platform on a heavy duty furniture dolly to be the same height as the installed fridge. It's held in place with 2 carriage bolts in the back and 4 screws in the front-2 on bottom and 2 on top. The top ones were installed wrong and were not doing anything. As it's moved out, there is about half inch top clearance in area of ceiling trim around center ceiling opening.
No real problem removing old "plumbing". The JC-Refrigeration instructions are pretty good and they answered my questions quickly. My old unit failed with the yellow powder. But after taking the plumbing out of the coach and moving it to a place to wait for disposal pickup, the leak decided to vent the ammonia. Took at least 3 minutes to vent. I moved away quickly so no harm but big lesson learned that even with initial yellow powder failure, there is still a large amount of ammonia under pressure. I know venting would mostly go outside if it went while the fridge was still mounted but would not be fun if we were inside. There was a lot of gas under pressure.
Would have to pull the fridge out to check if it were about to fail by looking for rust and pitting. But don't see how you could tell for sure. We were always careful to run it level.
Next step is to clean the back of the fridge. After 20 years, there was a moderate amount of water stains on the insulating wrap that caused the paper backing to fail.
Larry, Thanks for the update and the gerat write-up. (Pictures would have made it even better, we love lots of pictures.) Please post another follow-up after you have used the new system for a while.